Directorate Officer
“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” ~ C.S. Lewis
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide the Directorate and its allies with a unit trained to operate in forest and dense wildlands
- Image Credit: (Source: here "UNSC Army Soldier by LordHayabusa357")& (Source:"Dark Forest" wallpaper by unknown found here ) combined and modified by yours truly
- Role: Wildlands Infantry / Guerrilla Fighters
- Links: Gir Quee, Directorate, Directorate marines
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Unit Name: 1st Directorate Rangers Regiment - "The Survivors of Eryn III"
- Affiliation: [member="Gir Quee"], [member="Reshmar"], Directorate
- Classification: Guerrilla Regiment
- Equipment:
- Armor & Wearables (all troops)
Massiff Blast Armor
Vornskr Blast Helmet
Bantha Modular Load Bearing System
Neti Field Cloak
- Weapons
LPD-16 Pioneer Phase-Machete (all troops)
LPD-17 Hammerstrike Grenade Launcher (grenadiers)
LPD-19 Shockwave Missile Launcher (Heavy Gunners)
LPD-14 Firebolt Variable Charge Blaster Rifle (Sapper primary weapon)
LPD-18 Stormburst Pistol (Grenadiers / heavy gunner back-up weapon)
7-PrG Proton Grenade (1 per Rifleman)
LPD-12 Hydra Electronet Grenade (2 per Rifleman)
Thermal Well (sapper)
Burrowing Detonator (sapper)
Ribbon Charge (sapper)
Detonite Charges (sapper)
- Miscellaneous Equipment
Monofilament Wire reel (1 per squad)
miscellaneous common infantry equipment (rations, medpacs, packs, etc).
Platoon Organization: A Ranger Platoon is made out of four 9-man squads with supervised by a lieutenant (CO), platoon sergeant, and a pair of medics. Each squad contains two 4-man fire teams and a squad leader.
Squad Order of Battle
Fire team 1
4 Riflemen: (each equipped with 1 LPD-15 Stormfire Heavy Repeater, 1 LPD-16 Pioneer Phase-Machete, 1 7-PrG Proton Grenade, 2 LPD-12 Hydra Electronet Grenades)
Fire team 2
2 Heavy Gunners: (each equipped with 1 LPD-19 Shockwave Missile Launcher, 1 LPD-18 Stormburst Pistol, 1 LPD-16 Pioneer Phase-Machete)
1 Grenadier: (1 LPD-17 Hammerstrike Grenade Launcher, 1 LPD-18 Stormburst Pistol, 1 LPD-16 Pioneer Phase-Machete)
1 Sapper: (1 LPD-14 Firebolt Variable Charge Blaster Rifle , 1 LPD-16 Pioneer Phase-Machete, 3 Thermal Wells, 2 Burrowing Detonators, 2 Ribbon Charges, detonite charges)
1 Squad Leader: (1 LPD-14 Firebolt Variable Charge Blaster Rifle, 1 LPD-16 Pioneer Phase-Machete, 1 ERD-A Recon Drone, 1 Monofilament Wire reel)
COMBAT INFORMATION
- Availability: Unique
- Deployment: Minor
- Wilderness Fighters: The 1st Rangers Regiment is specifically trained to not only operate in forest and jungle areas, but to take full advantage of that environment to augment their own capabilities. It's not uncommon to see squads to take full advantage of the terrain to set up concealed ambush points, set booby traps, or to alter it to better affect their tactics. A running saying in the regiment is that they only carry half of their equipment with them: the other half is already waiting for them at the drop zone.
- Ghosts: Rangers are typically quite hard to spot in the wildlands, seeming to appear out of thin air to strike before disappearing back into the background of foliage. Part of this is due to being woodsmen, part of it is their tendency to use prepared fighting positions, and part of it is their use of Neti Field Cloaks.
- Hardened Warriors: The 1st Rangers crucible experience on Eryn III has made them exceptionally seasoned fighters, psychologically and physically. Rather than seeing them grow soft again, Colonel Netbers routinely rotates companies out to Kashyyyk including to the Shadowlands for survival/woodlands exercises and to test their skill in K'tara in sparring competitions against Wookiee warriors and Antarian Rangers.
- Out of Touch: The 1st Rangers trains and lives exclusively in jungle and forest environments, and drastically lose much of their effectiveness if operating outside of areas with lots of foliage.
- Limited Offense: The 1st Rangers are trained primarily to conduct defensive operations and small, limited guerrilla strikes at targets of opportunity. They have neither the training nor the right equipment to full out assault and capture an objective like many conventional forces.
