The Legion in 2297, Part 2: Organization

2. Organizational principles

The Foreign Legion must operate across an interstellar French state in which distance, transport capacity, infrastructure and available support vary enormously. A battalion near a major base may draw upon aerospace transport and sophisticated workshops; a company on a remote colony may have to sustain several isolated posts with little immediate assistance.

Its organization therefore combines three principles: standardized maneuver units, layered support and task organization. Squads, platoons and rifle companies remain recognizable wherever possible. Each echelon owns the capabilities it needs routinely, while scarce or specialized assets are concentrated higher. Additional personnel and equipment are assigned according to mission rather than permanently duplicated in every formation.

2.1 Standardized cores and modular support

The basic maneuver organization is deliberately conventional. Ten-person squads provide a common building block; three interchangeable squads form a platoon; and three rifle platoons form the maneuver core of a standard rifle company. Personnel and replacements can move between formations without learning an entirely new organization.

Specialists appear progressively as the organization grows. Companies provide tactical support their platoons require frequently. Battalions concentrate reconnaissance, signals, engineering, medical, transport and sustainment assets that would be wasteful to duplicate in every company. Regimental headquarters and regional commands coordinate the heavier or more specialized capabilities used to reinforce them.

This structure also reflects interstellar transport. Infantry and their immediate equipment can be moved comparatively easily. Heavy artillery, large vehicle fleets, extensive workshops and aerospace systems consume far more shipping capacity and depend upon established infrastructure. They are pooled where possible rather than permanently distributed throughout the Legion.

The result is not complete self-sufficiency. A company can operate independently for a limited period, a battalion can conduct a substantial colonial operation, and a regiment can coordinate a prolonged regional effort. Major conventional war still requires the wider French military.

2.2 Support by echelon

Level	Capabilities normally held at that level	Capabilities normally obtained from above
Squad	Individual and squad weapons, small reconnaissance drone, powered load assistance and robotic hauler	Indirect fire, guided missiles, specialist engineering and technical repair
Platoon	Three interchangeable squads, command group and limited pooled mission equipment	Persistent reconnaissance, heavier weapons, specialist medical support and transport
Company	Mortars, guided weapons, larger drones, EW/counter-drone capability and modest technical support	Heavy fires, extensive reconnaissance, engineers, medical stabilization and bulk sustainment
Battalion	Reconnaissance, heavier mortars, signals/EW, pioneers, medical stabilization, transport, workshops and bulk logistics	Major artillery, extensive engineering, area air defence, aerospace support and strategic transport
Regimental level	Command, long-range reconnaissance, heavier fires, engineering, signals, transport, medical, maintenance, supply, training and replacements	Most aerospace and orbital power, strategic lift, theatre surveillance and major base infrastructure
Regional / theatre command	Joint aerospace, space, intelligence, logistics, communications and infrastructure for all French forces	Strategic reinforcement and assets allocated by national command

The table describes organizational responsibility rather than an inflexible inventory. A particular regiment may not possess every listed capability organically. Some are supplied by units habitually attached from regular French formations or retained under theatre command.

The 13e DBLE is treated at regimental level in this general hierarchy. Its traditional title does not make it an enlarged battalion, but its unusual role and the continuing development of its headquarters are addressed later in the document.

2.3 Four categories of support

The availability of a capability does not necessarily mean that the supported formation owns it. Legion orders of battle distinguish four relationships.

·     Organic support. Personnel and equipment permanently belong to the unit’s establishment, command structure, administration and training cycle. A company support platoon or battalion signals element can be redistributed internally without seeking another formation’s approval.

·     Habitually attached support. The element belongs administratively elsewhere but trains and deploys repeatedly with the same Legion formation. Familiar commanders, procedures and communications reduce the normal friction of attachments.

·     Temporarily attached support. The element is assigned for a particular operation, emergency or campaign phase. The receiving headquarters directs its employment, while administration, replacement and specialist maintenance normally remain with the parent organization.

