MILITARY FORCES
In
2010 the United States, after bankrupting itself fighting the Second
South American War, committed one of the worst atrocities against its
own military and civilian contractors in history. In a decision
that rivaled the horrors of Tuskegee, Alameda human testing, and the
use of Agent Orange, the U.S. simply abandoned thousands of its
military and civilian forces in the war torn regions of
South and Central America. Besieged on all sides,
this incident led to the mass exodus known popularly as "The Long
Walk." The tale of that journey is well documented, and it's
ramification shook our countries government to its very roots.
The long walk led to John Meta and his crew seizing abandoned offshore
drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and founding Meta-Key, and to
the mass explosion
in
the nomad population. Of lesser known repercussions is the Story
of Colonel Pike, and his Raiders, who seized and held the Panama
Canal. Immediately after the botched evacuation of all U.S.
forces from South and Central America, those who were left behind fell
back to the Panama Canal. Army Colonel Jonas Pike was already there. Rather than follow his orders
and abandon the
special forces teams under his command that were still stuck behind
enemy lines in the jungles of Colombia, Pike stayed behind. The
Canal, with its heavily fortified defenses, immediately became the
first safe haven for anyone left behind in the region who could make it
there. Within weeks the number of people at the Canal had reached
thousands, mostly civilian construction workers, engineers, drivers,
clerical staff, and
private security personnel. With the combined forces of the
Colombians, the Bolivians and any rebel group or terrorist group in the
region with a bone to pick with the U.S. descending on them, about to
surround them completely, and with resources stretched thin, the
majority of those who had taken refuge at the Canal decided in a
desperate move to escape while they could before they were cut off and
under siege. While the main
host began the exodus from the Canal that would later be
called the long walk, Colonel Pike and 300 of his best men, along with
a handful of civilian volunteers (most of whom were actually employed
at the Canal and knew its operation), dug in at the Canal to hold off
the Cartel Forces for as long as possible. No one had any doubts,
it was a suicide mission. 
Things did not go according to plan however.
Rather than commit to a full scale assault in the attempt to overrun
the Canal, the majority of Cartel forces simply went around, leaving
only a small force to try and take the Canal and scour the Americans
from its walls. Pike and his men, known collectively as "Pikes
Raiders," were able to fight off the cartel forces besieging them, but
could do little to hinder the main Cartel movement chasing down the
"Long Walkers." When the "Walkers" finally reached Atlantico, the
main group of Cartel forces
that
had been chasing them had no choice but to abandon pursuit and head
back. Unknown to them, Pike back at the Canal had already planned
a surprise for them. When the Cartel Forces reached the Canal,
they expected at most a kowtowed American presence, one who would
co-operate or be easily detroyed. And thats what they got, or so
it seemed. From their gun towers, with most of his men hidden in
waiting, Pike played the submittant role, allowing the
main portion of Cartel forces to cross the canal in a cargo ship.
When the ship was loaded and underway, Pike struck. His hidden
men ran to the gun towers, unloading on the ship with everything they
had. Navy divers who had stayed behind had placed underwater
mines on time release switches at the bottom of the canal. The
ship along with 2000 Cartel soldiers on board exploded and sunk.
Survivors were gunned down in the water as they floated. With
over 2/3rds of the cartel forces lost in a
single blow, including much of its leadership, the
remaing Cartel forces fled. It would be the last victory for
America in the Second South American War.
command of the Canal, 
but there was no where for Pike and his men to go. No
one was coming for them, and their force was far too small to make the
trek to home soil. Besides, they had shed their blood, sweat and
tears defending the unfinished Canal and they were going to be damned
if anyone was going to take it from them now. Besides, most of
them had no wish to see the America that had abandoned them ever
again.
Reluctant at first, the Panamanian government was in no shape to try
and dislodge the Americans, who even then were in talks with the EEC
and other major nations eager to begin shipping again. After
Europe offerred to pickup the funding for the expansion (now well over
half done) Panama aquiesced, the Canal would be completely controlled
and run by Pike and his people. The ICMF was born.
In the 8 years
since that final battle, the ICMF has grown in size, hiring from the
local Panamanian population for day to day operations, importing
specialists and experts at healthy salaries, and expanding their
military forces with mercenaries and ex-soldiers from all over the
globe. The recruiting policy is simple, "If you are fed up
fighting for someone else, come here, join us, fight for yourself and
your
comrades." The ICMF is supplied heavily in arms and equipment
from Europe, Russia, and Asia (mostly Japan and China). They were
also, at least till recently, sold weapons and vehicles from American
companies, most notably Militech International. Miltech, Arasaka,
and Lazarus have all tried to win military contracts with the ICMF to
supplant their military forces, but the ICMF has refused
them all, staunchly
disallowing any corporate influence to breach their inner circle, the
mercs they do hire are all highly seasoned private groups.
towards the United
States, a country they have now completely disavowed. Still while
their was always an air of hostily in their dealings, it wasn't until
November of 2019 that any overt action had taken place. The U.S.
angry that though they had payed for the vast majority of the expansion
project they were being charged twice the fees for its use, threatened
an embargo. The ICMF, heavily influenced by the EEC closed the
Canal to U.S. traffic completely in response,
forcing U.S.
inbound and outbound vessels to travel all the way around South
America. For the last 6 months the U.S. has tried negotiating,
but after their most recent talks eneded in failure, the United States
Government had finally ahd enough, War was declared on the ICMF.
The other Target of United States agression, the South American
Alliance, has tried to form an alliance with the ICMF, to no avail so
far, Colonel Pike has not forgotten the atrocities of the "Long Walk"
and hates the
Cartel forces as much as he hates his former home country. Still
with the U.S. invasion looming, he may need all the help he can
get. As an alternative, they have been in negotiations with
Meta-Key.
contrast the ICMF
simply dwarfs Panamanian military forces (which has led to fears in the
country that the ICMF will simply take over the country, unfounded
fears as it were as Pike has no interest in running a country).
The vast majority of ICMF troops are ex-American and European veterans,
with combat experience in either the last South American War, or from
the current war in Africa. Because its soldiers
are already well
experienced and seasoned troops, there is little need for
training, What training does exist is mostly in efforts to get
the disparate groups to work cohesively together in defense of the
canal. (For skill packages, consider any ICMF soldier to have the
same skill sets as the military of their home of origin, at an
additional +1 to each of the skills received, this extends to those
with Special Forces training).
Also because of
their backgrounds, and lack of a single supplier, uniforms, weapons,
and equipment are extremely varied among the ICMF soldiers. While
the majority of ICMF personnel are issued similar uniforms within their
platoons, the platoons themselves often vary wildly. The ICMF
also allows private Merc groups to keep their own uniforms, so long as
they are in a group of 50 or more. Still the majority of ICMF
soldiers wear Second South American War era US style uniforms and
armor, as a symbol of their roots.
(Written by Deric "D" Bernier, images from Killzone, FFOW.)