The REF BME OCC was created in order to combine the skills and qualities of the old RDF Electrical Engineer and the Mechanical Engineer thereby reducing the manpower necessary to run the REF war machine in their battle against the Robotech Masters and the Invid.
These soldiers are commonly kept in the rear areas as they are very valuable and if captured could prove to be a tremendous security risk. There are times thought that the BME is allowed to accompany front line combat troops on operations. These typically include recon missions where the BME's skills can be used to determine capabilities of new enemy mecha or long term guerilla operations where the BME will be the only person who can improvise mecha parts out of locally available technology.
The prospective BME must have an INT and STR of at least 2.
OCC Skills=cost 10
Basic Issue:
Base Pay: Standard UN military pay according to rank
Savings: 6d6x100 US dollars
A high tech soldier whose job is to establish and maintain communications whatever the conditions. This character has perhaps the most technical skills in the REF, and for this reason is usually kept very safe, either in the rear area or the Combat Information Center of a warship. There are however those Commo Specialists that are regualarly assigned to Military Specialist, Veritech, Destroid, or Cyclone units. It is their job to conduct electronic warfare while in the middle of battle.
That takes nerves of steel, a sharp mind and combat skills. These "Electric Foxes" as they are known are respected both for their knowledge of electronic warfare and prowess in combat.
Attribute requirements are an INT of 2
OCC skills: cost=9
Basic Issue:
Pay is according to the standard UN military pay scale
Personal Savings= 4D6x100
In the RDF, non mechanized forces were one of two things. They were either rear echelon support troops or dead. There was not much need for infantry operations in a highly mobile battlefield where infantry had "popguns" (heavy SD and very light, 1d4 MD to a maximum of 1d6x10 MD, anti-tank weapons with an extremely short range) to use against mecha, where even the smallest mech mounted weapon (typically 12.7 mm machineguns to 25 mm autocannons) would reduce a relatively superbly (on an infantry/spec ops level) armed, trained and equiped squad or platoon to ribbons in seconds at a range that made the mech invulnerable to return fire.
This problem was seized upon by Doctor R. Burke when he set out to create an infantry focused mecha design. With the adoption of the Cyclone, the Infantry forces once again have a place on the modern battlefield other than as "crunchies".
Attribute requirements of INT 2 and REF 2
OCC skills: cost=7
Basic Issue:
Pay scale is the UN military standard
Personal savings= 3D6x100 US dollars
The elite mechanized ground forces of the REF are the Destroid Pilots. These soldiers still pilot the increadibly powerful and deadly Destroids. The new REF destroids are smaller, faster and even more deadly than their RDF counterparts.
Remember that each mecha is still a totally DIFFERENT skill. The Gladiator MK II is not the same as the Gladiator MK III!! The REF destroid pilot and the RDF destroid pilot are not interchangable. You may change within vehicle types (different models/MK's) at a -1 to your skill.
Attribute requirements, an INT of 2
OCC skills: cost=9
Basic Issue:
Pay scale is standard UN military.
Personal savings= 3D6x100 US dollars
The Medical and Technology specialist OCC was created to address two
specific need. This need was to have a combat medic for forward deployed
combat units, but also to have specialized medical and technical knowledge
available to units engaged in recon, surveillance and exploration missions.
Instead of creating 2 OCC slots, the UN RDF HQ decided to combine the
two need into one, hence the "MedTechSpecs" as they are known throughout
the RDF.
These are some of the most well rounded and confident soldiers in the RDF
as the nature of their job is such that they often reassigned at a frightening
rate. There are no typical assignments for this OCC. They are needed
in combat zones, exploration missions, peacekeeping operations, hospitals,
spaceships, anywhere and everywhere the skills of medicine or
basic science is required.
The manpower of this OCC is so low and the danger so high that
the mortality rate (deaths to manpower available)
is actually higher than that of either the Destroid or Veritech pilots.
Incredibly, the MedTechSpecs wear this fact like a badge of honor. It
is this pride in that fact that has led to the unofficial motto "to
die young so others may grow old".
The reputation of the RDF MedTechSpecs has grown, till now the REF MedTechSpecs have almost as much prestigue as VT pilots. If that is not a hearty recommendation, then nothing is.
Attribute Requirements: INT of 2
OCC skills: cost=9
Basic Issue:
Pay scale is the standard UN military pay scale
Personal Savings= 4D6x100 US dollars
With the addition of the Cyclone Rider to the organization of the REF, the future of the Military Specialist seemed in doubt. After years and years of neglect by the RDF High Command, the Infantry and Special Operations forces of the RDF (Military Specialist OCC's primarily) were in sad shape. Years and years of being under-funded, under-manned and under-utilized had resulted in an force that was nothing but a shell of what it was supposed to be.
The Cylone Rider OCC, with it's ability to engage in mechanized combat once again gave Infantry a fighting chance and a role on the battlefield. However the primary emphasis of the Cyclone Rider OCC is armored and mobile combat, which allowed the RDF Military Specialist to take over all non-mechanized combat related Infantry and Special Operations taskings, such as Counter Terrorism, Deep Reconnaissance, Infiltration, and limited spying.
The skills required for such diverse operations are hard to learn and to hone, thus the need for a small corps of troops who are kept in a constant state of readiness.
Attribute requirements are an INT of 2
OCC skills: cost=8
Basic Issue:
Pay scale is the UN military standard.
Personal savings= 4D6x100 US dollars
The REF Vertech Fighter pilot has a lot in common with his RDF predecessor. Like him, the REF pilot is highly trained and specially selected out of existing militaries or service academies. Like the RDF pilot, his mission is to win aerospace superiority, provide aerial fire support for ground forces and conduct offensive operation against enemy capital ships.
The nature of the REF's mission required many differing types of VT fighters. No longer could the aging VF-1 series shoulder the burden of interstellar war on it's shoulders alone. The solution was to create a family of more specialized VT fighters that filled a niche perfectly instead of adqueately filling all needs.
Because of this, the REF chose to train all of their pilots in serveral of the VT's instead of only the VF-1 as had the RDF. This has drawn criticisms from those who saw that the specialized training that the RDF pilots recieved would give the advantage in survivability to them, while the varied nature and specialized aspects of the REF VT pilots and mecha would be a liability.
attribute requirement of INT 2 or higher.
OCC skills: cost=7
Basic Issue:
Pay Scale is standard UN military + $300 US dollars extra (flight pay).
Personal Savings 4D6x100 US dollars