Interservice Rivalry

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Due to an ancient bureaucratic tradition, the reasons for which have been lost in time, all four branches of the Terran military (Planetary, Space Navy, Orbital Assault and Administrative Services) receive nearly equal funding each year. Only once, in the late 21st century, did the administration try to allocate funding equal to the actual needs of the services. That unfortunate idea led directly to the Service Wars of 2099-2116, and was quietly buried after the destruction of the densely populated Rigel III and Omicron VI planets.

Since Space Marines are part of the Navy, which during the past 25 years often could not even pay interest rates for its fleet of huge and sleekly designed warships, they have to do with what is left of the budget. Space Marines are known to be resourceful and creative when it comes to organizing supply. Today, several core planets have regulations against the stationing of Marines near centers of population, industry, agriculture or anything that could possibly be removed, sold or eaten.

OAT Command, on the other hand, has to deal with complex economic problems of its own. Case studies show that stationing a single OAT cohort on a planet with less than 800 million inhabitants can lead to the instant collapse of the local economy, due to rampant inflation. Thus, OAT Command has spent approximately 48 trillion credits since 2185 on feasibility studies for terraforming lifeless planets into adequate accomodations for OAT legionnaires.

Recently, OAT HQ has tried to defuse the rivalry between their troopers and Space Marines by donating used thermal fatigues to the Marine Corps, but it has yet to be seen whether this measure can substantially reduce tensions.