United Trade Coalition Terrestrial Forces

The United Trade Coalition Terrestrial Forces, more commonly known as the Ground Forces or the Army, and even to a lesser extent the '''Grunts. '''It is the second largest branch of the United Trade Coalition Armed Forces after the Space Forces of the United Trade Coalition.

It is headed by the Supreme General of the Terrestrial Forces, who is turn second in command (but equal to the Grand Admiral of the Space Forces) under the High Commander of the Armed Forces.

Although it is the second largest in terms of personnel size to the Space Forces, the Terrestrial Forces offer a much larger force that handle Ground and Terrestrial Operations, which is an estimated in the hundreds of millions but still below that of the Space Forces if all of the Naval personnel are counted. It has a wider variety Special Forces (Spec-Ops) such as the Scout Corps, the Terrestrial Rangers, the Green Armor Corps (GAC), and the Orbital Assault Troopers (abbreviated OAT). It is also common that an individual could be one or two of these at the same time. For example in Michael Grant and Jared Manning's case where during his tenure with the Terrestrial Forces he was both a Terrestrial Ranger and an Orbital Assault Trooper thus making him and all others who were to choose the same as an Orbital Assault Ranger.

More recently the Terrestrial Forces have been involved in conflicts such as the Unification Wars, and the currently ongoing Human-Tamarid War.

Assimilation and Founding
The United Trade Coalition Terrestrial Forces were founding in junction to the United Trade Coalition Space Fleet in 2460 A.D. upon the rise of piracy and illegal smuggling, as well as minor insurrections springing up in the Outer-Ring Territories (Now comprising mostly of the Middle Ring Territories). At the time it was only going to be a temporary organization to deal with the ongoing crises but almost immediately after the piracy was controlled within the Krixus Sector and the Inserections closing the Coalition was then racked by the first of many brief civil wars between the Republics of Hakone and Minerva known as the Rushway Wars (other republics such as Columbiana and Jarviss soon after joined the conflict).

The Rushway Wars
The Rushway Wars first began in 2469 when the Republic of Minerva accused the Hakone Republic of seizing Minervan shipping upon entering Hakoni territory through the Rushway Trade Route and keeping the profits for themselves. Also tensions were rising when the Hakone Republic (by way of gaining a majority influence within the Coalition Central Government) imposed unfair tariffs on the shipments of goods throughout the nation. This also angered the government of Columbiana as the Republic of Jarviss was its main importer and heavily used the Rushway Trade Route. At the time civil matters within the Coalition were handled by the respective militaries of the Republics as the brand new Space and Terrestrial forces of the Central Government did not have the capacity to resolve the rising conflict.

Tensions reached a boiling point when the Minerva Republic began escorting its Merchant Fleets with Military escorts and had managed to influence its way to bring about Resolution 47 a interstellar trading ordinance giving the Republics the right to use military vessels with the intention of protecting their assets through other Republics Territories. This enraged officials within the Hakoni Government as it felt the Resolution heavily favored Minerva only and protested at the notion of Minervan military vessels operating with in Hakoni space.

The First Rushway War ignited at the Battle of Julius 4 a trading world within the Hakoni territory on the border of Minerva along the Rushway Route. Reasons for the battle was that a detachment of the 20th Minervan Parliamentary Fleet crossed into Hakoni Space whilst escorting its merchant fleets without proper Hakoni authorization. The Hakoni 15th Fleet was dispatched and intercepted and defeated the Minervan Fleet over Julius 4.

The war quickly escalated as both Hakoni and Minervan fleets attacked eachothers merchant fleets within the Rushway Territories. Neither Republic was able to make significant ground over the other territory wise due to the narrow treacherous pass of the Rushway along the Hakoni and Minervan borders. The conflict remained within this stretch of territory for two years before an armed Merchant fleet of Columbiana escorted by a detachement of its own space forces (whilst being itself escorted by Minervan ships through its territory) came into contact with the Hakoni Fleet again at the Second Battle of Julius 4. Hakoni High Command quickly condemned the Columbiana Republic perceiving to ally itself with Minerva, and Columbiana as well as Jarviss imposed heavy trade sactions on Hakone for violating Columbiana's right for military escorted Trade. After the Second Battle of Julius 4 in March 2471 the Republic of Columbiana entered the war on the side of Minerva (although suspicion arose on the conduct of the Minervan Parliament). At the same time Jarviss stopped all trade to Hakone in April 2471. Peach keeping troops were dispatched to the Minervan-Hakoni border world but this had little if not no effect.

With the economy of Hakone feeling the affects of the war and varying sanctions Hakoni Officials turned its eye on the Republic of Jarviss, which was wrought with internal strife. Hakoni Intelligence then instigated and supported a coup det'atat in the concurrent Jarviss Spring and ousted the pro-Minervan officials from office. The new Jarviss Government (now staunchly Pro-Hakone) then lifted the sanctions mandated by the previous Charter and entered the Conflict in July 2471. This act prompted an immediate response by the Earth Central Government.

The Terrestrial Forces played a pivotal role in the First Rushway war by quickly seizing a number of border worlds in both Minerva and Hakone territories as well as took complete control of the escorting of all the Republics Merchant Fleets. Thus after the 3rd Battle of Marathon in Minervan Territory the First Rushway War ended in February of 2472 and the Terrestrial Forces were drawn back.

The Terrestrial Forces would again serve a roll in all of the five Conflicts that collectively dubbed the Rushway Wars with the fifth and final Rushway War ending in 2492.