·     Higher-command support. Another headquarters retains control and supplies a service or battlefield effect—air cover, interface transport, orbital surveillance, long-range fire, area air defence or strategic casualty evacuation—without the supporting unit joining the Legion order of battle.

The distinction matters most when support is scarce. A battalion commander may request a fighter strike or an interface transport, but neither aircraft becomes a battalion asset merely because it supports a Legion mission. Higher command must balance that request against other French units, civilian authorities and operations elsewhere.

2.4 Administrative and operational control

Legion formations normally exist within overlapping chains of authority. Legion command controls recruiting, personnel administration, postings, training standards, traditions, unit identity and much internal sustainment. French regional and joint commands direct military operations and allocate theatre resources.

Assignment to an operational commander does not erase administrative ownership. A regular engineer company supporting a Legion regiment remains a regular French unit; a Legion battalion placed under a larger Army formation remains part of the Legion. The same principle allows battalions and specialist groups to serve under the 13e on Aurore without becoming organic components of that demi-brigade.

2.5 Inter-service integration

Common communications systems, ammunition, logistics procedures and operational doctrine allow Legion and regular units to work together without creating a new command system for every crisis. Integration is strongest where liaison personnel, joint exercises and habitual attachments establish relationships before deployment.

Cultural differences remain. Legion headquarters are accustomed to dispersed operations, uncertain communications and limited immediate support. Regular formations may assume the availability of transport, maintenance and theatre systems that cannot be taken for granted on a remote colony. Conversely, Legion commanders may underestimate the coordination required to integrate heavy fires, aerospace operations or large conventional formations.

The Legion’s answer is to maintain headquarters capable of receiving and employing attachments while retaining enough organic strength to continue operating when promised support is delayed or unavailable.

2.6 Task-organized formations

The standard organization is a framework rather than a fixed answer to every mission. A remote patrol may reinforce a squad with a medic and environmental specialist. A company group may combine a rifle company with reconnaissance, mortars, engineers, transport and aerospace liaison. A battalion task force may add regular artillery, engineers, colonial troops and theatre support.

Where possible, the maneuver headquarters remains intact. A rifle company normally commands its own platoons and receives attachments rather than surrendering individual squads to a newly improvised headquarters. This preserves established relationships and prevents an impressive collection of specialists from becoming a poorly coordinated force.

3. Squad and platoon

3.1 General-purpose rifle squad

The standard light-infantry squad contains ten Legionnaires. It is deliberately general-purpose: every squad can patrol independently, establish a base of fire, assault a position, watch a flank, or reinforce a colonial post. Roles describe the normal distribution of equipment and responsibility rather than ten narrow careers.

Position	Normal rank	Primary function
Squad leader	Sergeant	Commands the squad; navigation, fire control and mission judgment
Assistant squad leader	Corporal or corporal-chef	Second-in-command; controls one fire element and coordinates attachments
Plasma gunner	Legionnaire or corporal	Carries the squad’s principal heavy direct-fire weapon
Plasma assistant / rifleman	Legionnaire	Supports the gunner; qualified replacement and general rifle strength
Automatic gunner	Legionnaire or corporal	Provides sustained suppressive fire
Automatic assistant / rifleman	Legionnaire	Carries ammunition, power and components; qualified replacement
Marksman	Legionnaire or corporal	Precision engagement, observation and overwatch
Drone operator / rifleman	Legionnaire or corporal	Operates the reconnaissance drone and tactical sensors
Rifleman	Legionnaire	General combat role and mission-qualified secondary specialty
Rifleman	Legionnaire	General combat role and mission-qualified secondary specialty

The squad can divide into two fire elements under the squad leader and assistant leader, but the organization is not rigidly built around fixed four- or five-person teams. Casualties, terrain, attachments and the plasma or automatic weapon’s employment will change the exact grouping.

The squad sergeant remains responsible for the whole squad even when it divides. The assistant controls the second element but does not lead a permanently fixed fire team.

3.2 Cross-training

Riflemen and assistants carry useful secondary qualifications. A platoon can therefore distribute pooled weapons and technical equipment without creating a permanent specialist squad. Common secondary qualifications include missile operator, mortar crewman, medic’s assistant, drone operator, vehicle driver, demolitions user, communications specialist and robotic-systems maintainer.

