The United Nations Security Force is a polyglot group of soldiers drawn from each of the UN's member states tasked with the defense of the colony of Persephone and the planet of Epsilon Indi III.
The current commander of the United Nations Security Force is Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Valliere. His deputy is Major Pavel Stoychanev.
Strength
In spite of being the entire defense network of a whole planet, the United Nations Security Force is an exceptionally modest force. This is partially on account of budgetary factors (armies are expensive) and partially for strategic reasons (if anybody wants to invade human space, defending Persephone at its current stage of development is expected to be virtually impossible anyway).
Ground Force
The ground component of the United Nations Security Force is kept at battalion level - the compliment is approximately 1,250 human soldiers. They are drawn from almost every United Nations member, but the largest contributors are the European Union (approximately 350 men), the Blessed Mexican Empire (approximately 300 men), and the Republic of China (approximately 200 men). These numbers vary with troop rotations and deployment.
The battalion is not fully mechanised, but because of its myriad responsibilities it has access to a number of light vehicles, mostly jeeps adapted for travel through Persephone's toxic atmosphere and wild woods. There are no frontline combat vehicles of any sort in the battalion, though it boasts approximately one hundred and twenty modern assault robots of Earth manufacture.
Air and Space Forces
Persephone must make do with a small combined air-space force. The force consists of twenty-one SF-114 Roma? air-space fighters: inexpensive models capable of operation both in space and in an atmosphere that are considered underperformers even by Earth standards.
The security force also has access to two interstellar troop transports with a capacity of 125 soldiers each, one interstellar supply transport, and a variety of atmospheric and intra-system craft.
Other Strength
The security force has no naval component, as the colony of Persephone is far from seas and oceans. The security force headquarters are located in the SV Marco Polo?, and there are also a small number of isolated, sealed bunkers and listening posts around the planet.
Composition
Assignment to the United Nations Security Force is not glamorous, and there is little competition. A few whose careers have stalled volunteer for the assignment in hopes of breaking out of a rut and being able to impress a new set of superiors, but most are sent against their will because their home armies have no need for them.
As a result, discipline in the security force is generally bad and the calibre of soldier is very low. Moreover, the combination of soldiers from different nations and trained in different doctrines creates a nightmare of logistics, strategy, and discipline.
Recruitment
Officers and men for the Security Force are predominantly recruited from the constituent militaries of the United Nations. The UN tries to extensively recruit from elite units and experienced formations; the initial conception of the Security Force was of one that was small but made up of crack soldiers and pilots. The appointment of the two experienced senior officers - Valliere and Stoychanev - lent the Security Force some credibility, and their names were used prominently in advertising, as seen on the right.
The effort to recruit elite soldiers largely failed, however, and the Security Force today settles for getting anyone they can sink their teeth. This can include those with disciplinary or performance issues severe enough to be worth getting out of the way but not so severe to be worth drumming out.
A very, very few people have joined the military with the intention of joining the Security Force, but this is frowned upon by recruiters and accepted only in time of extreme manpower shortage.