ARCAM Private Army

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ARCAM Private Army


ARCAM Special Private Army, ARCAM Private Army

Publisher Flag of Japan Shogakukan
Flag of Canada Flag of United States VIZ Media (Defunct)
Flag of France Glenat (Defunct)
Flag of Germany Planet Manga
Flag of Hong Kong Jade Dynasty
Flag of Indonesia Elex Media
Flag of Malaysia Komik Remaja (Defunct)
Flag of Netherlands Big Balloon
Flag of Singapore Chuang Yi (English)
Flag of South Korea Junior Special Comics (Original), Daiwon & Gang Dok Mok? (Collector's Edition)
Flag of Spain Planeta DeAgostini
Flag of Republic of China Youth Comic Series
First appearance Spriggan, Volume 2
Created by Hiroshi Takashige, Ryoji Minagawa
Base(s) of operations Worldwide, based in several ARCAM Corporation branches
Roster

Jimmy Max (ARCAM Special Private Army)
Jack (ARCAM Special Private Army, Deceased)
John (ARCAM Special Private Army, Deceased)
Paredes (ARCAM Special Private Army, Deceased)
Pauel (ARCAM Special Private Army, Deceased)
Ray (ARCAM Special Private Army, Deceased)
See: Tea Flatte (Spriggans)
Jean Jacquemonde (Spriggans)
Yu Ominae (Spriggans)
Yamamoto (Spriggans, Retired)
Oboro (Spriggans)

In the Spriggan manga, the ARCAM Private Army (APA) [1] is a secretive paramilitary unit established by the ARCAM Corporation, acting as its armed military wing with responsiblities as an umbrella for control over the ARCAM Special Private Army [2], the ARCAM Defense Unit and the Spriggan agents, similar to the Special Operations Command organization used by various police and military forces. The force consists of armed troopers (mostly ex-soldiers, ex-contractors and possibly civilians) from various nationalities. They are lightly armed with various small arms from semi-automatic pistols to heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. The unit also equips its soldiers with various load bearing vests and military/police gear such as ballistic vests, ballistic helmets with protective face shields, etc. The APA has various armoured personnel carriers (APC) in service with them, such as the French-made VAB, wheeled APC used in Turkey. [3]

Spoiler warning: The article contains spoilers on the origin of the ARCAM Private Army and its in involvement in the Spriggan manga (and to a lesser note, OVA) series


Contents

[edit] Mandate

The unit has various mission objectives while under the ARCAM Corporation, which consist of the following:

  • Protection of ARCAM employees and officials.
  • Security duties on ARCAM establishments and excavation sites.
  • Covert assistance to Spriggan operatives.
  • Recovery of ARCAM establishments/excavation sites/other ARCAM-related facilities from enemy forces.
  • Escort captured prisoners to secured ARCAM facilities.

[edit] Divisions

[edit] ARCAM Defense Unit (ADU)

The primary defense force of the ARCAM Corporation. Its main responsibility is to secure all known ARCAM facilities and ARCAM excavation sites around the globe from any attacks by mercenary groups or by national armies.

[edit] ARCAM Special Private Army (ASPA)

The primary strike force of the ARCAM Corporation, its main job is to recapture all ARCAM facilities held by the enemy and conduct commando attacks on enemy forces and facilities.

[edit] Spriggans

Please see Spriggans


Though the three division have different fields of specialty, they sometimes work together on common field missions.

[edit] Known Field Operations

The ARCAM Private Army had participated in a number of field operations, including:

[edit] Securing ARCAM's Turkish facility

ADU forces fielded to ward off any attacks against Turkish research facility.

Location: Mount Ararat, Turkey

Results: Failure, number of ADU troopers were killed by members of the Machiner's Platoon and its heavily armed paramilitary soldiers. Yu Ominae and Jean Jacquemonde went on to defeat the Machiner's Platoon.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Defense Unit, Spriggans

[edit] Raiding British Army base

Objective was to destroy the Berserker, in assistance with Yu Ominae.

Location: Britain

Results: Failure, all deployed ASPA soldiers were killed by British SAS commandos. Yu Ominae went on to destroy the Berserker alone.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army

[edit] Securing possible Eternal Life Nectar

ASPA forces were inserted into the Forest of No Return in India in order to locate a so-called nectar of eternal life.

Location: India

Results: Failure, all ASPA troopers turned into cannibal zombies.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army

[edit] Guarding Suzuko Kawahara

Yu and Oboro, working undercover the pseudonym, Mirage, investigates a Neo-Nazi faction in Egypt. They were also assigned to secure Suzuko Kawahara's life as well.

Location: Egypt

Results: Success, Suzuko Kawahara secured and Crystall Skull retrieved.

Task assigned to: Spriggans

[edit] Protecting ARCAM's Japanese office

After receiving threats of an imminent attack, Yamamoto ordered available APA forces to fight off COSMOS soldiers.