3.3 Rifle platoon

Element	Personnel	Function
Platoon command group	5	Command, communications, medical support and a flexible fifth specialist
1st squad	10	General-purpose infantry
2nd squad	10	General-purpose infantry
3rd squad	10	General-purpose infantry
Total	35	Baseline establishment

The command group normally consists of the lieutenant, a sergeant-chef, a senior communications/systems specialist, a combat medic and one flexible rifleman, driver or drone assistant. An Aspirant is normally supernumerary rather than occupying the flexible fifth position; a platoon with an Aspirant attached therefore has a usual strength of 36.

The three squads have the same official organization. Informal strengths are expected: one squad may contain the best scouts, another the most experienced plasma team, and a third the strongest breachers. Those are accumulated proficiencies and mission load plans, not permanent organizational distinctions.

3.4 Platoon leadership

A rifle platoon is commanded by a lieutenant and supported by a senior NCO, normally a sergeant-chef and commonly addressed simply as chef in Legion service. The lieutenant exercises tactical command, receives company orders, plans missions, coordinates attachments and represents the platoon to higher headquarters. The chef manages discipline, training, readiness, routine administration and the practical execution of the commander’s decisions.

This partnership is particularly important in the Legion. A young French officer may command personnel drawn from several worlds and national backgrounds, while the chef may possess decades of service and extensive combat experience. The lieutenant decides what the platoon must accomplish; the chef ensures that it can actually do so. Competent officers consult their senior NCOs, and competent NCOs give direct advice before carrying out the decision.

Squad sergeants are expected to exercise considerable initiative when communications fail or the platoon disperses across patrols, posts or settlements. Formal authority remains clear, but experience carries great practical weight.

3.5 Aspirants

An Aspirant is an officer cadet assigned to an operational platoon for practical training under its commander. The Aspirant shadows the lieutenant, assists with planning and administration, prepares orders and reports, and gradually receives responsibility for briefings, patrols, detachments and exercises.

The Aspirant may act as assistant platoon commander and may be authorized to command temporarily. This is not automatic merely because the cadet holds officer status. The lieutenant remains responsible for the Aspirant’s education and delegated actions, company command determines whether the cadet is ready, and the chef preserves continuity and practical control.

The system is intended to teach command under real conditions. Aspirants do not merely observe from headquarters; they are expected to acquire the judgment required to lead Legionnaires in the field.

3.6 Pooled platoon equipment

·     Shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and heavier antivehicle missiles when issued.

·     Additional reconnaissance or relay drones, ground sensors and communications repeaters.

·     Electronic-warfare or counter-drone modules.

·     Demolition, breaching and obstacle-clearing equipment.

·     Extra plasma-gun and automatic-weapon ammunition or power modules.

·     A light mortar when the mission warrants it.

·     Additional robotic haulers, environmental equipment and casualty-carrying frames.

The 35-person platoon remains the standardized organic core. An Aspirant, forward observer, engineer, interpreter, additional medic, environmental specialist or other mission personnel may join the command group or a squad for a deployment without altering that establishment.

4. Company

The standard Legion rifle company is the smallest formation designed to conduct a substantial colonial operation on its own. It combines three standardized rifle platoons with an organic support platoon, a small headquarters and enough technical/logistical capacity to remain functional without daily battalion assistance.

Element	Approx. strength	Purpose
Company command group	6–8	Command, operations, communications and immediate medical coordination
Three rifle platoons	105	Primary maneuver strength
Support platoon	25–30	Mortars, guided weapons, larger drones, sensors and EW
Technical/logistics section	12–18	Maintenance, supply, vehicles, power and casualty movement
Total	148–161	Baseline; attachments may increase deployed strength

4.1 Company command group

A rifle company is normally commanded by a captain, assisted by a lieutenant as deputy and an adjudant or adjudant-chef as senior company NCO. The remaining command group includes an operations/intelligence NCO, communications specialist, senior medic and one or two clerks, drivers or systems assistants. Several people inevitably perform multiple functions. Formal personnel, intelligence and logistics work remains concentrated at battalion level.

