New California Republic Cavalry

The New California Republic Cavalry is the designation given to horse and motorcycle-mounted forces of the NCR military. While they have decreased in size under the Kimball administration, cavalry forces can still be found supporting infantry units and horses are sometimes used by the NCR Rangers.
==Background==
After the Great War, many horses were unfortunate casualties in the food scarcities of post-apocalyptic California. By the time of the formation of the NCR, the few horses that could be found in New California were used by independent farmers for fieldwork or by traders to carry goods.
Toward the end of the Tandi government and later Tibbett administration the NCR made contact with independent communities outside of the Republic's borders, eventually forming trading relationships with them. Some of these rural communities still had a few horses, spared from the extreme food scarcity of urban California. The NCR government began buying the horses they could find, bringing them back to their core territories. Some brahmin and agricultural barons, realizing the profit to be made with these sturdy creatures, bought their own to breed and later sell to farmers and the Republic’s military. Similarly, motorcycles and other small motorized vehicles became more widely used to cross the vast distances of New California by those with the know-how to repair them or the caps to purchase one.
In the 2260s under the Peterson administration the NCR Army had enough horses that the formation of designated cavalry units was possible, often being a mix of horse-mounted and motorcycle-riding forces. While few in number, they were used in the Republic's aggressive expansionism under Wendell Peterson into Northern California, Nevada, and eastward to the Mojave Wasteland. NCR cavalry units found action against raiders, tribals, and in pressuring communities to join the Republic, including the very rural communities that had sold them their initial horses in the first place. As the NCR Rangers moved from a paramilitary force to an official part of the military, they began to use horses as well. Rangers sometimes use horses or motorcycles for reconnaissance operations and to travel to rural communities not easily accessible by foot.
With the increased industrialization of the NCR in the late years of Peterson’s government and the later presidency of Aaron Kimball, horses became used less in favor of the army’s growing motorized equipment. Despite this, horses are unlikely to be phased out by the NCR any time soon. Cavalry platoons can sometimes still be found attached to standard infantry units for reconnaissance and flank screening, are used by forces in the NCR’s frontier areas, and the NCR Rangers still make occasional use of them. One unit was known to have participated in the Massacre of Bitter Springs.
==Organization==
In the modern day the cavalry of the NCR is used both by the NCR Army and Ranger forces, the two use them for very different purposes. Under the army cavalry forces are organized into platoons that support standard infantry units, primarily performing reconnaissance before assaults and flank screening. The Rangers use horses very differently. While they do make use of motorcycles, rangers use horses to reach far-off destinations where shoddy roadways and terrain prohibits the use of motorized vehicles.
Recruitment of cavalry is voluntary to currently-serving NCR soldiers. As horses are rare in the Republic and few know how to ride them, ghouls with pre-War horse riding experience and the rare post-War humans who have ridden them are given priority for cavalry positions. A small military cavalry school in Redding exists to refine their skills and teach volunteers who show an affinity for horse riding.
==Equipment==
The favored weapons of cavalry units are repeaters and carbines, however the overstretched forces of the NCR often make do with whatever firearms are available. Sabers manufactured in bulk are standard equipment for cavalry soldiers. They were used heavily during the early days of NCR expansion against raider and tribal groups, especially those who favored melee weapons.
Category:New California Republic
Category:New California Republic Armed Forces