(The author, Captain Benjamin Gaunt, is the commander of the Special Forces Company of the 1053rd Striker Battalion of Lancaster's Rose, a mercenary unit most recently active in the Clan Occupation Zone. This article was drawn from a lecture Captain Gaunt delivered at The Nagelring in the spring term of 3054). Introduction and Overview Back in the year 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte rolled over the armies of Spain, capturing its major cities and establishing Joseph Bonaparte as his puppet king. Later in that same year, partisans drove Joseph out of Madrid, necessitating Napoleon's return to reconquer the city. The partisans thereafter never gave the French a moment's peace. Their actions guaranteed Wellington's conquest of occupied Spain. Those Spanish partisans gave their Known Sphere a new word, a word for their 'little war'. They gave us the 'guerilla', and warfare has never been the same. Guerilla war disdains all that is honorable and noble in combat, pitting cleverness against forethought with a level of violence abhorrent to the knights in shining armor. Guerrilla war leaves no room for the general's chivalry or the strategist's clean lines on the map. It is war as a primitive exercise, the kind of war that makes reasonable people wonder why we fight at all. Ever since the mid-20th century, nations and planetary alliances alike have fielded forces specifically for these unconventional and non-traditional military operations. The first unit designed for guerilla warfare purposes was the 10th Special Forces Brigade, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA, Terra, early in the decade of the 1960's. Units that have performed Special Forces operations over the years include the Stealths and the Tamar Tigers of the Lyran Commonwealth, MI 6 troops of the Federated Suns, the Death Commandos of House Liao, and the Draconis Elite Strike Teams. Mercenary forces such as the Eridani Light Horse and Wolf's Dragoons also incorporate Special Forces elements. In the context of the Clans invasion, the ability to propagate guerilla actions should be essential to the strategic planning of every House and Periphery state. Given our scarce resources and the limits of interstellar communications, populations must often fight the invaders on their own, with very little reinforcement, for lengthy periods. It is the responsibility of modern military planners to see that our people are prepared, prepared for the little war until the big war comes again. I wish to offer you and overview of the Special Forces concept as employed by my unit, Lancaster's Rose, with an eye towards bolstering resistance to the Clans and ensuring the general peace of the Inner Sphere. Design and Equipment Special Forces units incorporate all aspects of the armed forces: BattleMechs, AeroSpace elements, tanks, VTOLs, and infantry, all working together. The essence of SF utility is speed, silence, total efficiency, and killing power. Following are the criteria most Houses and mercenary use to determine a BattleMech's suitability for modern Special Forces duty: 1) All weapons must be energy-based, not ammunitionbased, for maximum self-sufficiency in the field. The only exception to this rule is the use of certain special-applications missile systems. 2) 'Mechs must carry as much armor as their tonnage will allow, also to maximize survivability. 3) 'Mechs must consistently inflict enough damage to knock down another 'Mech with a single volley. 4) All 'Mechs must carry the Guardian ECM Suite. 5) 50% of 'Mechs per unit must carry the Beagle Active Probe. 6) 50% of 'Mechs per unit must carry Target Acquisition Gear. 7) All 'Mechs in the unit must have special movement capabilities, such as MASC, Jump Jets, or LAM capability. 