4.2 Support platoon

The support platoon is broader than a traditional weapons platoon. It is the company commander’s tactical toolbox and contains trained teams that know the company’s procedures and platoon leaders.

Element	Typical capability
Platoon HQ / fire-control team	Coordinates observers, targeting, communications and attached fires.
Mortar section	Two or three smart light/medium mortars, fire direction and robotic ammunition carriage.
Guided-weapons section	Mission-selected antivehicle and short-range air-defense launchers.
Drone / technical-reconnaissance section	Persistent reconnaissance, relay, target designation, EW, counter-drone and remote sensors.

Teams may remain centralized or be attached to rifle platoons. A routine patrol might receive a drone/EW pair and a missile team while the mortar section remains with company headquarters. The weapons and sensor packages are modular; the section does not carry every launcher and drone on every mission.

4.3 Technical and logistics section

·     Gauss-weapon and plasma-weapon diagnostics and modular repair.

·     Drone, robot and exoskeleton servicing.

·     Batteries, capacitors, charging systems and local power distribution.

·     Communications and sensor maintenance.

·     Ammunition, spare parts, food, water and environmental consumables.

·     Company vehicles, drivers and basic recovery.

·     Casualty collection and evacuation support.

The section is not a miniature depot. It keeps equipment operating, replaces modules, performs field repairs and identifies what must be evacuated to battalion workshops. The company’s dependence on advanced equipment makes this element part of its combat power rather than an administrative afterthought.

Unlike the support platoon, the technical and logistics section is not a maneuver element and normally remains under company headquarters, although technicians, drivers and casualty personnel may accompany deployed platoons.

4.4 Other company-level formations

“Company” denotes a level of command, not a universal combination of three infantry platoons. Other company-level formations may possess very different personnel, equipment and internal structures according to their purpose.

·     Engineer companies. Pioneer, construction, bridging, route-clearance, habitat and explosive-ordnance elements.

·     Service and technical companies. Transport, supply, maintenance, recovery, power and life-support elements.

·     Reconnaissance and patrol companies. Smaller, highly mobile surveillance and long-range teams.

·     Combat-walker or armored companies. Fighting vehicles supported by substantial maintenance and recovery capacity.

·     Signals, medical, intelligence and security companies. Specialist sections and detachments rather than standardized rifle platoons.

Other branches retain traditional terminology for equivalent echelons. French artillery organizes company-level units as batteries, while cavalry and armored formations use squadrons (escadrons). These formations are company equivalents, but their manpower and methods differ sharply from infantry practice.

Not every company-level formation is a maneuver unit. Rifle companies normally fight as formed bodies. Support and service companies more often distribute platoons, sections or teams among the formations they enable.

5. Battalion and regimental level

The organization presented here is that of a standard Legion light-infantry battalion. It is the basic model from which many other formations can be understood, but it is not a universal blueprint. Engineer, cavalry, armored, reconnaissance, service, training and specialist battalions may possess very different subordinate units.

At battalion level, support becomes qualitatively different. The battalion must coordinate several companies, sustain them for weeks, operate a proper command network, stabilize casualties, repair complex equipment, move bulk supplies and integrate assets from higher formations. It should not, however, become a self-contained miniature brigade.

Element	Approx. strength	Function
Battalion headquarters	40–50	Command, staff, intelligence, liaison and communications
Three maneuver companies	450–480	Normally three rifle companies; some battalions substitute a specialist third company
Support company	100–120	Reconnaissance, heavier fires, signals/EW, pioneers and medical
Service and technical company	110–140	Transport, supply, maintenance, recovery and life support
Official total	700–790	Actual immediately available strength is often lower

5.1 Battalion command and ranks

A standard battalion is normally commanded by a commandant, traditionally styled chef de bataillon while holding battalion command. Particularly large, independent or operationally important battalions may be commanded by a lieutenant-colonel.

