In the Federated Suns, it is the responsibility of a planet’s nobility to encourage promising young men and women to enter the military. Those young people who show exceptional potential, either because they have scored high on tests given regularly by the AFFS or be-cause of their athletic abilities, are offered scholarships by the planet’s nobility and government to attend the nearest accred-ited military academy. If the young person would like to join the AFFS but cannot voyage to an academy because of a lack of money, he may join an ROTC corps and become a reserve of-ficer with the local planetary guard units. If his career in the PUG is notable, the officer might be asked to join a front-line unit in the AFFS.
A cadet’s first two years at an academy are spent learning military fundamentals as well as getting a heavy background in sciences. The student is also encouraged to think about what part of the AFFS he or she would like to join. Once the cadet has decided, most of the final two years of academy life are devoted to his chosen specially. To ensure that every soldier understands at least generally how his role fits in with the rest of the effort, even aspiring MechWarriors and AeroSpace Pilots must learn what it means to be a common infantryman, a clerk, and a Tech.
There are ten major military academies in the Federated Suns today, as well as five lesser academies. Though some pro-vide training in all disciplines, most specialize in a particular group of disciplines. The AFFS administers the academies to ensure that the curriculum will prepare the cadets for what the Davion military requires of a new officer.
Recently, the AFFS has introduced a new and radical pro-gram designed for training MechWarriors outside the military academy system. The basis of the program are Training Battal-ions, a small staff of teachers and instructors who travel to worlds, particularly poorer worlds on a hostile border. Once there, they provide ‘Mech training for young recruits who would otherwise be too poor to attend a militar y academy. Many AFFS MechWarriors believe the Training Battalions offer training that is skimpy at best, and dislike them intensely. There are currently three Training Battalions in the Federated Suns.
ALBION MILITARY ACADEMY, NEW AVALON
The Albion Military Academy is is the oldest and one of the most prestigious of all military academies in the Federated Suns.
It began its life in the 2400s as an academy for officers entering the New Avalon Militia. The school, which is some 30 kilometers south of Avalon City, was designated an official Star League Mili-tary Academy in 2604 after extensive renovation and expansion of the facilities. Those attending were guaranteed the finest pos-sible military education. After spending five years in the Regular Army, any graduate of the Albion could expect to come back to the AFFS and rise quickly in the ranks.
Pictured here is a young MechWarrior cadet. Though the of-ficial age of entry into the AFFS is 16, some special circumstances permit a boy or girl to join as young as 14. The Cadet is wearing a cooling undershirt, a gar-ment made of tiny tubes through which water can be circulated to cool the wearer. The white epaulettes on his shoulder show his status as a student in one of the many MechWarrior academies in the Federated Suns.
Many of the Academy’s instructors chose to stay with the school rather than heed General Kerensky’s order to abandon the Inner Sphere. This was fortunate for the Federated Suns because the skills of several key sol-diers, all trained at Albion, were what permitted the Fed-erated Suns to survive the ravages of the Succession Wars. Today, the school trains MechWarriors and AeroSpace Pilots, as well as infantry, armor, and artillery unit officers. Strategy and tactics are heavily emphasized at Albion.
The NAIS College of Military Sciences is the Albion’s rival.
Yearly, the BattleMech Training Cadres of the two schools meet on Jasper Plain a few hundred kilometers away to challenge one another in a series of wargames. The winners are declared ‘The young lions of New Avalon.”
The Commanding Officer of the Albion Military Academy is Colonel Fethu Simons.
NAIS COLLEGE OF MILITARY SCIENCES (NEW AVALON MILITARY ACADEMY)
While the Albion Academy may be the oldest training insti-tution for officers in the Federated Suns, the nearly forgotten origins of the NAIS College of Military Sciences make it a close second. Few people seem to remember that the shiny new build-ings of the largest university in the Inner Sphere stand on the location of what was once the New Avalon Military Academy.
