Coventry Military Academy

Coventry Military Academy
Logo of the Coventry Military Academy
Logo of the Coventry Military Academy
Academy Information
Previous Name(s) Coventry Academy[1]
Location Coventry
Founding Year Star League era[2]
Course Information
BattleMech By 2750[2]
Technician ca. 3079 onwards[3]


Overview[edit]

The Coventry Academy was a military academy based on Coventry. Located on Dunnigan near the city of Port Lawrence,[4] the Coventry Academy was very close to the Coventry Metal Works plant.[1]

History[edit]

Succession Wars[edit]

During the Star League era and Succession Wars, the Coventry Academy was a small school that only provided training for MechWarriors. Given the Academy's location near the Coventry Metal Works plant, many of the professors teaching at the Academy also worked at the plant.[1] Aaron DeChavilier criticized the school's close ties to CMW in a report on LCAF readiness, calling it a glorified cadre for the manufacturer and saying its graduates often needed additional training on equipment made by other manufacturers.[2] In 3025 the senior officer at the Academy was Leutnant-General Robert McGregory.[1]

Clan Invasion and Later[edit]

Prior to their surrender, large parts of the Coventry Academy were razed by the cadets and instructors in 3058 as a part of their active defense against Clan Jade Falcon.[5][6] If not for the actions of the cadets and their instructors, the damage taken by Coventry during the Jade Falcon incursion would have been far more severe; the instructors and students fought a bitter engagement against the Jade Falcons within the grounds of the academy itself, and the defenders were taken as bondsmen by the Jade Falcons, although they were subsequently released when the Jade Falcons left the planet.[6]

The Lyran Alliance began to rebuild the Coventry Academy as the Coventry Military Academy (CMA) in 3060, pouring monumental amounts of funding into the rebuilding work[5] at the personal direction of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion while the surviving cadets were either transferred to active service or relocated to the Nagelring to finish their education.[6] When the CMA reopened in 3060 it had expanded its facilities considerably over the old Coventry Academy, with cadets now able to train on cutting-edge BattleMech designs and study in an environment that had state of the art equipment.[5] The first class graduated from the new facility in 3063.[6] The CMA was the first Academy in the Lyran Alliance to ensure that all of its cadets were trained to operate OmniMechs, something that it was able to do after being issued with almost a full battalion of training 'Mechs including sizeable numbers of FS9-O 'Firestarters and Hauptmanns.[6]

Training at the CMA was disrupted by the FedCom Civil War, and even as late as 3067 training was only just returning to normal. Even after training returned to normal the campus was still scarred by the aftereffects of the war; one of the most notable signs of lingering issues from the war was the appointment of Leutnant-General Marko Rafaello as commander of the academy; Rafaello was personally approved by planetary Duke Thomas Bradford because of Rafaello's support for Victor Steiner-Davion, with Bradford deliberately replacing Leutnant-General Billie Piper - a supporter of Katherine Steiner-Davion noted for causing tension through her views even before the war broke out[5] and who had been commanding the academy since at least 3062.[6]

After the Jade Falcon incursion new cadets at the Academy were deliberately taught about the heroic exploits of their predecessors; a sense of accomplishment, determination and history soon came to pervade the Academy and recruitment increased sharply, beyond the teaching capacity of the Academy, but the years between the rebuilding of the Academy and the end of Leutnant-General Piper's tenure were marked by internal tension as Duke Bradford deliberately worked to undermine the Archon's influence at the Academy and see the cadets trained as freethinking individuals rather than robots.[6]

The Jihad[edit]

The Academy survived the Jihad, operating underground during the years in which the Word of Blake occupied Coventry,[7] and once liberated the Academy expanded its training curriculum in cooperation with Coventry Metal Works, which was itself in need of experienced workers. As a result, many of the senior students at the Academy would intern at the CMW plant for months at a time as a part of their education.[3] The Academy didn't escape the Jihad unscathed, however; the CMA was still trying to rebuild in 3085, and while it was at least still operational as a training institute the class sizes were small.[8]

Alumni[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The school sash - or "rag", as such sashes were commonly known - was brown in color.[5]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 125, "The Coventry Academy"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Field Report 2765: LCAF, p. 5
  3. 3.0 3.1 Objectives: Lyran Alliance, p. 17, "Coventry"
  4. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 80, "Coventry"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 109, "Coventry Military Academy (CMA)"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 39, "Coventry Military Academy (CMA)"
  7. Objectives: Lyran Alliance, p. 4, "Strategic Integrity"
  8. Field Manual: 3085, p. 97, "Martial Training Centers"
  9. The Kell Hounds, p. 18
  10. Tamar Rising, p. 95

Bibliography[edit]