The MAFC Military

The Martian Star Navy (MSN)

The Martian Star Navy is the umbrella organisation for all Martian professional military forces. The Space Forces, Ground Forces, Marines, and Starguard are all sub-branches of the MSN. The MSN has a unified rank structure across all branches of the service. More details and a comparison with the equivalent Earth Navy ranks can be found here.
The MSN is perhaps the only truly centrally organised body within the MAFC. As well as being responsible for ships, defence stations, bases and naval dockyards, it has extensive control over R&D, procurement, recruitment, training and many other facets of military life. Pay and benefits for the Martian professional forces are extremely good, and the military is a highly-regarded and sought-after career. The Navy is technically under the control of the Senate and the Ministry of War, and depends upon the Senate for votes of funding from Association-wide taxation. However, in practise it is a semi-autonomous 'state within a state' and exercises considerable influence behind the scenes of Martian politics. Technically there is complete separation of military and civilian life within the Association, and military personnel are not allowed to stand for public office until five years have elapsed since them leaving the Navy. In practise a military background has become almost a prerequisite for many Senators, especially in the current climate engendered by the Exterminator War, and both of the leaders of the main parties in the current governing coalition are ex-military.

The current head of the MSN is Naval Chief of Staff High Admiral Wells. A Martian Admiral is also Supreme Commander of Human Forces - Thai-Sho Kimota Kasei.

MSN Ground Forces

Mars' Ground Forces are a sub-branch of the Martian Star Navy, and fully integrated into its operations. Martian military doctrine makes extensive use of Ground Forces as part of MSN force projection capability, as discussed here. MSN Ground Force Division structure and operations are described here.

The 3202 Defence Review recommended the division of MSN Ground Force Divisions into mobile and non-mobile formations, according to their role. The mobile divisions have largely kept the old style of organisation and equipment. There are 2-3 per quadrant, with associated lift capability, for force projection operations in conjunction with naval forces. The remainder of divisions have a defensive and garrison role, and are titled Planetary Guard divisions. Some of the more expensive space-capable equipment and lift capacity has been removed from these units.

The Martian Corps of Marines

The Martian Corps of Marines operates, much like other Marine forces, mostly for ship-ship operations: boarding, ship and station defence etc. Martian Marine organisation on a Regimental level is shown here.
Note that Martian marines, like all Martian forces, operate without the use of combat robots. These are still widely distrusted in the MAFC, since they are known to be susceptible to 'hijacking' by hostile AIs.

Martian Military Awards

Mars operates two sets of military decorations, one for victorious commanders, the other for individual acts of heroism. The full set of military awards can be found here.

Nuclear Doctrine

The MAFC tends to reserve the use of weapons of mass destruction for uncontained AI outbreaks. Outside of the Exterminator War, there has been only one instance of this, against an alien AI at Mystery in 3212. The theory is that the extensive planetary assault capability provided by Martian GF doctrine (see above) provides a greater menu of conventional tactical and strategic options to fleet commanders, and hence renders the use of WMD far less likely. A formal statement on the Martian position on use of WMD can be found here.