History
Eryn III is a deeply forested world in the unknown regions that is off little interest to most people except for its dangerous predators and unusual stone ruins. Unfortunately, it came into the crosshairs of Supreme General Kossk, a warlord who believed that a powerful Ratakan artifact had been left on the world. His invasion of the world led to a allied group of local militia, mercenaries, and Directorate marines seeking to oust him and his warband forces off of the world. What was expected to be a quick and decisive assault turned into a protracted, guerilla warfare campaign. Ambushes from the woodlines along with hit-and-fade strikes deep into enemy territory became the new normal. The campaign ended after elements of the Directorate marines and the local 8th Militia tracked down and destroyed Kossk's supply depot deep within the Brandiun Woods. Kossk himself was killed a day later by a sharpshooter of the 2nd Avenelle Rifles as the Supreme General desperately searched for the fabled artifact. With Kossk dead and the threat to Eryn III ended, the Directorate and its allies took a hard and long look at their mistakes in the campaign. The survivors of Eryn III's severely understrength units were reorganized into the 1st Directorate Ranger Regiment under Colonel Cho Netbers, the previous commander of the 2nd Avenelle Rifles. Under the former mercenary commander, the 1st Directorate Rangers has morphed into a highly skilled group of wildlands fighters that seemingly appear out of nowhere to ambush enemy troops in devastating ambushes or suddenly strike deep behind enemy lines. Equipment
As part of their amalgation, the 1st Directorate Rangers traded in all of their old hardware from their old units and were entirely outfitted with new equipment specifically to enable their role as wildlands fighters. To that end, they are equipped with relatively lightweight blast armor and helmets with provides them with a good combination of mobility and protection. Perhaps just as importantly, they are issued with green fatigues and Neti Field Cloaks which enable them to better blend in with the background of the forests and wildlands in which they operate. Because their armor is relatively light and because of the load bearing system, individual rangers are also able to carry slightly heavier weapons than normal. Guerrilla doctrine largely dictated the base weapons be relatively stealthy, leading to hard to spot and easily silenced projectile weapons like the Stormfire Heavy Repeater and Stormbust pistol being particularly common. Rangers notably carry some heavier firepower with them in the form of missile launchers and a grenade launcher in each squad. This is partially to compensate for a lack of vehicles and artillery within the regiment as a whole, as neither can easily be moved through the densest foliages in the galaxy. These are typically used to counter enemy vehicles, attack fortified positions, and destroy strategic targets in guerrilla raids. Ranger squads are also noticeable for including a dedicated sapper, who carries a variety of explosive devices. These are typically used to shape the environment to the Ranger's needs, but can also be used to sabotage or destroy targets in guerrilla raids, or as part of booby traps. Each squad has squad level assets that are carried by the squad leader, who then distributes their use to individuals as needed. Among these are a recon drone, typically used to scout ahead or act as a spotter for marksmen, and a spool of monofilament wire, which is given out in lengths to fortify individual fighting positions or to set up booby traps.Tactics
Colonel Netbers is something a maverick commander among the Directorate's officer corps, in large part the result of being the commander of the independent, mercenary 2nd Avenelle Rifles before most of its survivors were recruited into the 1st Directorate Rangers. A former big game hunter on Avenelle before becoming a mercenary, Netbers continues to think as more of a hunter rather than a soldier, though this has been tempered somewhat by a command staff mostly consisting of former Eryn militia and Directorate marines. This leadership cadre has formulated a guerrilla and wilderness fighting doctrine that emphasizes on making the best of use of the natural lay of the land and its inherent resources to further their mission to defend, harass, and sabotage. On a regimental level, the 1st Rangers tend to be widely and irregularly dispersed among the battlefield, holed up in a network of hastily constructed but concealed fighting positions. Small elements of the rangers will fluidly snake through these networks as part of maneuvers to infiltrate enemy lines for raids or to withdraw as enemy pressure becomes too great to withstand. On a squad level, Directorate Rangers have a large amount of latitude in interpreting their orders, and they are frequently encouraged to use their own initiative to creatively and quickly think of solutions to suddenly occurring problems. This can lead to some issues with commanders later on, especially if the end result isn't the same as originally planned, but this independence helps keep rangers alive in tactically fluid situations especially when known intelligence is at a minimum. On a practical level for defensive missions, this manifests in squads shaping the environment to their needs through the use of phase-machetes and explosives as well as the addition of booby traps to augment their fighting positions. It's not uncommon for a trooper to see a piece of terrain or environment, such as a overhang or particularly large tree, and then think of some sort of way to turn that into a weapon or defensive position. For raids, rangers frequently break up into two man teams and diffusely infiltrate enemy lines by using the terrain to their advantage along with their own natural skills and Neti Field cloaks. These elements then tend to coalesce a final rendezvous point before striking at their final target. For harassment missions, small groups of rangers utilize hit-and-fade tactics, typically using foliage and other terrain as concealment and cover to maneuver close to the enemy before delivering withering streams of fire from their repeaters and heavy weapons before withdrawing back to their prepared positions to conduct ambushes or sniper attacks on any pursuers to their original attack.Deployment
The 1st Rangers are expeditionary unit, rarely staying in permanent locations for long. Most of the time, they can be found on warships under the commands of Admiral Quee or Admiral Reshmar. Once their groundside mission is accomplished, they board Directorate warships which act as their temporary home before being shuffled away to another theater where the cycle repeats itself. However, the Directorate mission to the Silver Jedi at Kashyyyk almost always has two line companies of the 1st Rangers on station for rest and relaxation, as well to engage in small level unit training sessions by expeditions to the shadowlands and to engage in martial arts competitions with Antarian Rangers and the local wookiee warriors. These Directorate Rangers are frequently found in the vicinity of the Silver Rest and its associated Antarian ranger base.
