SAEFC and the N-Program

The Systems Alliance Elite Forces Command is a Systems Alliance Special Forces organization that combines personnel from the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and Cerberus. It is widely known for it's rigorous training program, Training program 14, nicknamed the N-program.

Training program 14 is the Systems Alliance's premier school for leadership and combat expertise. The Advanced Military Combatives Training Academy, sometimes called "N-School" or "the villa," recruits officers from every branch of Earth's militaries to partake in grueling courses at Vila Militar in Rio de Janeiro.

Initially, candidates train for more than 20 hours per day, leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. Trainees who do well are awarded an internal designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses - N2 through N5 - are often held off earth and include instruction in zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.

The highest grade of training, N6, provides actual combat experience in combat zones throughout the galaxy. If the trainee survives these scenarios in "admirable and effective fashion," he or she finally receives the coveted N7 designation. N7 is the only T14 designation that may be worn on field or dress uniforms.

There is little shame in failing a T14 course - the training is so extreme that even qualifying for N1 elevates an officer to a position of respect. The universal prestige of merely attending the academy helps to restrain trainees from taking excessive risks in pursuit of higher honors.

Although T14 qualification by itself does not guarantee higher rank, those officers who are able to complete the program are typically well suited to senior leadership positions.