Editing Filtvelt Military Academy

{{Cleanup|reason=review needed|date=September 2023}}
{{InfoBoxAcademicInstitute
| name        = Filtvelt Academy
| image       = Davionacademiesfilvet.png
| imagewidth  = 200px
| caption     = Filtvelt Academy logo
| type        = Academy
| Previous Names = Filtvelt Military Academy
| Location    = [[Filtvelt]]
| Founded     = [[Third Succession War]]
| MilCourse01      = [[BattleMech]]
| MilCourse01Dates = Unknown-[[3079]]<ref name="O:Pp24">''Objectives: Periphery'', p. 24, "Filtvelt Academy"</ref>
| MilCourse02      = [[aerospace fighter|Aerospace]]
| MilCourse02Dates = Unknown-3079<ref name="O:Pp24"/>
| MilCourse03      = [[Combat Vehicle|Armor]]
| MilCourse03Dates = Unknown-3079<ref name="O:Pp24"/>
| MilCourse04      = [[Infantry]]
| MilCourse04Dates = Unknown-3079<ref name="O:Pp24"/>
| MilCourse05      = [[VTOL]]
| MilCourse05Dates = Unknown-3079<ref name="O:Pp24"/>
| MilCourse06      = 
| MilCourse06Dates = 
| MilCourse07      = 
| MilCourse07Dates = 
| MilCourse08      = 
| MilCourse08Dates = 
| MilCourse09      = 
| MilCourse09Dates = 
| MilCourse10      =
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}}
A beacon of knowledge in an ocean of undereducation, the '''Filtvelt Military Academy''' was one of only two military academies serving the [[Federated Suns]]' [[Periphery]]-facing [[Outback]] region, later becoming the sole military academy of the independent [[Filtvelt Coalition]].<ref name=FMFS41>''Field Manual: Federated Suns'', p. 41, "Filtvelt Military Academy Profile"</ref>

==History==
===Federated Suns===
Built in the later years of the  [[Third Succession War]]<ref name=HDTFS-156/> and located in or near the capital city of Undredal,<ref name="O:Pp24"/> the Filtvelt Military Academy had much in common with the [[Kilbourne Academy]]. Like Kilbourne, the lack of educational options in the region would also lead the FMA to permit civilians to attend the academy's nonmilitary classes. Primarily intended to help supply the Periphery units of the [[Armed Forces of the Federated Suns]], units within the [[Crucis March]] such as the [[Crucis March Militia]]s and the former [[Federated Commonwealth Corps|FedCom RCTs]] recruited heavily from it.<ref name=HDTFS-156>''House Davion (The Federated Suns)'', p. 156 "Military Forces - Military Education - Filtvelt Military Academy"</ref> <ref name=FMFS41/>

The Academy was built without any research laboratories or high-tech simulators, and as a consequence it was forced to rely upon the innovation and dedication of its staff as they attempted to teach advanced subjects to a shockingly under-educated population with meager resources to draw on. Students at the Academy viewed it as their only hope to escape otherwise dead-end lives and many would do anything to gain admittance to the school, hoping to use it as a ticket to a new life.<ref name="HB:HDp129"/> Despite their determination many of the students simply couldn't handle the Academy's academic demands and the dropout rate was high every year.<ref name=FMFS41/><ref name="HB:HDp129">''Handbook: House Davion'', p. 129, "Filtvelt Military Academy"</ref> Applicants were transferred to other academies when they went further in their academic field of studying. Graduates from [[Filtvet]] were considered second-rate compared to those from premier academy members like the [[NAIS]] or [[Albion Military Academy|Albion]].<ref name=FMFS41/>

=== Filtvelt Coalition ===
During the [[Jihad]], the Filtvelt Academy training battalion formed the core of the [[First Filtvelt Citizen's Militia]].<ref name="FR:Pp14">''Field Report: Periphery'', p. 14, "Filtvelt Coalition"</ref> After the Jihad the independent Filtvelt Coalition attempted to expand the Filtvelt Academy just as the Coalition's industrial and economic base was rapidly expanding. Unfortunately, this proved harder than hoped; the demand for qualified officers from the expanding [[Filtvelt Citizen's Militia]] (FCM) continually outstripped the number of graduates from the Academy.<ref name="FM:3145p189"/> 

The Coalition attempted to deal with the need to rebuild the FCM as quickly as possibly by curtailing the training programs for the lower ranks, while continuing to put officer cadets through a full term of education. Working against the Coalition's efforts was the need for officer candidates to have a functional education not just in terms of military tactics and the mandated standard academy curriculum dictated by the Coalition, but also in mathematics and reading. These problems led to the [[Vagabond Schools]] of the Federated Suns era being regarded as a failure, and the demand for officers for the FCM's officer corps was predicted to continue to outstrip the ability of the population to supply suitable recruits until the average level of education in the Coalition reached at least a secondary education level.<ref name="O:Pp23">''Objectives: Periphery'', p. 23, "Strategic Integrity"</ref>

This continuing demand from the FCM plus the paucity of secondary education within the Coalition rapidly created a "brain drain" in the early part of the thirty-second century, forcing [[Prime Minister of the Filtvelt Coalition|Prime Minister]] [[Berko Okeke]], ruler of the Coalition, to push through a combination of tax and spending increases that increased education facilities at both primary and university stages throughout the Coalition. These measures were successful to such an extent that worlds bordering the Coalition began to adopt them, but it took until [[3138]] for the Academy to be capable of producing enough trained personnel to meet the FCM's requirements.<ref name="FM:3145p189">''Field Manual: 3145'', p. 189, "Filtvelt Coalition"</ref>

Despite the problems with obtaining enough trained graduates from the Academy, the Academy remained an exceptional military academy for a Periphery nation and one that turned out quality graduates, even if those graduates had been derided by larger military organizations. As the Academy continued to lack the advanced training simulators and other resources that were commonly found in Inner Sphere nations, one of the methods by which the Academy bridged the training gap was to give its students more training time on actual battlefield equipment. This meant that while training accidents at the Academy were above the norm compared to an Inner Sphere academy, those students who graduated tended to have a better feel for both what actual combat was like and how to prosecute a battle than their Spheroid counterparts.<ref name="FR:Pp7">''Field Report: Periphery'', p. 7, "Academies and Command Centers"</ref>

== Notes ==
* At some point after [[3067]], the Filtvelt Military Academy appears to have been renamed to the Filtvelt Academy.
* Security at the Filtvelt Academy after the Jihad was provided by the student body, in a fashion consistent with that of military academies throughout the Periphery, although the security patrols were usually headed up by an experienced instructor. The typical security force in place at the Academy, as of 3079, consisted of a pair of [[aerospace fighter]]s, a [[lance]] of BattleMechs, a [[company]] of infantry, a platoon of tanks, and a [[squadron]] of VTOLs.<ref name="O:Pp41">''Objectives: Periphery'', p. 41, "Academies and Local Training Centers"</ref>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Field Manual: 3145]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Federated Suns]]''
* ''[[Field Report: Periphery]]''
* ''[[Handbook: House Davion]]''
* ''[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]''
* ''[[Objectives: Periphery]]''


[[Category: Military Academies|Filtvelt Military Academy]]