8) SF 'Mechs must have a maximum tonnage of 75, and a minimum movement of 54 kph. 9) The average tonnage to the prototypical SF company is 50, and the average movement is better than 65 kph. 10) 'Mechs designated for Special Forces service must have at least 25 tons of cargo space. This space is used to transport SF assets, including equipment, information, and personnel In addition to these criteria, Lancaster's Rose has other requirements for BattleMechs that do not touch on the Special Forces concept. Requirements for other military vehicles are similar in nature. All must be fast for their size, heavily-armored and well-armed, and all must carry advanced electronics and cargo space into the field. Goals and Objectives Special Forces most often have non-linear combat objectives acting against specific goals and targets instead of simply capturing territory. They must have the flexibility of training and equipment necessary to the completion of a wide range of unusual tasks. There are five primary SF missions in the operational schemes of 3054's military strategy. These are: 1) Unconventional Warfare 2) Guerilla Insurgency Training 3) Intelligence Gathering 4) Search and Rescue 5) Tactical Research and Development Special Forces Mission One: Unconventional Warfare Lancaster's Rose defines four types of Unconventional Warfare: Penetration, Misidentification, Procurement, and Termination. Penetration: Landing under maximum ECIVI screens or as part of a scheduled civilian drop, this mission requires long stays in enemy territory without detection. SF team members may be required to live as natives until ordered into action. This mission may be combined with a Procurement or Termination mission. Misidentification: ln this scenario, the SF team lands publicly and loudly, using paint schemes, codes, uniforms, and battle jargon sure to be associated with another House or merc unit for dirty deeds done by our side. As with Penetration, this mission may be combined with Procurement or Termination. Procurement: This term applies to theft ('inorganic procurement') as well as kidnapping ('organic procurement'). The use of this option implies the safe return of the 'goods' to some friendly area or power. Termination: This option describes the destruction of a chosen target with a minimum of witnesses of collateral damage. Inorganic termination is a fact of life in the raiding business, with targets ranging in size from microchips to 'Mech factories. Organic termination, outright murder for hire, is much more rare. Mercenary 'does not mean 'hired assassin', and Lancaster's Rose does not engage in such actions without substantial proof that the interests of peace are well served by the targeted individual's untimely demise. Special Forces Mission Two: Guerilla Insurgency Training SF units are often called upon to provide native noncombatants with the skills and supplies necessary for the instigation and propagation of guerrilla warfare. Resistance to an enemy force may function in concert with friendly conventional forces, in preparation for a friendly invasion, or as a last-ditch defense when friendly conventional forces have been defeated. SF 'Mechs and armor units always carry small caches of personal laser weapons, along with extra power packs, and the means to recharge those packs from internal power. SF infantry are certified in languages and weapon and tactics instruction, allowing them to train a friendly population in terminology familiar to the trainees. The insurgency mission is perhaps the most dangerous any SF force may undertake. There is always the very real possibility of betrayal, discovery, or military defeat to consider. Add that to the fact that soldiers captured while performing this mission are usually executed as spies, and you can begin to understand the need for stringent recruiting and training requirements for SF personnel. Special Forces Mission Three: Intelligence Gathering SF units will most often be the first introduced into potentially hostile areas. Their job is usually to gather information about enemy strong points and weak points, and to transmit such information back to friendly forces. This communication can involve hyperpulse generators, carrier pigeons, or any technology in between. The primary intelligence mission nearly always involves moving through enemy-held areas undetected. This is not easily accomplished, thanks to modern and recovered electronic technologies. To add to the dangers, 'Mechs and vehicles loaded with the electronic and movement capabilities necessary to intelligence-gathering are usually light on weapons and armor. Care must therefore be exercised in the choice of intelligence units, with a special eye to survivability in the event of discovery. Special Forces Mission Four: Search and Rescue The scenario is familiar. An AeroSpace pilot ejects behind enemy lines as her fighter spirals down into an 'undesirable high- speed air-ground interface'. The resulting column of smoke