The Army of the Southern Cross

The Army of the Southern Cross is an autonomous global military force; the successor to the Robotech Defense Force for the protection of Earth and the control of Robotechnology.

History

The Army of the Southern Cross was founded by a group of RDF soldiers in the wake of the Zentraedi orbital assault of 2011. The RDF troops had been stationed at Brazilia Base in South America, site of the unfinished second Grand Canon planetary defense Reflex weapon. The Brazilia Base was badly damaged in the orbital assault and the surviving base personnel, led by base commander General Anatole Leonard, began the arduous trek through the dense jungle back to civilization. Cut off from the any reinforcements, the survivors were on their own. All of the orbiting military satelites had been destroyed by the Zentraedi, effectively crippling all communications and navigation technology. Leonard led the survivors south out of the jungles using the stars to guide him, specifically the constellation Crux, also known as the Southern Cross. Along the way the group gathered other survivors and became a large refugee convoy. The group also came under frequent assault by rogue Zentraedi elements, survivors of the destruction of the alien armada that had fled to the South American jungles to hide. These attacks took their toll on the survivors, but thanks to Leonard and the RDF soldiers the attacks were repelled each time.

Eventually the ragtag group arrived at the ruined city of Asuncion, capital of what had been Paraguay. A small settlement had formed in the outskirts of the ruined city and Leonard and his troops set about securing the area and reinforcing it against attack, from both Zentraedi as well as human raiders. Leonard's RDF troops were joined by volunteers from the refugee groups and together they formed a new militia that Leonard named the Army of the Southern Cross, with himself as commander. When the RDF and Unified World Government finally made it to South America to check on survivors they found the settlement, newly christened as Ascendance City with the Army of the Southern Cross firmly in place.

Commander Leonard had powerful connections within the surviving UWG and RDF hierarchy and as a result his Army of the Southern Cross gained official UWG sanction to continue operating as an allied militia. As rogue Zentraedi activity increased around the world the experienced soldiers of the Southern Cross, battle-hardened from their long trek south and from continued battles against the aliens, were much in demand. Branches of the Army of the Southern Cross were established in Africa and Indonesia, hotbeds of Zentraedi activity. After the destruction of New Macross City at the start of 2014 the ASC established a major presence in North America. By early 2015 the Army of the Southern Cross had expanded to the point where it was officially established as an autonomous military arm of the Unified World Government, separate from the Robotech Defense Force.

The Army of the Southern Cross came to real prominence in 2018 with the start of the Malcontent Uprisings. The fierce battles with rogue Zentraedi over the two years of the Uprisings saw the transformation of the ASC from a fledgling military force into a true global military power. By the end of the Malcontent Uprisings the ASC had doubled in size and its soldiers and equipment had been tested in battle. When the Robotech Expeditionary Force left Earth in 2022 the Army of the Southern Cross became the pimary military arm of the Unified World Government.

By the mid-2020s the Unified World Government had weakened to the point of collapse. The world had broken up into warring feudal states and the UWG was falling apart one piece at a time. When the UWG splintered a new organization was born in its place. The new United Earth Government was less a governing body and more an arbiter of conflicts. Nation-states were invited not to become part of this new body but instead to sign on as members, much like the old United Nations. The UEG claimed its global authority from its historical role as the UWG had been in its infancy. In reality the UEG's authority stemmed from its monopoly on the advanced Robotechnology and control of orbital and off-world facilities. The Army of the Southern Cross became a truly autonomous organization, now a member of the UEG as opposed to being subordinate to the UWG, or at least it did on paper. For diplomatic reasons it became essential that the UEG itself not appear as an armed super-power, though in reality the ASC may as well still be the official army of the United Earth Government. Anatole Leonard, now Supreme Commander of the Army of the Southern Cross, also took a position on the UEG Council as head of Earth's defenses. This in effect still means that the Army of the Southern Cross is answerable to the UEG Council and its prime minister, Wyatt Moran.

