388th Division (ComStar)

Regarding Clan Jade Falcon as their nemesis, the 388th Division has faced the Falcons and survived during the Battle of Tukayyid and the so-called Jade Falcon Incursion in the midst of the FedCom Civil War.

History

With the public unveiling of the Com Guard, the green ranked 388th Division was assigned to the Eleventh Army, its headquarters on the Federated Commonwealth world of Pandora.

With the relatively green Eleventh Army assigned to face Clan Jade Falcon during the Battle of Tukayyid, the 388th dug in around Robyn's Crossing, one of two bridges across the Prezno River. The unit held the bridge in the face of a heavy push by the 12th Falcon Regulars, but were forced back when the jump jet equipped command star of the Aidan Pryde's Falcon Guards reinforced the Regulars with an unorthodox flanking action. The three-hundred and eighty-eighth succeeded in delaying the Falcon advance long enough to allow Com Guard sappers to rig demolition charges to collapse the bridge when the Twelfth Regulars tried to cross.

As the bulk of the Eleventh fought to prevent the capture of Olalla, the withdrawal of Clan Ghost Bear allowed the Fourth Army to assist the 388th and 214th Divisions to launch an assault against Falcon bases at Robyn's Crossing and Plough Bridge. While the Delta and Vau Galaxies held their ground against this counter-attack, a Com Guard air-strike succeeded in destroying the Gamma Galaxy's supply depot at Robyn's Crossing, forcing Clan Jade Falcon to withdraw off planet.

After Tukayyid, the three-hundred and eighty-eighth transferred its headquarters to Lyons, before ComStar chose to redeploy the Eleventh Army to try and prevent any overflow from the Refusal War, with the three-hundred and eighty-eighth moved to Graceland on the border of the Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone.

Infuriated that the Jade Falcons chose to to avoid facing the heavily defended border on which they were stationed and follow the edge of the Lyran Alliance before striking inward to attack Coventry in 3058, the three-hundred and eighty-eighth launched a series of minor retaliatory raids on worlds in the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, one of the few post-Tukayyid offensive operations by ComStar prior to Operation Bulldog.

Despite the Three-Hundred and Eighty-Eighth's sole interest in the protecting the surround worlds from the Jade Falcons, with the Alliance increasing distrustful of ComStar since the Eleventh Army's transfer away from the Lyons Thumb, the division's close supply links to the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon and Victor Steiner-Davion's rise of Precentor Martial, in the lead-up to the FedCom Civil War the two LAAF units station on Graceland, the 11th Donegal Guards and 3rd Lyran Guards RCT, moved to isolate the Com Guard Division.

After Victor Davion's broadcast on December 8th 3062, only the level headed command staff of the Third Lyran Guards kept the Eleventh Donegal from launching a preemptive strike against the 388th, but the Eleventh's commander Colonel Cyrus Andes was a member of the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus and fomented extremists on Graceland into mass anti-ComStar protests. After an protester triggered incident that led to the death of twelve citizens and three Com Guards, along with hundreds of wounded, on the January 7th 3063 Colonel Anges ordered the Eleventh to disarm the three-hundred and eighty-eighth. Despite the 388th's decision to pull back to ComStar defensive emplacements ,and the Third Guards' best efforts to contain their fellow unit, the Eleventh Donegal launched near suicidal attacks on the Com Guard unit, provoking extremists to attempt to bomb Graceland's HPG compound.

Angered that Andes' actions had now led ComStar to order a Communications Interdiction of the world, the Third Guards' commander Leutnant-General Paul Zardetto ordered his unit to push aside the Eleventh and completely contain the 388th. While apologizing for the Eleventh's action, Zardetto ordered the three-hundred and eighty-eighth to withdraw to prevent further escalation of the situation. Recognizing they had little choice to avoid fanning the conflict, Precentor Shillery agreed, with the stipulation that a mixed 'Mech and armored infantry Level III be left behind to guard the HPG compound from further attacks. The 388th lifted off Graceland on February 5th, bound for Kandersteg.

With the Clan Jade Falcon incursion of the Lyran Alliance, Precentor Gavin Dow ordered the 388th back to Graceland to reinforce the Eleventh Dongeal despite the bad blood between both units. The 74th Battle and 22nd Provisional Garrison Clusters landed on June 1st, focusing their attacks on destroying the Eleventh before turning their full attention to the three-hundred and eighty-eighth in late June. By this point Archer Christifori's Archer's Avengers and sections of the 20th Arcturan Guards had landed to assist in the defense of planet, pushing the Falcons back.

With the end of fighting on Graceland, the 388th moved to assist Clan Wolf-in-Exile Khan Phelan Kell's Fourth Wolf Guards in retaking Dustball, landing four days after Kell on August 3rd, the Com Guard and Wolf units fought hard and eventually forced the 7th Falcon Regulars and Jade Falcon Eyrie Cluster off world.

After their successes on Graceland and Dustball, the now overly eager 388th launched an attack against the heavily reinforced 9th Provisional Garrison Cluster on Blair Atholl on December 15th 3064. Unfortunately for the three-hundred and eighty-eighth, the Ninth PGC hounded them from the moment they landed, with the situation looking especially dire when Khan Marthe Pryde's Turkina Keshik landed on Feburary 20th 3065. The Com Guard unit didn't realize that this was a good thing until Khan Phelan Kell reached Blair Atholl on the 26th, with General Adam Steiner and Archer Chritifori's forces landing a day later to discuss how to honorably stop the fighting to allow each party to deal with other more pressing foes.

After the end of the Jade Falcon Incursion, the three-hundred and eighty-eighty returned to station on Graceland.

Officers

Prior to the Clan Invasion, the Three-Hundred and Eighty-Eighth was commanded by Precentor IV Gerard Philblad.

As of 3067 the unit-CO was Precentor Andrea Shillery, who took command of the Three-Hundred and Eighty-Eighth after Tukayyid. Shillery's actions during both the units ejection and then fighting in the Jade Falcon Incursion earned her considerable renown for her skill and courage.

Tactics

Using standard Com Guard tactics for the most part, the three-hundred and eighty-eighth is best known for their legendary hatred of Clan Jade Falcon, causing them to fight with a near berserker rage when facing Falcon units. However, while they fight twice as hard to defeat them, this almost blind rage also hinders their tactical thinking.

Composition History

3062

• New Rays III-psi - Demi-Precentor II Traci Horel
• Glass Moon III-xi - Demi-Precentor VII Carlton Prouty
• Palpable Hit III-nu - Demi-Precentor X Roger Gamble
• Twilight Marauders III-xi - Demi-Precentor XII Paul Buskirk
• Knights and Pawns III-mu - Demi-Precentor VI John Marrella
• The Undertow III-omicron - Demi-Precentor IV Wesley Haddon

- It was noted in 3060 that the 388th was one of the primary users of the Pinto attack VTOL.

Notes

• The insignia of the Three-Hundred and Eighty-Eighth Division shows a stylized white ghost set on a red disc.
• Unlike many Com Guard Divisions, the 388th is one of the few Divisions to retain its original nickname after Tukayyid.
• As with every other Division in the Eleventh Army, the three-hundred and eighty-eighth boasts a large contingent of engineers, who constructed a large number of defensive emplacements on station of Graceland to aid the unit's defense of that world.

Bibliography

• 20-Year Update
• ComStar (sourcebook)
• FedCom Civil War (sourcebook)
• Field Manual: ComStar
• Field Manual: Updates
• Technical Readout: 3060 (6th Printing)
• Tukayyid (scenario pack)