Position	Normal rank
Battalion commander	Commandant / chef de bataillon; sometimes lieutenant-colonel
Deputy commander	Senior captain or commandant
Operations officer	Captain
Intelligence officer	Lieutenant or captain
Logistics officer	Captain
Signals officer	Lieutenant or captain
Medical officer	Appropriate commissioned medical rank
Battalion senior NCO	Adjudant-chef or major
Company commanders	Captains

The battalion senior NCO performs the same broad institutional function that the chef performs within a platoon: discipline, standards, personnel management, practical readiness and continuity. In French service, major is a senior NCO or warrant-style rank; the commissioned field rank normally commanding a battalion is commandant.

5.2 General-purpose and specialist battalions

A normal battalion fields three interchangeable rifle companies. In selected formations, the nominal third maneuver company is replaced by a specialist company while the first two companies preserve the battalion’s infantry identity. The specialist company remains a fighting formation and does not replace the support company.

Specialist third company	Operational character	Principal burden
Combat-walker company	Concentrated walker force or platoon attachments to infantry	Technicians, transporters, recovery, charging and spare parts
Protected-mobility company	Mobile reserve, convoy security and armored assault element	Vehicle fleet, crews and maintenance
Long-range patrol company	Extended operations across thinly settled colonial terrain	Sustainment, communications, survival systems and vehicles
Aerospace-mobile company	Prepared for interface or atmospheric lift	Weight limits, landing-zone reconnaissance and air-ground coordination
Pioneer-assault company	Infantry with enhanced breaching and obstacle capabilities	Engineering stores and specialist training

5.3 Battalion support company

·     Reconnaissance and surveillance platoon. Scout teams, snipers/observers, long-endurance drones, ground-surveillance sensors, target acquisition and light reconnaissance vehicles.

·     Heavy fire-support platoon. Medium or heavy smart mortars, fire-direction centre, ammunition handling, counter-mortar sensors and possibly multipurpose missiles.

·     Signals, electronic-warfare and drone platoon. Battalion network, long-range relays, electronic surveillance, jamming, counter-jamming, network security and higher-command links.

·     Pioneer platoon. Route clearance, demolitions, fortifications, simple bridging, obstacles and basic explosive-ordnance work.

·     Medical platoon. Aid station, surgical stabilization, casualty collection, ambulances, medical logistics and environmental/xenobiological monitoring.

True artillery, major bridging, advanced EOD, theatre surveillance and field-hospital care remain above battalion or attached from specialist formations.

5.4 Service and technical company

·     Transport platoon. Cargo and utility vehicles, power-module transport, troop lift, robotic cargo carriers and movement control.

·     Maintenance and recovery platoon. Vehicle, weapon, drone, robot, exoskeleton, communications and sensor repair; mobile workshops and recovery vehicles.

·     Supply platoon. Ammunition, food, water, medical supplies, replacement cells, spare parts and environmental consumables.

·     Headquarters and life-support section. Field shelters, filtration, water purification, decontamination, portable power, waste handling and emergency habitat repair.

Power is a supply class in its own right. Weapons, vehicles, exoskeletons, drones, sensors and communications systems all require charging or replacement cells. A “light” battalion may operate a hundred or more vehicles and hundreds of robotic systems even though most of that machinery supports movement and sustainment rather than direct combat.

5.5 What is not a battalion asset

·     Field or rocket artillery batteries requiring substantial ammunition trains.

·     Medium- and long-range area air-defense systems.

·     Theatre counterbattery radar and wide-area surveillance.

·     Heavy combat engineering, major bridging and large construction equipment.

·     Field hospitals, bulk depots and major overhaul facilities.

·     Aerospace fighters, armed interface craft and orbital combat craft.

·     Strategic and theatre airlift, planetary aerospace surveillance and orbital-base defenses.

·     Strategic missiles and naval orbital-fire support.

5.6 The Legion regiment

Most Legion regiments in 2297 are primarily administrative, institutional and force-generating organizations. They preserve identity and traditions, administer personnel, supervise training and readiness, manage postings and replacements, and maintain support arrangements for their subordinate battalions.

