Jack of Harts

The Republic of Texas Guard remained the primary reserve military organization of the Republic of Texas for centuries. They sent Texas Guard detachments to every Texas colony in the stars, and continually upgraded their weapons systems and craft. They usually did this by acquiring the equipment the frontline military was retiring in favor of newer and better equipment. The Guard kept all of the systems it acquired, even going to the expense of crating up and preserving the equipment they retired in favor of new-to-them systems. And when people “retired” from the Guard they were officially placed on the inactive reserve list. This gave the Guard a massive amount of retired equipment and personnel far beyond their official strength should a large enough emergency ever come up. The War was that emergency.

The Republic of Texas Guard is descended from the Texas State Guard that existed before the Second Great Depression. They were similar to the reserves some other States had at the time, entirely under the command of their governor. They were not a National Guard and did not depend on national funding. There were only a few thousand Texas State Guards when the Second Great Depression began, but their purely Texas funding made them capable of surviving when Washington ran out of money to pay the troops. They had very few desertions, and it was not long before their roster swelled to ten times that number after the Texas Air and Army National Guards joined the State Guard. That made them larger than most national armies and air forces of the time, and they played a starring role during the Drug Wars. That cemented their reputation as a solid military organization and paved the way to their future.

The Republic of Texas Army aerial cavalry regiments have been an integral part of the Army for centuries. They flew ground attack helicopters or transport aircraft during the Second Great Depression, and adopted other aerial attack craft in the decades that followed from the Air Force that slowly disappeared into the ever-devouring maw of the Space Force. They flew all types of atmospheric ground attack and transport craft when the Peloran made Contact, but the technological race that followed made pure airbreathers a relic of the past. By the time The War came upon us all, the Army flew the same Savages and Vigilantes as the other services, though their mission was still purely atmospheric in nature. Their entire reason to exist is to provide scouting, ground support, and transport for their ground pounder brothers and sisters. Their training and their mission reflects this, and many consider them the best pilots for atmospheric operations.