**Commando Division History**

By Super with contributions by Teke Daggerscout and Janet Skyy

*Introduction and Early History*

The Commando Division's history is, in a way, as long as the Rebel Squadrons' history. As a continuous existing unit, the CD was formed in mid to late 1996 as a group. However, as a concept, it's been around since day one, being mentioned as a footnote in the very online meeting that restarted the Rebel Squadrons in July 1995.

Early 1996 saw the formation of a Jedi based group lead by Noble. This group was formed mostly for fictional purposes and doesn't directly tie into the CD and FPS games. The game Dark Forces came out around that time, though it was not supported by the Rebel Squadrons yet. The RS still viewed itself as a Flight Sim organization.

Over time, members did want to start a group within the RS for Dark Forces. In mid to late 1996, FC Super was approached by Eisley to form a Dark Forces commando group. Both the FC and Eisley worked together to layout the basic setup for the group. This group become known as New Republic Commando Division (NRCD), and was started within the Redemption Fleet. The name was chosen for two reasons. First, “Commando Division” sounded kinda plain. Second, there was a lot of competition on AOL and from the emerging internet at that time from other Star Wars game based clubs, and FC Super wanted to symbolically reclaim the fictional post-Endor era of the Star Wars timeline for the RS amongst those various other clubs. The first group organized within the NRCD was for Dark Forces, and was called 1 st Platoon.

Early growth and activity of the NRCD was unimpressive. Of course there wasn't anything to do except play the Dark Forces game, make bios, and create web pages. No methods for creating custom Dark Forces missions where yet available. However, Eisley's XO, Teke Daggerscout, helped turn things around. Teke's first command was Green Company, which pretty much immediately became the most active company in the NRCD. Also, the NRCD adopted nicknames and fictional specialties for each of the companies.

*1997*

Due to an unusual set of circumstances, including the ill-timed disappearance of the FC in Dec 1996 (who was also the RF CO) and retirement of GEN Eisley in early 1997, much of the NRCD membership was unaware of the larger club with which the NRCD was apart, the Rebel Squadrons.

Eisley was replaced by Kat Dular as commander of the NRCD. Under Kat Dular's leadership, many changes occurred. Custom missions for Dark Forces became available. Despite the fact that most NRCD members were not aware of the RS, Kat Dular fictionally blended the NRCD in to the overall RS fiction with the creation of many new elements surrounding its fictional base on Salasia IVb, within the Greoop System. Kat Dular detailed lists of every bit of land and equipment the NRCD possessed, including Teke Daggerscout's own person flagship, the NRS Justifier, which often played a significant rule in commando activities. Kat Dular also is credited with writing the first RS Bylaws.

The quality of custom Dark Forces missions eventually failed to meet expectations, so the NRCD membership resorted to role-playing for the most part.  This is when those cool interactive stories started going around.  This fiction writing took a more important role in NRCD activities, establishing a tradition that continued into 2005.

Though technically apart of the Redemption Fleet, the NRCD acted autonomously. Awareness of the NRCD's place within the Rebel Squadrons was slow in coming to many members of the NRCD, though its ranks grew rapidly. The RF CO did keep an eye on the group. When the NRCD had grown to sufficient numbers in mid to late 1997, the RF CO introduced a discussion in the RS High Command to promote NRCD to Fleet Status. At that time, the NRCD began preparations to become a Fleet of the Rebel Squadron. The New Republic Commando Division was renamed to the Rebel Squadrons Commando Division (RSCD) when it was promoted to Fleet Status and given direct representation on the HC, as an equal amongst the other Fleets in the Rebel Squadrons. The RSCD was the first non-Flight Sim group to achieve this status.