might attract any number of hostiles, from capture squads to local farmers. Enter SAR, the team charged with the recovery of human resources from the grasp of the enemy. SAR duties most often go to hovertanks, faster than all get-out and bristling with antipersonnel weapons and electronic tracking gear. In terrain where such tanks are less than effective, ultra-fast SF'Mechs or VTOLS are assigned SAR duties. SAR teams are not designed for contact with front-line hostile forces. Rather, they use superior speed to avoid forward units and penetrate to the search area. In the rear, contacts will most likely be supply units, capture squads, or civilians. These can usually be dealt with by the SAR team's weapons. Special Forces Mission Five: Tactical Research and Development As elite forces, SF units often field-test new weapons, tactics, and configurations still in the experimental stage. In most cases, this means that any regiment's most talented and creative Techs will be found attached to the Special Forces. Technicians assigned to SF units usually find their work stressful, competitive, dangerous, and more fun than you could possibly imagine. Also, since most MechWarriors, pilots, and tank commanders assigned to Special Forces are veterans with strong opinions on operational effectiveness, their Techs are always replacing, reconfiguring, and reworking machines to the owner's specifications. ("Dammit! That's the last time some punk hiding behind a tree pops me one from behind! Rip out the Linblad and the ammo, Willy, and stick in one of those Active Probes. Always felt kinda dumb carrying anti-missile ammo in my torso, anyway!") Conclusion I must draw an analogy from Terra of the 20th Century to finish my talk here today. Thanks to the recent sacrifices of the Com Guards on Tukkayid, we are now locked in 'cold war' with the Clans, one which will certainly blossom into killing heat in less than thirteen years. We must not allow ourselves the luxury of relaxation. We must keep up the pressure in subtle ways, encouraging the occupied worlds of the Federated Commonwealth, Rasalhague, and the Draconis Combine alike to make life difficult for their conquerors. We can best accomplish this by increasing our emphasis on unconventional warfare, training and implementation. You see, I have been behind the 'Iron Curtain', inside the Clans Occupation Zone. I have seen the remains of villages that rose up as one against the Clans with no training, no supplies, and no real hope of success. They were armed only with the certain knowledge that they must live free or die. I have seen the brutality with which the Clans reply to such attacks. We, as the ones lucky enough to have a choice, must choose to support their gallant sacrifices. Our comrades under the invader's heels have the will to resist. We must not fail them. SP-type SHD-5S Shadow Hawk Spy The following is a prototypical Special Forces BattleMech, designed according to the specifications given above. It is superficially a 3050s-tech SHD-5M Shadow Hawk with some major modifications. Mass: 55 tons Chassis: Earthwerks II Endo Steel Power Plant: 330 XL Cruising Speed, Ground: 64.8 kph Maximum Speed, Ground: 97.2 kph Jump Jets: HildCo Model 30 Jump Capacity: 200 m Armor: Maximilian 43 Armament: 1 Defiance 1331- Large Laser 1 Defiance P5M Medium Pulse Laser 4 Defiance 133M Medium Lasers Manufacturer: Earthwerks Incorporated Primary Factory: Calloway VI Communications System: Cyclops 14 with Guardian Electronic Countermeasure Suite Targeting and Tracking System: Cyclops Beagle Active Probe with TAG Type: SP-Type SHD-5S Shadow Hawk Spy Tonnage: 55.0 Equipment Mass Internal Structure: 2.75 Engine: 330 XL 12.25 Walking MP: 6 Running MP: 9 Jumping MP: 5 Heat Sinks: 13(26) 3.0 Gyro: 4.0 Cockpit: 3.0 Armor Factor: 184 11.5 Location Internal Structure Armor Value Head 3 9 Center Torso 18 30 Center Torso (rear) 6 Right/Left Torso 13 20 Right/Left Torso (rear) 6 Right/Left Arm 9 18 Right/Left Leg 13 25 Weapons and AmmoLoc. CSMass Large Laser RA 2 5.0 Medium Pulse Laser LA 1 2.0 Medium Laser RT 1 1.0 Medium Laser RT 1 1.0 Medium Laser LT 1 1.0 Medium Laser LT 1 1.0 Beagle Active Probe RT 2 1.5 Guardian ECM Suite LT 2 1.5 TAG LA 1 1.0 Jump Jets RL 2 1.0 Jump Jets LL 2 1.0 Jump Jets CT 1 0.5 Cargo Space H 1 0.5 Back to BattleTechnology 21 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com