Those battalions need not be stationed together. One may garrison an established colony, another may be divided among frontier posts, and a third may be rebuilding near Tirane or Beta Canum. Legion battalions therefore commonly take the field independently under colonial or joint French commands. A regimental headquarters can command several battalions during a major operation, but this is less common than generating, sustaining and reinforcing dispersed field formations.

5.7 Regimental command and ranks

A regiment is normally commanded by a colonel and assisted by a lieutenant-colonel as deputy. Its senior NCO is usually a major or senior adjudant-chef. Because most regiments seldom assemble operationally, their headquarters need not resemble full brigade staffs; they require enough capacity to administer battalions, coordinate readiness and postings, manage regimental support and form an operational headquarters when required.

Position	Normal rank
Regimental commander	Colonel
Deputy commander	Lieutenant-colonel
Chief of staff / operations head	Commandant or lieutenant-colonel
Regimental senior NCO	Major or adjudant-chef
Battalion commanders	Commandant or lieutenant-colonel
Principal specialist heads	Captain to commandant

5.8 Regiments and demi-brigades in 2297

The Legion maintains thirteen deployable regimental-level formations in addition to the 13e DBLE. Tirane and Beta Canum Commands each control a broadly comparable set of major formations. Beta Canum commits more of its strength to frontier garrisons and active colonial duties; Tirane combines regional security with the Legion’s principal strategic reserve.

Formation	Type	Principal command	General role
1er REI	Infantry regiment	Tirane	General infantry; strategic reserve and inner-Arm reinforcement
2e REI	Infantry regiment	Beta Canum	General infantry; French Arm colonial commitments
3e REI	Infantry regiment	Tirane	General infantry; regional security and expeditionary reserve
4e REI	Infantry regiment	Beta Canum	General infantry; frontier and colonial deployments
5e REI	Infantry regiment	Tirane	General infantry; rebuilding, reinforcement and strategic reserve
1er REIA	Aerospace-mobile infantry regiment	Tirane	Rapid interplanetary and interstellar reinforcement
2e REIA	Aerospace-mobile infantry regiment	Beta Canum	Aerospace-mobile response in the French Arm
1er REC	Cavalry regiment	Tirane	Armored reconnaissance, mobility and reserve combat power
2e REC	Cavalry regiment	Beta Canum	Armored reconnaissance and colonial mobile combat
1er REG	Engineer regiment	Tirane	Combat engineering, infrastructure and specialist support
2e REG	Engineer regiment	Beta Canum	Combat engineering and colonial infrastructure
1er REA	Artillery regiment	Tirane	Field fires, missiles and fire-support coordination
2e REA	Artillery regiment	Beta Canum	Field fires and colonial-theatre reinforcement
13e DBLE	Demi-brigade	Beta Canum	Aurore-based field headquarters with one organic maneuver battalion

The table assigns formations to their normal administrative commands, not immutable garrisons. Battalions and detachments routinely serve elsewhere. Tirane’s three REI compensate for the 13e and the heavier permanent commitments of Beta Canum, giving both colonial commands seven major field organizations on paper before subordinate battalions and attachments are counted.

Earth and Sol Command retains Legion headquarters, recruiting, training, depots, replacement organizations, ceremonial elements and local-security detachments rather than a duplicate field force. These institutional establishments may be grouped under a training and replacement regiment, traditionally the 1er Régiment étranger, but it is not counted among the thirteen deployable field regiments.

Signals, logistics, medical, intelligence and transport functions are organized chiefly through regional support groups, regimental support units and regular French formations rather than separate Legion regiments. The two REIA own the troops and insertion equipment required for aerospace-mobile operations, but not the strategic spacecraft or combat aerospace forces that carry and protect them.

The 13e has only one organic maneuver battalion. Other infantry, aerospace-mobile and cavalry formations placed under it retain their parent-regimental identities and must not be counted twice in any Legion-wide strength audit. The composition and continuing development of the Aurore field command are reserved for later sections.