The NAMA was built a decade after the Star League took over the Albion Military Academy so that New Avalon might continue to contribute its fair share of soldiers to the armed forces of the Federated Suns.
Besides getting their training, the cadets of NAMA received a heavy dose of political training and were closely scrutinized by the MIIO. This was to ensure that the school’s graduates would form a loyal core of soldiers in the AFFS who could be counted on in times of internal strife. This tradition of unquestioned loy-alty was to continue for many years.
After the fall of the Star League, the NAMA fell into disfavor, even though its graduates continued to be loyal soldiers. For awhile, the NAMA and its various ‘Mech regiments that did tours of duties on the front lines become the object of public scorn because the people thought they could not measure up to their flashier counterparts from the Albion Academy. When the num-ber of cadets requesting to attend the academy plummeted, some government and military leaders suggested tearing down the academy or allowing Albion to annex it.
lt was Prince Ian who saved NAMA and set it back on the road to prominence. As a graduate of NAMA, he showed his gratitude to his old school by ordering it rebuilt and restaffed when he came to power. Later, Prince Hanse Davion, looking for a way to justify his desire to build a huge and expensive univer-sity, decided to make the New Avalon Military Academy the physi-cal center of his
new university, which would give the institution both military and scientific importance. Though the nobility had objected to Davion’s proposal to build a new university, they welcomed the idea of a new academic institution built around the military academy. That Hanse Davion foresaw their reaction is just another example of his skill as a politician.
The College of Military Sciences, as it is known today, may be the most expensively furnished military academy in the Inner Sphere. It lacks nothing. There are plenty of training ‘Mechs and fighters as well as simulators of any conceivable ‘Mech design known in the Inner Sphere. There are three Gauntlets (booby-trapped mazes designed to test a cadet’s responses) as well as plenty of open land for practicing the art of war.
The College of Military Sciences retains many of the tradi-tions of the NAMA. One of the most highly prized is the tradition of loyalty to the Federated Suns and the Davion family. The Com-manding Officer of the College of Military Sciences is Major-General Jeremiah Davion.
BATTLE ACADEMY ON ROBINSON
The Battle Academy has just recently come back from years of disuse and war damage. At the start of the First Succession War, the Battle Academy had just graduated its first class of officers. When the Draconis Combine took Robinson, the con-quering soldiers gave special attention to the Battle Academy. In a series of actions intended to demoralize the people of Robinson, the Occupation Administrators of the Draconis Combine forced the few cadets who had not perished in the invasion to tear down the buildings of the Battle Academy with their bare hands. That it was impossible did not matter to the Kuritans.
It has taken these many years for the Battle Academy to be fully rebuilt and restated. In 3020, with the Robinson economy entering a prosperous period, the Sandoval family, Dukes of the planet and nominal controllers of the entire Draconis March, decided to reconstruct the school. They spared no effort to make it equal to anything at Albion or the College of Military Sciences on New Avalon.
The Battle Academy is currently commanded by Colonel David Sandoval.
WARRIOR’S HALL, NEW SYRTIS
Warrior’s Hall was originally an officer’s club and VOQ (Vis-iting Officer’s Quarters) for a nearby Regular Army base near the capital city of New Syrtis. During the early years of the Star League, the Hall served both Regular Army officers and those from the Davion military as a place to mix and mingle. Whenever these two groups met, they inevitably disputed the question of which military was the best, the Regular Army or the AFFS. The heated discussions, arguments, and drunken brawls soon con-vinced the commanding officers of both militaries to give their men a chance to settle the question. The two groups raised enough money to build a maze of obstacles and booby-traps, similar to the Gauntlets used today, and gave the soldiers old
‘Mech trainers to race and fight in. Now, whenever the arguments inside Warrior’s Hall got too heated, the officers could jump into a trainer and either fight it out or simply compare times through the obstacle course.
