SoucesEdit
In addition to what Subtank just said, also specific resources, please. "Halo: The Flood" is not a specific (nor a good) source. "Halo: The Flood, page 77 "Vegerot is by far the best user on Halopedia." is a good source. I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night. Vegerot (talk) 13:37, 5 August 2011 (EDT)!
Edit
Do we know for sure the Covenant actually maintains distinct army and navy branches? From what I've gathered, the Covenant military is heavily naval-based, and individual units (or "groups") are seemingly organized based on their role in the fleet they fall under, as demonstrated by information seen in this post on Bungie.net, which reveals N’tho ‘Sraom and Usze ‘Taham are part of the following units:
- Fleet of Retribution/Special Warfare Group/Special Operations
- Fleet of Retribution/Special Warfare Group/Fleet Security
This seems to imply their military (excluding religious or political units or forces specific to a single member species) is entirely built around individual fleets, each of which has its own structure of subordinate units, as opposed to the UNSC model where the military has distinct, clearly defined main branches that deal with ground, air and space operations and military units are subordinate directly to those branches instead of the fleets they serve under.
Furthermore, we've seen Fleet Masters commanding ground forces and actually participating in ground engagements (Voro Nar 'Mantakree during the Battle of Onyx), and many of the ranks in the Covenant are interchangeable between ground or naval duties, as seen with the Sangheili Generals in Halo: Reach and Majors, which are often seen on both ground engagements and as officers on warships. If the Covenant makes no distinction between their ground and space military branches, it would explain why there are Generals both leading ground operations and commanding ships.
There's a mention of the Elite Generals belonging to a group called "Occupational Forces" on their entry in the Essential Visual Guide. It's possible that the Occupational Forces group is actually another branch of a fleet organization like Special Operations and Fleet Security and the Covenant does not actually possess a separate army branch; their land forces are groups subordinate to individual fleets. This would seem only logical in a military which is almost entirely based around space warfare, though the UNSC, as a newcomer to the starfaring scene, has yet to realize it. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 04:18, 27 August 2011 (EDT)
- Sound reasoning. Guess we should never apply human standards when it comes to something alien. :P — subtank 04:37, 27 August 2011 (EDT)
- Something like a Marine Air-Ground Task Force taken to its logical extreme, then?--The All-knowing Sith'ari 04:45, 27 August 2011 (EDT)
- To add to the above, further supporting the notion that the Covenant military is not divided into major branches is that the infoboxes in the Essential Visual Guide have branches listed for UNSC characters or units, but Covenant ones only mention their "group" and in some cases, the ministry they report to. Regular military units or commanders all seem to be subordinate to the Ministry of Resolution, while religious or otherwise specialized forces report to other ministries such as Preservation, Fervent Intercession or Abnegation. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 13:38, 29 August 2011 (EDT)