CompForce Trooper

"They said I'd never make it. But I made it through where others never came back. Now that I'm through with basic training I'm ready for anything."

- A CompForce Assault Trooper

CompForce Troopers are the soldiers of CompForce, serving as military police and political officers within the Imperial Military. They are divided into two very different cadres, Observation (also known as Observ), and Assault. As their name suggests, Assault units are front-line troops, pursuing professional military careers, whereas, officially at least, Observ personnel are loyalist volunteers, gaining first-hand experience of military life as a prelude to careers in the Army, Navy, or some other element of the Imperial armed forces. In fact, most of them end up pursuing careers in the Imperial Security Bureau itself, and Observ are regarded as political spies by line military personnel—an opinion which seems to have been subtly encouraged by operatives of the ISB's long-term rival, Imperial Intelligence.

The differing needs of Observ and Assault units mean that, while both groups recruit by drawing volunteers from Imperial youth groups, the criteria for selection is very different. Observ looks for ideologically reliable men and women, for whom a CompForce posting will be the first step on a career in service to the New Order; but Assault looks for recruits who can be conditioned to serve in combat with blind bravery.

Any member volunteering for Observ might naturally expect to pass out from CompForce after a short tour and move on to a career in the line military, the Imperial Security Bureau, or some other aspect of the Empire's vast institutional machine; but in contrast, only twelve percent of the young men and women who enter Assault training even make it through into front-line units. The rest die in live-fire exercises during training or suffer serious injury or crippling psychological trauma.

Observation
Since members of Observ are considered to be the watchdogs of the New Order, their recruitment is based on the depth of the individual's loyalty and conformism. They are among the most universally despised units in the Imperial Military, but ironically the cause is simply that Observ personnel operate entirely sincerely, according to very different priorities and values from normal soldiers. Their actions and opinions are shaped by ideological and intellectual motivations, rather than the primarily professional ethos of the Navy and Army.

Assault
"Two die for every one that gets through."

- CompForce Assault Motto

Members of Assault are all about combat. If a volunteer for Assault survives to join a frontline unit, he or she is usually inadequately trained, thoroughly indoctrinated, and completely inured to combat hardship. In the case of CompForce, fanaticism is more important than combat skill.

CompForce Assault troops perform in the field with suicidal bravery, prepared to take any number of casualties to accomplish their objectives - or if not, to be wiped out to a man while trying. The high casualty rate is acceptable because Assault troops are far cheaper to replace than properly-trained soldiers. It has come to define the ethos of the corps, encapsulating both the insanity of the training process, and the survivors' literally suicidal approach to combat operations.

However, Assault is known for more than simple bravery, gaining a reputation as among the most feared and effective troops in the Empire. Veteran units combine real combat skill with blind heroism, and while their casualty levels remain high, they have developed their own internal regimes to equip new recruits with the technical and field craft skills not covered in the basic training.

=Sources=
 * Wookieepedia