It was a short step from this to using the mazes and trainers to teach ‘Mech skills to the promising young men and women in the nearby village who were too poor to attend a military acad-emy. Soon, both the AFFS and the Regular Army realized the benefit of the Warrior’s Hall and jointly began to expand the Hall’s capacity to train would-be MechWarriors. By the end of the Star League era, Warrior’s Hail was a fully operational military acad-emy capable of teaching every military discipline except for JumpShip operations.
In recent years, the Warrior’s Hall has become the center of pro-Michael and anti-Hanse sentiment. No doubt the Duke of New Syrtis’s agents promote this attitude, for Hasek-Davion likes to fill vacancies in his elite Syrtis Fusiliers with the top graduates of the Hall.
Today, Warrior’s Hall is commanded by Colonel Kathleen Sullivan.
SAKHARA ACADEMY
The Sakhara Academy is one of the few private military acad-emies in the Federated Suns. Created by a group of retired Star League officers in 2613, the Academy has willingly accepted anyone who can afford the tuition. During the First Succession War, the Sakhara Academy distinguished itself when its staff and students, about six regiments of mixed weapons, withstood and even repulsed three separate attacks by the vaunted 3rd Sword of Light ‘Mech regiment and three other veteran Kurita regiments. This action, known in the academy as the Days of Jousting at Dragons, made the academy’s reputation.
Today, though Sakhara can only turn out 20 MechWarriors and an equal numbers of pilots, armor, and infantry officers ev-ery year, the traditions and history of the school still carry much respect among the AFFS. Because the school is so small and so tradition-bound, graduates grow to love it and consider the four years there as the best years of their lives. Yet, the training is extremely tough, both mentally and physically.
The current commander of the Sakhara Academy is Com-mandant Lindsey Trevellis, a retired AFFS Colonel.
ARMSTRONG FLIGHT ACADEMY
Located on Galax, the Armstrong Flight Academy was built during the First Succession War to train DropShip and JumpShip crews. The reason the AFFS chose Galax was because Feder-ated-Boeing, the Inner Sphere’s largest DropShip manufacturer, was also located on and around the planet.
Today, the teaching staff at the Armstrong Flight Academy are also employees of Federated-Boeing. Their expertise makes graduates of this academy some of the best DropShip and JumpShip crewmen in the AFFS.
Colonel Jaswa Punalla currently commands the Armstrong Flight Academy.
POINT BARROW MILITARY ACADEMY
The Point Barrow Military Academy is currently under inves-tigation for supposed anti-Davion activities. Several anti-govern-ment bombings in the nearby capital city have been traced back to some cadets in the academy. ComStar finds the whole matter quite puzzling and it is still under investigation by ROM agents.
The academy is otherwise nondescript. It cannot teach fighter pilots, but is known for the quality of its Techs and Engineers.
Command of the academy is currently shared by Colonel Calvin Froshith and Major Claudia Saunders of Military Intelligence.
WAR COLLEGE OF GOSHEN
The War College of Goshen has been quietly training its students in the fine art of piloting a ‘Mech or a fighter for the past 70 years. Its training cadre, now disbanded, was once a key part of the local defense structure in the Coreward Theater of the Capellan March.
Colonel Francine Maryvelt commands the academy.
KILBOURNE ACADEMY
The Kilbourne Academy is one of two military academies located near the Periphery. As the representatives of education in a very ignorant section of the realm, admittance is not limited to those who plan to join the AFFS. Citizens are allowed to at-tend the academy’s non-military classes.
The Kilbourne Academy, though it trains MechWarriors and AeroSpace Pilots, actually specializes in training Techs and En-gineers. Colonel T. R. Graham commands the academy.
FILTVELT MILITARY ACADEMY
The recently built Filtvelt Military Academy also permits ci-vilians to attend its non-military classes. Most of the graduates of Filtvelt and of the Kilbourne Academy become incorporated into Periphery units of the AFFS. Commanding the Filtvelt Mili-tary Academy is Colonel Katie Graham, sister of Colonel T. R.
Graham.