After the capture of Coruscant, the New Republic found itself
spending vast amounts of time and effort uprooting Imperial
commands from urban areas. In addition, criminal organizations
that had prospered under corrupt Imperial rules, and
counter-revolutionary groups supported by the Empire also posed
problems that neither the regular army or the planetary police were
capable of dealing with. In addition, hostage rescues and covert
operations in Imperial held worlds were also being badly blundered
by those individuals that were assigned to those tasks. To solve
that problem, the Urban Special Unit was formed.
No more than one half of one percent of the New Republic
military in numbers, the USU was formed from veterans of the
Rebellion, Ex-ISB agents, assorted former criminals, as well as
some of the cream of the New Republic's military crop. Highly
trained in their specific roles, the USU has one of the highest
training attrition rates in the New Republic military, as many of
those that though of themselves as hard cases wash out of the USU.
Once a soldier makes it through the initial training and testing
period, they are given crash courses in all areas of Urban combat.
Any failure is immediately washed out back into the regular army,
as the USU takes on missions where the slightest mistake can have
catastrophic consequences, from dead diplomats to wiped out city
blocks.
If a soldier makes it past through the training and
initiation, they are given fairly large amounts of expensive
equipment and put on assignment. Generally speaking no USU team (6
man unit) has more than one rookie at a time, with soldiers
rotating out usually only through promotions or casualties.
However, USU teams are by nature close knit groups, and any major
personality conflicts are often solved by the removal of one of the
personalities in conflict. The USU is officially part of the
regular Army, and no USU warrior holds a rank of less than Captain
in the NR army. The head of the USU is currently it's founder,
Lieutenant General Rayburn R. Hoem.
Blaster Repair 4D, Demolition 5D, First Aid 5D+2, Security 5D.
In addition to these skills, a potential USU member is
required to have at least one additional skill of 7D or above that
has a practical military application.
Typical USU veteran (rookies tend to start with little above
minimum requirements):