3rd Terran

Not much is known about the 3rd Terran, but then not much is known about any of the Imperial units that span back before his majesty the Eternal Emperor. It is believed that this regiment was in service as early as the 20th century. In that time they had much fame but since then records have been lost for thousands of regiments, and not much is even known about this time frame. Although we believe this regiment never had many records to begin with. All we know is that they have somehow survived all these years and are still winning battles.

Core of the 3rd
The basic set up is very simple, get as many good men on the field as possible. HQs are basically non-existent, including the fewest and best men available. If heavy weapon squads are to be used they are put in with the HQ. As each man is trained to fight on his own if he has too, Commissars are not needed and only rarely used. This regiment has no record of using the skills of psykers, priests or techpriest enginseers but captured enemies have reported such men fighting beside ‘daemons in men’s flesh’ dressed in black Imperial armour. Lords and Commissars have reported wearing a similar colour scheme while fighting with a unit they weren’t able to talk about although most of them did say they didn’t know much about these ‘men in black’. We sent a team to try and find out what the core of this unit was made of and now after years of searching we have the answer. The bulk of the 3rd’s troops are just that troops. A lot of their soldiers have the skill of an average storm trooper, so their General uses this to his advantage and uses as many normal troops as he can. The regiment could not be made only of infantry though, so we believe that the 3rd does have a major armoury. Sadly, no prisoner or commander has ever reported having seen a tank or transport in the 3rd’s ranks or painted in their colours, so we can not be sure. Ogryns and Ratlings have also been spotted wearing the black that seems to be the 3rd’s calling card. I have found a recorded message from an astropath who was listening in on a week Eldar commander [see footnote i] It spoke of giants and midgets that were dressed in black fighting beside normal men dressed in black, this has led me to believe that the 3rd also has Ogryns and Ratlings. '“… Dey weren’t men! Dey were daemons in men’s flesh! Dey kills with joy in deir heart and da grim look on deir face. Dey had men’s armour, like yours but it was all black and stained with da blood of my comrades…” Ork prisoner.' '[see footnote ii]

Ranks
'“One can not make his enemy vulnerable, he can only make himself invulnerable…” Sun Tzu, The Art of War. 'The ranks of the 3rd are very complex compared to the ranks of other regiments.

1. Private (Pvt.) or Gunner in the artillery or Trooper in the armoured or Sapper in engineering. A Sapper’s main job is to lay and clear mines. A Trooper’s job is to man and drive most vehicles. A Gunner’s job is to help a Bombardier in any way they can. A Private’s job is to die but also to take as many enemies with him as he can. '“I feel sorry for who ever kills me, because I’m going to be the most expensive piece of meat they ever butchered.” Sergeant Bunch.

2. Corporal (Corp) or Bombardier in the artillery. A Corporal’s job is the same as a Private’s job except that a Corporal will be given better weaponry. A Bombardier’s job is to load and fire guns and artillery pieces.

3. Master Corporal (M. Corp) or Master Bombardier in the artillery. A Master Bombardier’s job is to make sure his Bombardiers and Gunners are working and if need be to help load and fire the gun or artillery piece he is in charge of. A Master Corporal’s job is the same as a Private’s job except he often uses the squad vox and a Master Corporal will get the rank of Sergeant if the Sergeant in his squad dies.

4. Sergeant (Sgt.). A Sergeant’s job is to lead a squad. This means he has to make his soldiers do what his officer wants them to do, he has to be the leader that men in his squad can come to with problems and he has to be the best fighter in his squad (for many reasons that aren’t spoken about).

5. Warrant Officer (Warrant). A Warrant Officer’s only job is to watch and learn from Master and Chief Warrant Officers.

6. Master Warrant Officer (MWO). A MWO may be appointed the title of Company Sergeant-Major in the infantry, Battery Sergeant-Major in the artillery, Squadron Sergeant-Major in the armour, Combat Engineer in engineering or Signal Engineer in communication. A Master Warrant Officer’s job is to keep an eye on a couple of squads and report to their Sergeant-Major. A Company Sergeant-Major is the rank connecting the grunts with the officers, he takes the problems of non-commissioned men and gives them to the officers and he takes the orders of the officers and gives them to the non-commissioned men. A Battery Sergeant-Major’s job is to make sure all his guns are working and his Master Bombardiers aren’t slacking off. A Squadron Sergeant-Major’s job is to make sure his vehicles are wear they are supposed to be. A Combat Engineer’s job is to do almost everything that has to do with engineering and is to complex for a Sapper. A Signal Engineer is mainly in charge of keeping all the squads in contact with each other.

7. Chief Warrant Officer (CWO). A CWO may be appointed the title of Regimental Sergeant-Major (RSM). A Chief Warrant Officer’s job is the same as a MWO’s, a Regimental Sergeant-Major is in charge of all other Sergeant-Majors in his regiment.

8. Officer Cadet (OC). This isn’t really a rank and the officer cadets have no real job, this is more of a holding area for officer hopefuls.

9. Second Lieutenant (2 Lnt.).A Second Lieutenant’s job is usually to help other officers or in some cases do the job of a Lieutenant.

