Gorlish Defense Forces¶

The Gorlish Defense Forces (GDF) — Försvarsmakten in the Gorlish — are the unified military of the Republic of Gorlund. Three services under a single supreme command (the Supreme Commander, Överbefälhavaren), with the President of the Republic as constitutional Commander-in-Chief and the Prime Minister, through the Minister of Defense, as the operative political authority.

The GDF is the world's most fully-developed example of Total Defense doctrine — a small, professional, mechanized active force capable of forward-deploying alongside WDP coalition partners, backed by a near-million-strong Territorial Defense Force of light infantry, militia, and home-guard formations organized for layered, in-depth defense of national territory.

Service branches¶

Service	Active strength	Mission
Gorlish Army	~140,000	Ground combat: mechanized brigades, jaeger, arctic, coastal; the Territorial Defense Force
Gorlish Navy	~25,000	Halmstrand Strait control, Boreal Sea defense, the Coastal Rangers (Kustjägare)
Gorlish Air Force	~25,000	Air defense, strike, tactical air support, strategic airlift

Joint and special-purpose formations bring the active-force total to approximately 220,000. The Territorial Defense Force (Hemvärnet), administratively subordinate to the Army but organized as a constitutionally distinct fourth pillar, brings the mobilized wartime total to approximately 1,020,000.

Supreme command¶

The GDF is commanded through the following structure:

President of the Republic — Commander-in-Chief (constitutional, ceremonial)
Prime Minister / Minister of Defense — political direction
Supreme Commander (Överbefälhavaren, ÖB) — senior uniformed officer; commands operationally
Defense Staff (Försvarsstaben) — joint staff supporting the ÖB
Service Chiefs — Army, Navy, Air Force
Commander, Territorial Defense Force — equal-ranking flag officer; reports directly to the ÖB rather than through the Army chief

The current Supreme Commander is General Olaf Brann, appointed 2024, former chief of the Gorlish Army. He is a graduate of the Halmstrand Defense Academy and the Arcadian Joint Staff College.

Joint Force Headquarters¶

The Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ) at Halmstrand-Norra is the operational nerve center of the GDF. JFHQ exercises:

Operational command of deployed forces, including the active expeditionary corps now committed to the Östmark front
Joint targeting and fires coordination
Cyber and electronic-warfare integration through the Joint Cyber Command
WDP liaison through the standing WDP coalition cell

Joint and special commands¶

Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) — interservice special operations
Joint Cyber Command (JCC) — cyber defense and offensive operations
Joint Strategic Reconnaissance Command (JSRC) — strategic intelligence
Joint Logistics Command (JLC) — supply, transport, medical
Joint Training Command (JTC) — service academies, basic and advanced training, war colleges

Total Defense doctrine¶

Gorlish military doctrine rests on three integrated layers:

Layer 1 — Active Force (~220,000)¶

A small, professional, mechanized force capable of:

Forward defense on the Östmark frontier
WDP coalition operations under joint command
Strategic mobility by air and sea to anywhere in the WDP zone
High-end combined-arms warfare in cooperation with Arcadian heavy formations

Layer 2 — Territorial Defense Force (~800,000)¶

A massive light-infantry militia organized along regional and county lines — every Gorlish citizen who has completed national service is enrolled in a specific Hemvärn battalion based on their place of residence. The Territorial Defense Force is structured for:

In-depth defense of national territory, particularly the central forest belt and the alpine north
Critical-infrastructure protection of bridges, rail junctions, fuel depots, telecommunications nodes
Stay-behind and unconventional warfare in occupied territory — every Hemvärn battalion has a planned stay-behind cell
Mobilization in 72 hours or less — the constitutional standard

Layer 3 — Civil Defense (the whole population)¶

The Total Defense system extends beyond the uniformed military:

Civil Defense Organization (Civilförsvaret) — non-uniformed organization for evacuation, shelter, fire-fighting, and reconstruction
Industrial mobilization — pre-planned conversion of selected civilian industry to wartime production
Food reserves — strategic stockpiles of grain, fuel, medical supplies
Total-Defense education — universal civic training, beginning in secondary school

This three-layer system is the institutional embodiment of the cultural conviction that defense of the Republic is the personal obligation of every Gorlish citizen.

Conscription and personnel¶

Universal national service at age 18, gender-neutral since 2013
Service obligation: 9–18 months active, depending on assignment, plus reserve obligation through age 47
Selection: All 18-year-olds undergo a mandatory aptitude and medical screening; approximately 35% are called to active service in any given year, with the remainder enrolled in the active reserve or the Hemvärn at lower training intensities
Professional career: After completing initial service, qualified personnel may apply for the professional officer or NCO tracks; the GDF officer corps is approximately 25,000 strong

Special operations¶

The Gorlish special-operations community is built around three formations:

Army: Fallskärmsjägar (parachute jaegers) — the senior tier-1 SOF; airborne-qualified, specialized in long-range reconnaissance and direct action
Navy: Kustjägare (coastal rangers) — amphibious raiders and naval-infantry SOF
JSOC-direct: Särskilda Operationsgruppen (SOG) — the country's tier-1 black special-purpose group, reporting directly to the ÖB

The combined Gorlish SOF community is approximately 3,000 personnel, with operational coordination through JSOC.

Imperial Guard equivalent — the Royal Lifeguard¶

Although Gorlund is a republic, the Royal Lifeguard Regiment (Livgardet) preserves the ceremonial traditions of the pre-republican period. The unit is a fully-operational mechanized infantry regiment subordinate to the I Mechanized Brigade for combat purposes, but performs the ceremonial duties of guarding the Presidential Residence and the Riksdag building. The regiment's red-and-blue ceremonial uniforms, drawn from the founding-era state guard, are one of the country's most recognizable national symbols.