Today the Army of the Southern Cross acts mainly as a global peacekeeping force. The ASC acts as defense for allied nation-states, as a peacekeeping force to keep conflict areas under control, and is still the primary planetary defense against alien invaders, though aside from a rare attack from the scattered pockets of Zentraedi there has not been a major alien incursion since the defeat of the Zentraedi armada in 2011 (at least, not officially). The greatest threat to the absolute military supermacy of the Army of the Southern Cross is the growing military might of the world's other super-power, the Eastern Bloc Soviet Indipendent State. For the moment the EBSIS and ASC/UEG are locked in a Cold War, but tensions are rising.

Organization

The Army of the Southern Cross is ultimately answerable to its Commander-In-Chief, the Prime Minister of the United Earth Government. In reality, the CinC role is largely ceremonial and the real power lies in the hands of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Not surprisingly this post is held by Anatole Leonard, the ASC's founder. By having to answer directly to the Prime Minister and not to the civilian UEG cabinet the Army of the Southern Cross can maintain a great deal of autonomy from the UEG, something that generally benefits both parties. There is some concern about the lack of civilian oversight of the ASC, but in a world of feudal nation states and a Cold War with the Soviets these concerns are generally overlooked in the name of global security.

The overall running of the Army of the Southern Cross is handled by the Office of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (OSCAF). This Office includes the top-level bureaucracy reponsible for most non-combat-related aspects of the ASC. Day-to-day management of the combat forces of the Army of the Southern Cross are the responsibility of the Office of the Chief of Staff (OCS), which in turn reports to OSCAF. The two combat divisions of the ASC, the Department of Surface Operations (DSO) and the Department of Aerospace Operations (DAO), both report to the OCS. These two Departments in turn are divided into several combat armies. The current Chief of Staff of the Army of the Southern Cross is General Rolf Emerson.

A third Department in the Army of the Southern Cross is the Global Military Police (GMP). The GMP is the intelligence and security arm of the ASC and answers directly to OSCAF, bypassing the Chief of Staff.

There are also four non-combat divisions of the Army of the Southern Cross that are not shown on the diagram below. They are the Quartermaster Corps and Medical Corps, which are part of the Department of Surface Operations, and the Transport Corps and its space division, the Interstellar Transport Corps which are part of the Department of Aerospace Operations.

Army of the Southern Cross Organizational Hierarchy

Ranks

Unlike the RDF, which had a mix of ranking systems due to its initial composite organization, and the REF, which had distinct ranking systems for its different divisions, the Army of the Southern Cross follows a single ranking system for its commissioned officers (the ASC officer grades are based on an Army/Marine model). Enlisted ranks differ between grounds forces (Surface Operations) and aerospace forces (GMP enlisted personnel use the same ranking system as ground forces). The Army of the Southern Cross does not have any Warrant Officer grades.

Enlisted (Ground Forces)

Enlisted (Aerospace Forces)

Officers

Flag Officers

Armies of the Southern Cross

When the Army of the Southern Cross was initially sanctioned it only consisted of two groups, Surface operations (Tactical Corps) and Air operations (Tactical Air Force). When second generation Robotech mecha were designed for the ASC in 2016 two new groups were created, the Alpha Tactical Armored Corps as a sister to the Tactical Corps in Surface operations and the Tactical Armored Space Corps in Air (now Aerospace) operations. By the end of the Malcontent Uprisings the Military Police arm of the ASC had been created to handle intelligence and security operations and the ASC hierarchy as it is today began to take shape. When the Army of the Southern Cross took over global defense after the departure of the REF in 2022 several additional groups were created. To handle peacekeeping and policing tasks the Civil Defense Unit and Civil Defense Flying Corps were born, while a new Cosmic Unit was created to handle the ASC's new off-world commitments. To handle any potential conflict area on the planet several specialized divisions of the Tactical Corps were created, each one focused on a particular terrain or environment. Finally the Military Police arm became the Global Military Police, the de facto intelligence and internal security organization for the United Earth Government (despite the fact that they are answerable directly to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and not a civilian government officer).

Today the Army of the Southern Cross is divided 15 separate tactical groups, or Armies, reporting to three command departments. The ATAC, CDU and TC (and its seven specialty armies) are part of the Department of Surface Operations while the TAF, CDFC, CU and TASC are part of the Department of Aerospace Operations. Both these Departments report to the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Southern Cross. The Global Military Police is separate from this chain of command and answers directly to the Office of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Armies of the Southern Cross

Military Police

Department of Surface Operations

Department of Aerospace Operations

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