Non-stormtrooper infantry within Imperial Army (revisited)

[newmarduk]

Although many of the foot soldiers within the Galactic Empire's Imperial Army are obviously stormtroopers, many are presumably NOT stormtroopers. For example, the Imperial Army officers could temporarily loan Imperial Navy troopers who are normally stationed aboard Star Destroyers and other Imperial capital ships to use as infantry if there is a shortage of Imperial stormtroopers.

 

There are other sources of foot soldiers for the Imperial Army in case there is a shortage of stormtroopers and Navy troopers. The Imperial Army could hire private mercenaries as foot soldiers, and these either be humans or aliens. The Imperial Army could recruit Compforce troopers, who represent the paramilitary wing of COMPNOR, the civilian branch of the Empire's central government. Compforce troopers are often ill-trained militarily but are fanatically pro-Palpatine and pro-Imperial.

 

The Planetary Security Forces maintained by the governments of individual planets for law-enforcement and military defense could also be pressed into service by the official Imperial military (both the Army and Navy).

 

The Galactic Empire's Army forces therefore would have five main sources of ground troops: stormtroopers, Navy troopers, Compforce, mercenaries, and Planetary Security Forces.

[newmarduk]

The Imperial Army must also have a source of recruits for it's artillery and armored forces. The drivers of repulsorlift troop carriers and tanks and the Army walkers (AT-ATs and AT-STs) are recruited/conscripted from the ranks of the stormtroopers and the Planetary Security Forces. The operators of Imperial Army artillery weapons are generally stormtroopers, with the occasional conscripts from the ranks of Planetary Security Forces and volunteers from the ranks of mercenaries.

 

Compforce members are generally not considered competent to main artillery or pilot a walker or repulsorlift vehicle. Imperial Navy troopers generally lack training with regards to Army artillery and vehicles.

 

AT-AT drivers, I assume, are generally former stormtroopers because they still wear armor. AT-ST drivers, on the other hand, are recruited (often drafted) from the ranks of the Planetary Security Forces because they generally lack body armor. Both AT-AT and AT-ST drivers are often trained to pilot repulsorlift tanks and troop carriers, though occasionally TIE fighter pilots are loaned from the Imperial Navy to use as repulsorlift pilots (piloting a TIE fighter is not unlike piloting a repulsorlift vehicle).

Edited November 6, 2012 by newmarduk

[newmarduk]

The Imperial Navy occasionally would hire private mercenaries and/or conscript Planetary Security Forces (including both ground forces and space forces composed of starfighters and capital ships), but the Imperial Navy is actually far less likely to use mercenaries and Planetary Security Forces than is the Imperial Army.

[newmarduk]

Stormtroopers, I think, come from three main sources: clones, Compforce and Imperial Navy troopers. Compforce units that prove themselves unusually competent militarily are generally integrated into the Stormtrooper Corps. Navy trooper units that prove themselves fanatically pro-Imperial are likewise drafted into the stormtrooper ranks. The stormtrooper clones are bred by Kaminoan cloners or by Spaarti cloning cylinders.