10. Lieutenant (Lnt). A Lieutenant’s job is to make sure his CO’s orders get to the RSM and anyone else that needs a copy. If a Captain dies in battle a Lieutenant takes his place as Captain.

11. Captain (Cap.). A Captain’s job is to lead a platoon and act as the commanding officer (CO) for that platoon.

12. Major (Maj.). A Major’s job is usually to help Colonels and Generals but they sometimes do the job of a Captain.

13. Lieutenant-Colonel (L. Col.). A Lieutenant-Colonel’s job is usually to help and learn from a Colonel.

14. Colonel (Col.). A Colonel’s job is to prepare a company for battle and then lead them into one.

15. Brigadier-General (B. Gen.). A Brigadier-General’s job is to command a company and be the bridge between the Lieutenant-General and the Colonel of that company.

16. Major-General (M. Gen.). A Major-General’s job is to help his General or Lieutenant-General in anyway he can.

17. Lieutenant-General (L. Gen.). The Lieutenant-General’s job is that of commanding officer of the army. So he must see that the regiment is ready for anything. Because there is no General in the 3rd right now, the Lieutenant-General is referred to as the General of the 3rd.

18. General (Gen.). If there was a General he would be the bridge between the Emperor and the other Generals but as far as I can tell the 3rd has found no need of this rank and hasn’t used it in years.

“…I get good men, I tell them what to do and I get the hell out of their way.” Kayme Jackson.

Training
'“Training should be bloodless combat. Combat should be bloody training” 3rd handbook.'

The 3rd is made of veterans and elite men, not many men are selected for it’s training and even fewer finished it. “Reserves are a waste of men and resources” Colonel Stalker. Every man in the 3rd is a veteran by the time they finish training, which really never ends as every time the 3rd comes across a new fighting method or tactic they train every man in that method or tactic. For this reason they are believed to be the best-trained unit in the Imperial Guard. Training takes place on a number of planets including **CLASSIFIED** [see footnoot iii]. Some planets also give special conditions that the unit can train in or has special equipment that they can learn to use. Basic training includes over 45 styles of hand-to-hand combat, a 6-month survival course, use of over 250 Imperial and alien weapons and more that I can not disclose. This can then be furthered by a number of advanced courses including but not limited to: weapon specialist, hand-to-hand specialist, heavy weapon specialist, driving specialist, [see footnoot iv] repair specialist, medical specialist and shooting specialist. The training is hard and only the best Terra has to offer are let in. Just finding out how to try out is something to be proud of, as very few people in the Empire know about this regiment. To be picked for training is even more honoring as the recruiters only pick the best from other Terran regiments and Terran blood bowl teams. Most of the 3rd’s officers are bio-augmented in some way or another but the regiment is as good if not better then most Space Marine chapters without using many augmentations.

Funding
As this regiment is almost completely cut off from the rest of the Imperium they have other ways of gathering funds than most regiments. I have found small amounts of money, that when put together are about the amount it takes to feed and pay a imperial guard regiment, are given to many small businesses that don’t exist. Such as: Bob’s ancient art of archery, La visco, 8th star camping goods and so on. All the pay of the men is also gathered into a giant saving account; in which the men are given a 1% interest rate and are paid in full when they are discharged but since most soldiers die before they are discharged the 3rd rarely has to give much of the money back.. The 3rd uses this account to fund things that would normally either never be approved or they would not have the money for.

Sub-platoons
The 3rd's main compliment is it's infantry but however well trained and formitable those soldiers may be, there will always be the elite units. The 3rd Terran has subidary units which, instead of as the chain of command would suggest, are in fact under the command of General Stalker.

Ordo Hereticus
 The strangest thing we have found out about the 3rd is that they have their own order of witch hunters from the Ordo Hereticus [see footnote v], that’s sole purpose seams to be to ensure the survival of the unit. If this is true then maybe the regiment as some kind of power granted by the emperor or they may have some job to do in the final days. All we know for certain is witch hunters have been seen fighting with these troops on many occasions and a good number of witch hunters on Terra wear the black of the 3rd. '“I dream of a day when I will lead an army to destroy the enemies of mankind and then to come back and cast down the religion of the emperor.” Colonel Stalker. [see footnote vi]

Space Marines
Another strange thing I found was the presence of space marines in the 3rd. They were not set up like a chapter but rather like they were simply more elite men from the 3rd, in fact I believe the 3rd knows how to augment [see footnote vii] men and that they take their very best and augment them to be a more hard hitting unit to be used by the commander. I will look into this further but as for now this is all the information I could come up with. ''“Anyone can be bio-augmented but only one in twenty people can survive being nano-augmented. If someone could find a way to re-build the body’s cells to accept the nano-bots, than the advantages of nano-augmentation would outnumber the stars.” Tech-priest Edion, The science of augmentation.''

The Warp
The 3rd has had a history with warp contact and it is believed General Stalker has been possessed by some creatures from the warp. He spent a few seconds inside the warp during a mission the 3rd was on. [see footnote viii] No facts can back this believe up but Stalker has become far more than human is will stop at nothing to destroy the Imperium.

Current situation
== Search pending………………………………………………………see dead planet files. [see footnote ix]

-Update- [see footnote x]