The Imperial Army - AWOL?

The Imperial Army, the fist of the Empire, the force which dominated thousands of worlds, and held them in a vice like grip. While several sources, even recent ones, mention it in passing, it has never had much exposure outside of WEG's old RPG material. Why is it that the EU has all but completely ignored this massive and powerful arm of the Empire, and how do you see it's status within the Empire, especially in light of the Prequels.

 

Becuz stromtroppers r teh army!

 

Mostly because if you want footsoldiers, it always seems better to use Stormtroopers. The use of Walkers is never a problem though and we've got plenty of seens there.

 

Because Stormtroopers are rather embarassing?

 

Well, I for one would love to see more material starring the Imperial Army, which almost all sources specify as seperate, like the Navy, from the Stormtroopers. Unlike the Stormtroopers, who are basically created or brainwashed into utterly loyal Imperial Shocktroops, the Imperial Army is made up of ordinary men, professional soldiers who likely believe in what they are fighting for and would have a wider range of character from the faceless, nameless, clones.

 

Perhaps because the majority of Imperial soldiers we see are defending high priority installations or are accompanying high ranking officials? We don't actually see a whole lot of large scale land combat during the GCW, and where we do there are Imperial Army guys...

 

Only if Zahn's writing it. Where was the Army on, say, Maridun?

 

Well, my first thought is that Stormtroopers likely have no families or dependants to mourn their loss, and are not only economically but politically expendable, so they are perfect bullet sponges for offensive operations. Any dictatorship, even the Empire, requires a core of loyal supporters to keep it's power. If the sons and daughters of the affluent Core Worlds were dying in droves, the Galactic Empire might well loose it's necessary support. Better that frontal assaults are taken on by Stormtroopers, while battlefield cleanup, garrison, recon, and the like are handled by the Regular Army.

 

The stormies were defending the mining operation, right? Granted, that would seem more like a job for the army, but forgive the writer/artist: not too long thereafter, the Imperial Army makes a nice showing besides stormtroopers at the Second Battle of Jabiim.

 

Well, if most of the army are clones, and they have a shorter lifespan, and cloning was stopped, surely the size of the army would decrease rather suddenly as each of the last few batches had to retire, right?

 

As mentioned, Zahn makes use of the Imperial Army, but then Zahn was generally consistent with the WEG material (which makes sense considering that it was pretty much it when he did the TTT)...

It's always been EU that Han Solo was supposed to go to the Imperial Academy at Carida...

 

The army wasn't cloned, the Stormtroopers were cloned, which was seperate from the Regular Imperial Army, who were recruited, and included such officers as General Veers. To the best of my knowledge, Cloning didn't stop either, They simply used more templates and recruited more ordinary individuals into the Stormtroopers, probably from COMPForce or brainwashed Conscripts.

 

Carida has multiple branch facilities.

Han was also a Fighter Pilot.

 

Wrong!

 

Is it possible to say Triv Pothman was a clone, you think?

 

Let's just say for a minute that the Fett Clones were still plentifull by the OT....for arguements sake.

The Clones battle to do battle. They are not worried about backstabbing their superior for a promotion or a sweeter sector to patrol....They most likely don't want a benefits plan that includes a 1138k plan, dental for their family, paid vacation, and a pension.

An imperial soldier with a family probably isn't fighting to save his family. His family has a swanky place up in Coruscant. They are gunning down rebels on some iceball. Their main Objective: Survive to go back home to their family. A Clone's main objective? Perform the task given to them. If faced with living and surrendering, or dying and taking out 50 rebels, you know who is choosing what.

On top of that, Fett was a pretty rough dude. Methinks General Veers won't last 10 seconds with the guy or his clones in hand to hand.

Carnage

 

Okay, are told they have no families. *laughs*

No, seriously, the Thrawn Trilogy already stated that by that time the "Stormtroopers" weren't what they used to be, and were mostly all recruited or conscripted, same as the Army had been.

 

Maybe the army was gaurding low level insitutions? Course, considering we see Stormtroopers gaurding obscure mining posts, that must mean that the army protects junk piles, swege facilities and aquariums.

Serisouly, what are eliet troopers doing in out-of-the way mining posts. Granted, since a lot of stormies deserted after Endor they started giving army units Stprmtrooper armor, but still....

 

Perhaps the Amanin were considered a big enough pain?

 

Besides the notoriously capricious nature of the Emperor, he might want certain troopers out in the boondocks because they are implicitly trustworthy where the other. It's also an ideal place to perhaps perform the testing to weed out prospective Sovereign Protectors out of the ordinary fanatics/clones...

 

Considering the Imperial Army is probably the biggest branch of the Empires Military, they don't see a lot of attention. We really should be given a chance to see more of these guys in action.