Terran Alliance Armed Forces

Originally conceived as a peacekeeping force to maintain ‘order’ inside the Terran Alliance, the TAAF was intended to be used as a means to enforce the laws of the Alliance in relation to international relations. This didn’t hold true for long, as the TAAF found itself being used for a variety of different purposes. Exploration missions, some cargo transport, and some research & development all fall under the monolithic umbrella of the TAAF these days.

Members of the Terran Alliance are drawn from all walks of life. Some of them are veterans of their home nation’s military, who can transfer from that organization to the TAAF under service recognition agreements. Others are idealistic patriots who wish move beyond the era of nationalism and serve humanity as a whole. And plenty of others are just civilians with a desire to serve and an appetite to see the cosmos – service with the Terran Alliance Armed Forces guarantees that you will at least see other worlds inside the Sol system.

All soldiers of the TAAF each have a unique 9-digit identification number assigned upon recruitment. The ID number is prefixed with one letter signifying service branch. A for Administration, B for the Navy, C for the Marine Corps, D for the Army and Logistical Corps, E for the CEC, and F for TAPS.

Rank Structure

The TAAF operates using a simplified ranking system compared to most Earth militaries. There are 10 Officer ratings 5 Warrant Officer ratings, and 10 Enlisted ratings (though only the Army, Marines, and Navy have Warrant Officers and Enlisted members). For ease of distinguishing between service branches, each rank has a different title for each service branch.

Officers

Promotion Points	Rank/Pay Grade	Administration	Army	CEC	Marines (Pre-2023 in brackets)	Navy	TAPS
0	O-1	Yeoman (YEO)	Cadet-Lieutenant (CDLT)	Cadet-Engineer (CENG)	Cadet-Captain (CDCP) [Kadettkapitän]	Ensign (EN)	Carrier (CAR)
3	O-2	Junior Leftenan (JLFT)	2nd Lieutenant (LT2)	Corpsman (CPM)	Squad Captain (SQC) [Kaderkapitän]	Junior Lieutenant (JLT)	Senior Carrier (SCAR)
6	O-3	Leftenant (LFT)	1st Lieutenant (LT1)	Engineer (ENG)	Platoon Captain (PLC) [Zugkapitän]	Lieutenant (LNT)	Flight Pilot (FLP) / Flight Engineer (FLE) / Operations Manager (OPS)
9	O-4	Leftenant Commander (LFTC)	Lieutenant Major (LTM)	Squad Leader (SQL)	Commandant (CMDT) [Kommandant]	Lieutenant Commander (LCMD)	Senior Flight Pilot (SFLP) / Senior Flight Engineer (SFLE) / Senior Operations Manager (SOPS)
12	O-5	Administrative Commander (ACMD)	Major (MJR)	Senior Squad Leader (SSQL)	Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) [Oberstleutnant]	Commander (CMD)	Postmaster (POST) (of planet or major location)
15	O-6	Administrator (ADMIN)	Major-Colonel (MJC)	Engineering Colonel (ENGC)	Colonel (COL) [Oberst]	Captain (CPT)	N/A (pay grade exists, but no rank title)
20	O-7	Senior Administrator (SADM)	Colonel-General (CLG)	Lieutenant General (LTG)	Brigadier (BGD) [Brigadegeneral]	Vice Admiral (VADM) or Fleet Captain (FCAP)	System Postmaster (SYSPO) (of Sol or Centauri) OR Service Postmaster (SERPO) (of the Navy, Army, Marines, or CEC), Flight Postmaster (FLIPO)
25	O-8	Vice-Chief (VCHF)	Marshal (MSL)	General (GNC)	Brigadier (2 Stars) (BGD2) [Generlamajor]	Admiral (ADM)	N/A (pay grade exists, but no rank title)
30	O-9	Chief of ... (C<Bureau Abbreviation> (ACC, Arch, IA, MInt, etc)	Field Marshal (FMSL)	Council General (CGNC)	Brigadier (3 Stars) (BGD3) [Generallieutenant]	Fleet Admiral (FADM)	N/A (pay grade exists, but no rank title)
(By Appointment Only)	O-10	N/A (no O-10 Administration rank exists)	Marshal of the Army (MSLA)	N/A (a Council General stationed at Tycho fills this role as needed)	Brigadier of the Marine Corps (BMC) [General]	Admiral of the Navy (ADMN)	Postmaster-General (PMG)

Promotion to flag rank (O-7 and above) is as much a matter of politics as competence. All prospective flag officers must be nominated by the Council of Ten and confirmed by the People’s Chamber and State’s Chamber before being promoted to O-7. If a character who is eligible for such a rank has taken actions that might place them in disfavor with those groups — or even one specific member of those groups — they may be refused promotion past O-6, regardless of their qualifications. On the other hand, connections are helpful when striving for flag rank. For all intents and purposes, the highest a player character can rise in the ranks for actual rank is O-6, barring odd circumstances. Players may receive a pay grade higher than O-6, however.