*Jedi Knight*

In late 1997 (sometime before the commercial release of Jedi Knight (JK)), Kat Dular retired and was replaced by Teke Daggerscout as commander of the RSCD. Teke almost immediately had to incorporate Jedi Knight activity into the RSCD. In her words, “it was both a dream come true and a nightmare.  The CD was so military oriented (ground troops HOOAH!) and now we had to figure out how to accommodate to members who wanted to roleplay as Jedi.  We figured that the only way to do this was to create a new sub-group and allow people to be members of both at the same time.”

Jinx Katarn was commissioned to create the Jedi Knight group before the game even came out.  He had some weird things set up with funky names that confused everyone, and that first attempt collapsed pretty quickly. Teke was forced to matters into her own hands and created the 2 nd Platoon for the JK players. After things stabilized, she gave command back to Jinx.  This occurred just in time for the 2 nd Platoon to rock the interclub competition called the Minos Cluster Conflict.

*Distractions and Dead Games*

Teke began to take on more responsibilities within the RS itself, including become RSXO. She even gave up command once and then took it back.  After she was RSXO for like a year or so, the RS Bylaws were changed so that the RSXO didn't have to command a fleet simultaneously.  As she paid more attention to the RSXO job, the RSCD started encountering difficulties in activity. General popularity of the Dark Forces game waned. The 1 ST Platoon was practically dead because nobody played Dark Forces anymore. Only a small group of members, known as the Katarns, continued activity in the form of fiction writing and role playing. It is perhaps this role playing which is responsible for keeping the RSCD alive during periods of limited FPS activity.

No pure FPS games for Star Wars came out for a very long time. Jedi games dominated RSCD gameplay activity, along with fiction writing and role playing.

Because of the fall in activity and interest, in April 1998, the RSCD was demoted from Fleet Status and returned to the RF.

Over time, the RSCD was reinstated as a Fleet, but it again declined. By 2004, the RSCD's only active group was the Katarns. Gaming activity in the RSCD had fallen to nothing.

*Command Division's Resurgence*

In 2005, the now controversial SA Super returned to active service to play the new BattleFront game under the RS flag. He wanted to have a chance to play amongst the RS ranks as just another grunt. He was shocked to discover there was only one active gaming member in the RSCD, and that person was talking about leaving for a clan with a strong FPS force. The then current RSCD CO had lost the will to lead the group. So, the RS FC approached Super with the request that he'd take command of the RSCD. Reluctantly, Super accepted.

Super was no stranger to fleet building, but under different circumstances. He had started and nurtured the processors of most of the current RS Fleets. But this was in a time when competition with other clubs involved a much younger internet with much less well developed groups and with no online gaming. In 2005, the challenge was to build a FPS based fleet amongst many highly organized and well developed online gaming groups with highly skilled players.

Despite the odds, the RSCD did start to grow. Super recruited Primlar as XO. The then current FC himself also partook in group activities to help it grow. Soon, the FPS ranks of the RSCD grow more.

Early activities under Super's command included: overseeing the retirement of the Katarns group; precisely laid out and actively used merit system; significant increase in participation of online interclub competitions,; and the creation and implementation of the Mod Map Offline Competition (MMOC).

*Demotion of Reality*

At the release of BattleFront II, discussion started within the HC as to the status of the RSCD. It did not have anywhere near the number of active members required for a Fleet in the RS, and its scope represented about half of the game supported by the RS. So, the RS XO orchestrated the RSCD's demotion to wing status, yet again. The RSCD was split into two wings, Command Division (CD) and Jedi Division. Each was placed into Redemption Fleet.

The RS support for the Jedi based games as almost nil with no consistently active members. There is always someone that comes up thinking they can restart the group, but as of yet, no efforts have gotten off the ground. It is unlikely the Jedi Division will ever be able to replicate the successes of those early days back in the late 1990's.

On the other hand, the CD continued to grow. For the first time in years, the CD website had been modernized, including a concise merit points guide. Near Super's retirement as CD CO near the end of 2006, the CD had achieved an active roster of 20 members (including both online and offline activity), with about one new recruit a month joining the active ranks.

At the end of October 2006, Super handed command of the CD to DaLe.