Jack of Harts

The Republic of Texas Marine Corps has two primary components. The ground combat arm, and the ground-support combat arm. Or so those in ground combat would describe them. Those who fly starfighters disagree with that characterization of their arm. Ground pounder Marines come in many flavors. When the President flies, he flies on Marine aerospace craft, which are guarded by Marines. Marines guard the various embassies scattered all over known space. Marines guard every Navy starship in service, and stand ready to jump out of those perfectly good starships when their services are needed on a planetary surface. Many Marines serve on Marine bases in Texas or the various colonies, acting as a fast combat reserve on a system level. It is ironic that the Marines stationed on these fixed bases are the most transient of Marines, as other commands are always seeking to acquire the best and brightest of them for more challenging duties.

The Republic of Texas Marine Corps has been an odd organization since the beginning of the Republic. Part light infantry. Part mobile infantry. Part naval infantry. Part diplomatic guard. Some are lawmen. Some fight in air and space. All wear powered battle armor. Every Marine is a rifleman. They consider themselves the premiere Texas ground, air, and space combatants. The Space Force and the Army disagree with them. The Navy laughs in capital missiles. But it is undeniable that there is a certain mythos to being a Texas Marine that is larger than life. They have much in common with the Texas Rangers in that. They are relatively few in number compared to the other services, but their deeds are the stuff of legends. And wherever the Texas military goes in any numbers, you can expect at least some Texas Marines to be part of that force. Sometimes they are the entirety of the force.

The Republic of Texas Space Force operated the B-17 Valkyrie throughout The War, with successive point updates to cover up deficiencies in the rushed design. They promised an upgraded production version every year as The War continued, but retooling was difficult and the lost production time would have badly affected deployment. So they continued to build the Valkyries until they drove the Shang from the Hyades Cluster. Only then did Texas authorize the construction of the new B-25 Super Valkyrie that included every major update and lesson learned during the Valkyrie’s two decades of front line service. The first of them technically saw service before War’s End, but most military historians consider them a Post War design, as they saw no major combat actions. Very few were built before War’s End, and the factories were shut down afterwards. Those Super Valkyries, and the many Valkyries rebuilt to their standard, became Texas’ primary bomber in the decades of peace that followed.