Warrant Officers

A warrant officer is a specific type of officer, a technical specialist rather than a generalist with command training. Instead of being commissioned by the Grand Duchess as a military officer, a new warrant officer —at the W-1 pay grade — receives a warrant from the appropriate member of the Joint Chiefs who oversees his service branch. Pay grade/ranks W-2 and above are commissioned by the Grand Duchess, however.

The primary thing that sets warrant officers apart from their commissioned brethren is that they remain single-specialty soldiers throughout their careers, focusing on their chosen areas of expertise rather than attaining command and staff positions. The vast majority of warrant officers are formerly enlisted personnel who qualified for warrants after two to five years of service.

Almost all warrant officers are technical specialists, serving in support arms rather than combat arms. The exceptions to this rule are aerospace warrant officers, who can serve as pilots in the Army and Navy, and Army Special Forces warrant officers, who serve in all Special Forces positions. In terms of rank and respect, a warrant officer is roughly equivalent to a commissioned officer of equivalent pay grade, and is usually deferred to in technical matters within their area of expertise. In a command or combat situation, however, a commissioned officer almost always takes precedence.

In game terms, any character with an appropriate character background can begin play as a warrant officer, or become a warrant (officer during play by choosing the Warrant feat. Warrant officers determine their starting promotion points in the same fashion as enlisted personnel and commissioned officers, but learn their pay grade/rank and determine their rank benefits by consulting warrant officer rank table.

Promotion Points	Rank/Pay Grade	Army	Marines (Pre-2023 in brackets)	Navy
0	W-1	Gunnery Warrant Officer Fifth Class	Marine Warrant Officer Fifth Class [Marineinfanterist Feldwebel]	Naval Warrant Officer Fifth Class
3	W-2	Gunnery Warrant Officer Fourth Class	Marine Warrant Officer Fourth Class [Marineinfanterist Oberfeldwebel]	Naval Warrant Officer Fourth Class
7	W-3	Gunnery Warrant Officer Third Class	Marine Warrant Officer Third Class [Marineinfanterist Hauptfeldwebel]	Naval Warrant Officer Third Class
12	W-4	Gunnery Warrant Officer Second Class	Marine Warrant Officer Second Class [Marineinfanterist Stabsfeldwebel]	Naval Warrant Officer Second Class
18	W-5	Gunnery Warrant Officer First Class	Marine Warrant Officer First Class [Marineinfanterist Oberstabsfeldwebel]	Naval Warrant Officer First Class

Enlisted

Not everyone signs up to make a career out of the armed forces. Some people just want to see the sights on the government's credit, others are drawn in by the appeal of the post-service grant money. Some do it to spite family, while others end up doing it by court order. Regardless of the path they took, these people all enlist, comitting to serve for at least 6 years. Enlisted service members form the bulk of the personnel in the three branches that are not career-only - the Army, Marines, and Navy. Even when taking the other three service branches into consideration they still vastly outnumber comissioned officers and warrant officers.

Promotion Points	Rank/Pay Grade	Army	Marines (Pre-2023 in brackets)	Navy
0	E-1	Gunner (GR)	Private (PR) [Soldat]	Crewman (CM)
1	E-2	Gunner First Class (GRF)	Lance Corporal (LCP) [Gefreiter]	Senior Crewman (SCM)
3	E-3	Gunnery Corporal (GCP)	Corporal (CPL) [Obergefreiter]	Lead Crewman (LCM)
6	E-4	Specialist (SPC)	Sergeant (SG) [Hauptgefreiter]	Petty Officer Second Class (POSC)
9	E-5	Gunnery Sergeant (GSG)	Staff Sergeant (SSG) [Stabsgefreiter]	Petty Officer First Class (POFC)
12	E-6	Senior Gunnery Sergeant (SGSG)	Senior Staff Sergeant (SSSG) [Oberstabsgefreiter]	Chief Petty Officer (CPO)
15	E-7	Master Sergeant (MSG)	Sergeant Major (SGM) [Unteroffizier]	Master Chief Petty Officer (MCPO)
20	E-8	Senior Master Sergeant (SMSG)	Senior Sergeant Major (SSGM) [Stabsunteroffizier]	Senior Master Chief Petty Officer (SMCPO)
25	E-9	Chief Master Sergeant (CMSG)	Command Sergeant Major (CSGM) [Befehlscorporal]	Command Master Chief Petty Officer (CMCPO)
(By Appointment Only)	E-10	Master Sergeant of the Army (MSGM)	Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps (SMMC) [Stabsunteroffizier der Marineinfanteristkorps]	Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON)