Mithril (Full Metal Panic!)

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Mithril is a fictional paramilitary anti-terrorist organization in the light novel, manga and anime series Full Metal Panic!. Many of the main characters within the series are members of this organization.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Organization 2.1 Research Division 2.2 Intelligence Division 2.3 Combat Division 2.3.1 S/PRT : Special/(Primary) Response Teams 2.3.2 Response Team Personnel 2.3.2.1 PRT operators 2.3.2.2 SRT operators 3 Equipment 4 Translation Issues 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Overview

Mithril is a paramilitary (non-governmental) organization possessing advanced technologies and weapon systems superior to that of any national armed forces. It was founded around the year of 1992-1993. The decision was made following the detonation of a nuclear warhead in north Iraq in the then waning Gulf War. It is named after the fictional metal, Mithril, from the The lord of the rings written by J. R. R. Tolkien within the fictional narrative of Full Metal Panic. The organization operates to halt regional conflicts, in addition to securing the Whispered. As such, it is one of the few organizations aware of the Whispered and Black Technology.

Mithril remains an extremely secretive organization, its existence unknown to all but the most senior of military and political personnel. Its motives, funding, structure, and personnel are all kept secret. Its secrecy is vital for its continued existence, as Mithril is a specialist organization dependent on fast surgical strikes with small numbers. They do not possess the numbers or capacity to withstand a conventional war of numbers.

The narrative of Full Metal Panic primarily follows one section of Mithril, the Pacific Battle Fleet "Tuatha de Danaan".

[edit] Organization

Mithril is divided largely into three divisions. Additional divisions may exist, but have been unmentioned at this time. The three divisions are the research, intelligence, and combat divisions. All three operate across international borders with the best and brightest available personnel.

The command structure of Mithril is very direct to give soldiers a clear chain of command to their superior officers. At the same time, commanders are given the ability to individually take command of a situation. The high level of trust in individual ability gives each organizational unit a strong level of autonomous decision making.

[edit] Research Division

The research division develops advanced Black Technology devices from the knowledge gleaned from the Whispered. There have been a number of Whispered who have taken active part in the Research division as personnel as well. The research division of mithril is deeply involved with the various cover corporate identities operated by the organization. The organization markets spin off technologies of its research. This revenue is assumed to be part of the funding of the two other divisions.

The research division is shown to have a close working relationship with the combat division of Mithril. There is a personnel exchange program, further fostering this relationship.

[edit] Intelligence Division

The intelligence division of Mithril handles the intelligence and counterintelligence duties within the organization. The division is highly independent of the two other divisions, maintaining a higher level of secrecy within the already secretive organization. The division operates an impressive amount of assets, including a number of military satellites, advanced computer equipment and personnel within other organizations. They have been shown using the United State’s intelligence satellites through morally dubious means. The intelligence division is charged with finding and securing ‘’Whispered’’ as well.

A certain amount of friction between the Combat and Intelligence divisions have been highlighted within the narrative of Full Metal Panic. This friction does not prevent the division from being highly effective in monitoring the hotbeds of regional conflicts.

[edit] Combat Division

The combat division of Mithril is the physical muscle of Mithril, carrying out surgical strikes to halt or help abate regional conflicts. The combat division is further divided into regional battlegroups. There are two naval battlegroups identified within the series, the Atlantic Battle Group and the Pacific Battle Group. Additional battlegroups may exist, but remain unconfirmed.

The Pacific Battle Group “Tuatha De Danaan” is commanded by Teretha Testarossa, from the flag ship of the same name, TDD-1 Tuatha de Danaan. Tuatha de Danaan further operates its Ground Combat and Naval Combat Corps commanded by Andre Sergeivich Kalinin and Richard Mardukas respectively.

Mithril is a specialist organization unlike most armies, requiring personnel capable of completing sensitive and difficult operations in small teams. These small surgical strike teams are operated by each battle group, under the Special Response Team (SRT) and Primary Response Team (PRT) units. They are armed rapid response units deployed around the world, most often within a day or even hours. The SRT are deployed to the most dangerous and risky of situation, ones that the PRT cannot be expected to complete.

[edit] S/PRT : Special/(Primary) Response Teams

SRT and PRT operators of the Pacific Battle group operate under code names during field operations. These code names are named from the Norse Runic alphabet, in accordance with the battle group's name, Tuatha de Danaan. Uruz (Urzu) is given to those who serve the TDD-1 under the SRT, while Kano (Kaunan) is given to those to who serve in the PRT. These runic letters each carry a symbolic meaning well suited to the units. There is some confusion regarding the spelling of these runic letters in English, as seen in the anime series. (See Translation Issues, below for details)

In their need of secrecy, these Mithril soldiers often disguise themselves as armed forces of various nations. In Full Metal Panic, they pose as UN peacekeepers by wearing blue berets and green BDUs fitted with UN insignias.

Under the direct command of Ground Combat Commander Andrei Kalinin, the ground combat units of the Tuatha de Danaan battle groups are separated into SRT and PRT units. There are six PRT units, from PRT one to PRT six. Each PRT team is specialised in a type of operation. There are confirmed teams specialising in amphibious assaults, Electronic and Information Warfare, Building Breaching and Assault, and an Arm Slave team. Soldiers rotate within the six teams to learn the methods and skills of each team. The Primary Response Teams form the core fighting force of the Pacific Battle fleet. Most operations of Mithril are carried out by the PRT. Uruz Three is commander of the Primary Response Teams, and facilitates the communication and teamwork between the SRT and PRT personnel.

