Counter-Munition Infantry

The idea that the Coalition might eventually have to fight a war of attrition against an enemy that outnumbered them three to one moved the Coalition military to action. Much focus was given to force multipliers, such as energy shielding, OrbitSurface Battle and armored warfare, but some planners working for the Army thought it might be possible to reduce the manpower disparity a bit by using prisoners as cannon fodder. And so the Counter-Munition Infantry was born.

Initially, these conscripts were imagined to wield outdated, surplus arms and fight like a traditional human wave, but the deep-seated paranoia that plagued Coalition society as a whole put an end to such ideas. What if these human waves turned against the Coalition? Their ranks would undoubtedly hold many communist sympathizers, and a CMI unit might have more to gain by turning on the men that armed them. In addition to this, older weapons were needed to supply willing allies and for blackboxing operations. After witnessing the effectiveness of suicide bombers in the various conflicts of the Inner Sphere, the planners were inspired and so created the modern concept of the CMI.

The CMI was as simple as it was effective. An explosive device, filled only with the most stable bakelite explosives available, of significant yield was to be surgically attached to the CMI's body. This would allow a direct connection to the heart, making removal of the explosive without professional medical expertise impossible. In addition to this precaution, the explosive is designed to detonate if tampered with. This explosive would be inert so long as a heartbeat sensor detects that the CMI is alive; even at this inert stage, the explosives can be remotely detonated. Once the CMI dies, the explosive is armed and explodes whenever an object without a friend-or-foe tag approaches it, but unfortunately these tags occasionally malfunction. As CMIs are presumably cut down in an area of heavy enemy fire, this entire area is turned into a minefield and denied to the enemy, making an enemy advance difficult. If a CMI makes it to enemy lines, it is presumably killed in the confusion and detonates when the explosive senses nearby targets. Not only does the enemy expend ammunition gunning down CMIs, but even if they succeed they turn an entire area into a Coalition-owned minefield. The CMI's nature as a living human being also has significant psychological effects, possibly increasing desertion rates and suicides with the enemy, but given the nature of the Coalition's enemies this is considered an unlikely bonus.

As the Galactic War rages on, the Coalition's reserves of CMIs have began to run low, even as prisoners of war refill their ranks. This deficiency is forcing the return of traditional minelayers, which are more expensive to produce. On the plus side, Coalition prison camps are beginning to empty, decreasing their maintenance cost.