Location: Japan

Results: Success, COSMOS infiltration/invasion warded off by joint forces of the ASPA and possibly ADU with Spriggan agents, including Yu Ominae and Jean Jacquemonde.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Defense Unit, ARCAM Special Private Army, Spriggans

[edit] Protecting Kate

Yu and Oboro were assigned by Yamamoto to secure Kate from Maugier Henri Balez assassins.

Locations: Italy and Iraq

Results: Success, Kate's life was spared, though wounded by automatic gunfire.

Task assigned to: Spriggans

[edit] Recapturing ARCAM's facility from YAMA virus

ASPA tactical teams were called in after a facility in the US had isolated itself from the outside world.

Location: United States

Results: Success, YAMA Virus wiped off out when it disappeared from mainframe. Several ASPA troopers killed. Jimmy Max was severely wounded, but survived.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army

[edit] Capturing Holy Grail

Yu Ominae and Tea Flatte were inserted in Britain to recapture the Holy Grail.

Location: Britain

Results: Success, Holy Grail recaptured from Neo-Nazis with help from Yoshino Somei. Several ASPA troopers were injured.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army, Spriggans

[edit] Destroying traces of Ambrosia

Yu and Oboro were deployed to Thailand to destroy traces of the Ambrosia plant that was being used as a potential elixir.

Location: Thailand

Results: Success, all traces of Ambrosia were destroyed with the assistance of Yoshino Somei and Percup Ramdi.

Task assigned to: Spriggans

[edit] Problems

Even if ARCAM funds the unit with a generous amount of weapons and equipment, the group tends to be outmatched in terms of arms and tactics used by various paramilitary and special forces units, such as the incident in Britain when ASPA troopers were ambushed and killed by British SAS commandos as they were about to rendezvous with Yu Ominae as backup support in fighting against the Berserker. The ADU came unprepared once again when American-led COSMOS soldiers launched a commando raid on ARCAM's Japanese headquarters just after the US Armored Corps had raided the facility in order to kidnap Dr. Rie Yamabishi, which resulted in failure.

The ADU had its major loss of its troopers when the Machiner's Platoon, lead by Fatman, Little Boy and Colonel MacDougal, massacred hundred of ADU soldiers on ARCAM's research facility on Mount Ararat in Turkey. At one point, Colonel MacDougal called them the ARCAM Defense Forces, though it is not being referred to as such.

[edit] Trivia

  • In the manga, the ARCAM Defense Unit (ADU) was portrayed to be a ragtag unit of disorganized soldiers, often, with various firearms and equipment as shown in the Noah's Ark story when groups of several ADU troopers fired on Colonel MacDougal's Psi-Shield with various weapons including MP-5s, G3A3s, CAR-15s, AK-47s and AK-74 rifles.
  • In the OVA, the ADU was heavily trained, similarly to real-life military units, and well-equipped. Their primary weapon was the Belgian-made FN FAL and its other variants and they were issued with vests and light blue jumpsuits.
  • The ARCAM Special Private Army (ASPA) was shown to be well organized in the manga during the recapture on one of their American facilities from their gear and weapons. Their vests and radio equipment are similar to what the LAPD SWAT currently uses (without LASH headset). The only difference is that their headgear consists of ASPA marked ballcaps and touques.
  • ASPA operatives are A-Class agents.

[edit] Key Personnel

[edit] ASPA Agents

  • Jimmy Max
  • Hudler (Deceased)
  • John (Deceased)
  • Jack (Deceased)
  • Paredes (Deceased)
  • Pauel (Deceased)
  • Ray (Deceased)

[edit] Spriggans

[edit] References

  1. ^ Revealed in Volume 6 of the manga when a YAMA-controlled surveillance program identified Jimmy Max's men as part of the ARCAM Private Army.
  2. ^ See Volume 6. Takes place when YAMA-controlled surveillance program revealed the actual name of Jimmy Max's unit when they stormed ARCAM research facility when it was locked from outside world.
  3. ^ See Volume 2 of the manga for more details.

[edit] See Also

Spriggan by Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa
Characters
Yu Ominae | Jean Jacquemonde | Tea Flatte | Oboro | Yamamoto | Rie Yamabishi | Yoshino Somei | Mayzel | Iwao Akatsuki | Bo Brantz | Larry Markson | Henry Garnum | Sho Kanaya | Minor Spriggan characters
Organizations
ARCAM Corporation | ARCAM Private Army | Trident Corporation | COSMOS | Spriggans | Minor Spriggan organizations
Mystical locations
Forest of No Return | Phantom Island | Reverse Babel Tower | South Pole Shrine
Mystical artifacts
Fire Orb | Mask of Palenque | Noah's Ark | Berserker | Crystal Skull | Program YAMA | Holy Grail | Vajrayana | Ark of the Covenant | Megiddo Flame | Gold Statue of Pachacamac
Other mystical items
Armored Machine Suit | Armored Muscle Suit | Hihiirokane | Magical Circle of Chaos | Message Plate | Omihalcon | Soma
Others
Franchise | ISBN Codes