Jack of Harts

The United States Army of Jack’s younger days was primarily responsible for protecting America’s District of Columbia and the various colonies and territories scattered throughout the cosmos. It was a fundamentally defensive organization in practice, while it celebrated great offensives of the past and trained for them from time to time. Often compared to the old Coast Guard by the other services, the Army was simply not the most prestigious of military services. Though they continually designed and purchased new small arms, tanks, mechs, or aircraft every year, in a neverending quest to be at the tip of the technological spear whenever the time came for them to really cut loose. I will note for the record that while most Army aircraft could enter space, and many were actually capable of interplanetary flight, the Army classified them as aircraft since they were designed primarily to work in planetary environments. Also, if they were spacecraft, they would be the province of the Space Force, and the Army couldn’t have that. So the Army never owned or operated spacecraft. Even when they were operating in space.

The United States of America’s Federal Navy in Jack’s childhood focused primarily on large warships with only enough smaller escorts to protect them. It was almost unheard of for an America destroyer squadron to go anywhere alone. They escorted the carriers, cruisers, or battleships that flew America’s flag throughout the cosmos. And those flagships were designed and built larger and more powerful than any other nations’ warships. It was a matter of pride that America’s fleet must be the most advanced fleet in space, capable of doing what no other fleet could do. Facing the aliens in battle with even numbers and winning. They never achieved that goal, though they got closer than any other fleet. And when the Shang attacked, they learned that when deployed in squadron strength, even American destroyers could be a real threat to them. They did not enjoy learning that lesson.

The United States of America as it existed in Jack’s childhood had a relatively weak Federal government compared to the various State governments that selected its Senators. But the Western Alliance had colonized nearly two dozen star systems before Contact, and America tried to place at least small colonies in each of them. Add in the many, many more colonies started once cheaper and more efficient gravitic hyperspace engines came out, and the federal government had an impressive amount of taxes coming in. Far more than they needed for their regular operations. And the States denied them the option of funding Federal social programs in order to control the population. So the Feds built big beautiful buildings in the District of Columbia, big beautiful buildings in the colonies and territories to administer them, and a big beautiful black navy fleet to fly between every rock that carried an American flag anywhere on it. And that is why the American Federal Navy was one of the largest navies in existence when The War began.