Brigade

"Brigade on alert!"

―Colonel Brenna to her troops^[1]

A brigade was a large military infantry formation. The Grand Army of the Republic made use of brigades in its unit structure as massive formations of clone troopers. Two entire brigades, for example,^[2] were made up of many individual battalions.^[3] Furthermore, the Republic organized its personnel within administrative brigades, such as its special forces under the Special Operations Brigade,^[4] and young clone cadets into various Clone Youth Brigades.^[5] Standard clone troopers organized into brigades were led by a Jedi Commander. Senator Mon Mothma, serving as Chancellor of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, believed that a single brigade of clone troopers could penetrate a planet's orbital defenses and conquer the world.^[6]

The Confederacy of Independent Systems utilized maintenance brigades within the CIS Navy. These brigades were deployed after the Subjugator-class heavy cruiser Malevolence was critically damaged during the Battle of the Kaliida Nebula.^[7] The Battle of Utapau at the end of the war saw two full clone brigades^[2] of the 7th Sky Corps^[8] deployed against the CIS.^[2]

During the Imperial Era, the rebellious factions against the Galactic Empire utilized the designation, such as the Maya Pei Brigade.^[9] The Empire itself also included brigades within the Imperial Army, with one such formation being under the command of Colonel Brenna.^[1] A resistance group allied with the Rebel Alliance during the Coruscant civil war went by the name of Anklebiter Brigade.^[10] Years later, the Empire's successor state, the First Order, also utilized brigades, with one brigade being led by a First Order major.^[1]