The distinction of the SRT from the PRT is the usage of Arm Slaves. Almost all SRT members are Arm Slave pilots in addition to their specialist skills elsewhere. This is largely unheard of, and highlights the unique nature of the SRT. Each specialist of the unit is encouraged in cross training to retain the ability to complete a mission regardless of personnel loss in the field.

While most missions operate the SRT and PRT personnel as discrete units, complex operations have been shown using both SRT and PRT units. In these cases, SRT personnel have been shown to take command of supporting PRT units. The two teams show strong integration, showing the well trained nature of both units.

[edit] Response Team Personnel

Enlisted and officer ranks in the PRT and SRT are, like Mithril's officer corp., based from the American and British military ranking systems. They consist of a mix of American and British army and navy ranks.

[edit] PRT operators

Character	Nationality	Rank	Codename	Appearance	Status
Lian Shaopin	Unknown	Leading Seaman	Unknown	Full Metal Panic	KIA[1]
Tony				Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid	KIA[2]
Yao		Corporal		Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

[edit] SRT operators

Character	Nationality	Rank	Codename	Appearance	Status
Belfangan Grouseax	Canadian	First Lieutenant	Uruz 1	Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid	Active
Gail McAllen	Australian	Captain	Uruz 1[3]	Full Metal Panic	On Patrol[4] : KIA[5]
Amasart		First Lieutenant	Formerly Uruz 2 [6]		Inactive: transferred to Mithril Intelligence Division
Castello		First Lieutenant	Uruz 3	Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid	Active
Melissa Mao	American	Sergeant Major	Uruz 2 (Formerly Uruz 6)	Full Metal Panic	Active
Hummer			Uruz 4		Active
Roger Sandraptor		Sergeant	Uruz 5	Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid	Active
Kurz Weber	German	Staff Sergeant	Uruz 6	Full Metal Panic	Active
Sousuke Sagara	Unknown	Staff Sergeant	Uruz 7	Full Metal Panic	Active
Jack Wayne	American	Sergeant	Formerly Uruz 7		Inactive : Discharged
Speck		Sergeant	Uruz 8	Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid	Active
Yang Jun-Kyu	South Korean	Corporal	Uruz 9	Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid	Active
Guen Bien Bo	Vietnamese	Corporal	Formerly Uruz 10 [7]	Full Metal Panic	AWOL: Deceased[8]
John Danigan	American	Sergeant	Formerly Uruz 12	Full Metal Panic	AWOL: Deceased[9]

[edit] Equipment

In order to conduct their missions, Mithril Response Teams are armed with the finest military equipment that is available. Much like Special forces operators of the United States Armed Forces, SRT personnel are given complete freedom in the equipment they choose to arm themselves with. This serves to make each individual member difficult to identify as a part of Mithril based on their equipment. Equipment shown used by Response Teams include the FN P90 submachine gun and an assault rifle/hand gun combination similar to the Corner Shot system.

The cornerstone of the East Pacific Battlegroup, Tuatha de Danaan, is the amphibious assault submarine TDD-1 Tuatha de Danaan. This single battlegroup is armed with a number of AFV-8 Super Harriers, MH-67 Pave Mare Transport Helicopters, and Light Gunship helicopters which look to be a form of the RAH-66 Comanche. Additional equipment seen fielded are a turbofan engine powered variant of the C-130 Hercules, a number of C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. It is notable that many of these weapon systems operated by Mithril include a number of equipment that are from failed or cancelled development programmes in reality. It is unknown if the addition of Black Technology have made these projects viable or the tastes of the author are particularly strongly reflected within the fictional narrative.

Most notable is the advanced Third Generation Arm Slave, yet unmatched by any military of the world. SRT operatives are issued the M9E Gernsback Arm Slaves for general Arm Slave combat or missions. Each SRT member customise and personalise the Arm Slave extensively, creating a close relationship with their machines. The Battlegroup also operates a number of older M6 Bushnell units as secondary and backup units, but do not carry any on the limited space of the TDD-1.

Mithril as an organization has access to low orbit satellites for an encrypted communications network and intelligence gathering. Some mention of illegal and unauthorized access into United States satellite network has mentioned. The amount of Mithril orbital assets are unknown in comparison to those borrowed from other nations.

[edit] Translation Issues

The spelling of the TDD-1 SRT team name in the first Full Metal Panic series is "Uluz". This can be seen in episode 6, "Still Alive" when Sousuke activates the Arbalest for the first time after it was sent by the TDD-1 inside an SLBM. The Arbalest's screen identified him as "Uluz-7". However, in episode 6, "Edge of Heaven" of Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid, an E-mail sent to Sousuke identifies him as "Uruz-7".

This confusion and consequent double transliteration is caused by the fact that the Japanese language doesn't distinguish between R and L. Also, because Japanese speakers tend to add vocal sounds at the end of Rōmaji words, in the anime it is pronounced as "Uruzu" (or "Uluzu". Both sound the same in the Japanese language).

In the DVDs released by ADV Films, the term used in the English subtitles is "Urzu", which can be argued that when read in English it sounds the closest to the original Japanese sound. This term is used by some fansub groups for Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid. A similar transliteration problem caused by Romanization can be seen in the name of the character Alucard, from the anime Hellsing.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Arm Slave
• Full Metal Panic