Flag of the Free American Legion
Formed from exiled members of the old Republic of Portland's Armed Forces, the Free American Legion is an armed revolutionary movement dedicated to the overthrow of the UKA. Operating from bases in increasingly distant lands, it seeks the total abolition of the UKA state and a return to the ideals of the "Old" United States. The organization itself has been in a constant flux as its membership changes over time, as new groups are antagonized by UKA expansion and aggression and old ones reconciled. The Ministry of External Security does not think the FAL has widespread support within the borders of the UKA, and by its very existence has provided an easily recognizable safety valve for dissenters. It does pose a small scale threat to the UKA's armed forces, as was shown by the successful raid on the Naval Radio Intercept Center and Coastal Defense Battery Dolphin in 2045. The FAL's espionage operation is much more dangerous as the FAL has long traded information to the UKA's enemies in return for material support.
After the creation of the Republic of Portland Government in Exile (RPGE) in Richland, Republic of Hanford, in 2007, Colonel DeHaven began recruiting a smal force of men with the intent to lead them back to reconquer Portland from the Alaskans. Misjudging both the popularity of the old Portland regime and himself, DeHaven never succeeded in recruiting enough men and women to launch a large enough attack. Instead, FAL troops operated along the rugged, mountainous frontier of the Cascades, launching small scale raids, often hard to distinguish from the small bands of slavers and bandits that infested the frontier. When UKA Brigadier General Randall Hough lead the 800 men of the 1st Maui Fusilier Regiment in an unauthorized punitive expedition after a FAL raid in the summer of 2012, the combined forces of the FAL and the Republic of Hanford could not stop him. The Maui Fusiliers overran Hanford, capturing Richland and leading to annexation of the Hanford Republic into the UKA as the Province of Cascadia later that year. DeHaven's survivors, combined with many survivors of the Hanford military, made their across the Washington Cascades and stealing several sailing ships at Anacortes on Puget Sound, sailed into exile.
After short stints in the Fort Ord USA (Santa Cruz, California) and a temporary base at Mazatlan, Mexico captured from its inhabitants, DeHaven received permission to establish a base in Colombia, the UKA's new trading rival in the Pacific. DeHaven's relationship with the Colombians was strained, as the Colombians turned out to be far more interested in protecting their Pacific trading empire from UKA encroachment than in aggressively attacking the UKA's homeland. By 2016, DeHaven had outworn his welcome and had arranged a new home for his group in Argentina.
Argentina proved to be much more in tune with DeHaven's desires. Another trade rival with Colombia as well as the UKA, DeHaven's plans for a revolution in Portland were heartily supported and financed by the Argentine military junta then in power. Still, the enormous distances involved kept an attack from ever being launched. When open fighting broke out between the UKA and Argentina over trade with South Africa, the Argentines were decisively beaten. As part of the peace terms imposed, Argentina was required to turn DeHaven and all FAL members to the UKA. Aided by Argentine sympathizers, about 1,250 FAL members, including their families, escaped on the SS Patoka to the Imperial Roman Azores.
The Imperial Roman government saw the FAL as a strong asset agains the growing power of the UKA, that was alreading beginning to dominate Roman trading partners in Latin America. The Romans provided financial support and arms on a lavish scale, steadily recruiting up the membership in the Legion. In return for Roman support, the FAL soldiers were expected to "aid" the Roman Legions in their wars, and FAL soldiers soon proved to be a valuable addition to Roman stength. Still, the Romans were uniformly unsucessful in their wars against the UKA and were on a steady retreat for years as one disaster piled upon another. As the years lengthened, the FAL senior leadership adopted the lifestyle of the Roman elite, i.e. lavish villas and estates, stocked with slaves and plunder from the nations ruled by the Romans. While their hatred still burned hot for the UKA, the FAL begcame less and less aggressive in its approach. Their was little hope now that a popular revolution would over throw the UKA and sweep a DeHaven into power in North America.
Disaster struck in 2042, when the UKA and its European allies attacked the Romans and destroyed the bulk of their military power. Three brigades of FAL soldiers were captured and their members paroled and sent home to the UKA. Two more were destroyed in action, most of the remainder deserted. The survivors fled to join the Caesar still ruling on Sicily. By the spring of 2044, the FAL was back to a brigade in size. Just as things appeared to be improving, a coup d'etat overthrew Caeasar Adrian, replacing him with a man much more friendly with the UKA. The 1st FAL Infantry Brigade, stationed in Bulgaria, crossed the border into the Sultanate of Adana. The Turks have resumed large scale subsidies to the FAL and have revamped the command structure, attempting to make it into a more dynamic and effective organization.
Colonel William Pemberton DeHaven was the commander of the Republic of Portland's military when the Alaska League and its allies overthrew that government in 2007. Leading many of his officers and diehard supporters into exile in the Republic of Hanford, at Richland in the old state of Washington. THere, with the support of the local authorities, who felt threatened by the potential encroachment of UKA power, DeHaven formed the original Free American Legion organization, with himself as generalissimo. He lead the organization through it's ups and downs for the next 34 years, finally dying in exile in Rome. Most of his fllowers felt he was lucky not to see the catastrophe that fell the FAL's most powerful supporter, the Roman Empire, the next year. DeHaven was an excellent administrator and a very charismatic leader, however, he was a totally inept battlefield commander. His incompetent performance at the Battle of Silver Springs in 2007 was the cause of his exile, and none of his large scale military operations after that date were any more successful. Currently, the head of the FAL is Colonel Kenneth DeHaven, William DeHaven's second oldest son. His oldest son, William DeHaven II was killed during a raid on UKA territory in 2010. His only daughter, Jessica DeHaven Hesselbarth, defected to the UKA in 2017 and is married to retired Colonel James Hesselbarth of the UKA Marine Corps.
The FAL maintains a three battalion infantry brigade, the 1st FAL Infantry Brigade, recruited from exiles from the UKA and hardcore opponents of King Patrick's regime. It is organized and equipped as an Imperial Roman infantry brigade. Originally raised from exiles who fled Argentina on the SS Patoka in 2021, the FAL forces were originally a single battalion, but grew in size over the following decades as the various Caesars attempted to form a successful counter to the UKA government. The FAL forces have varied in size from the original FAL Exile Legionary Battalion of 2021 to seven entire brigades mobilized during the UKA-Roman War of 2042. With the collapse of the Roman Imperial Government in the aftermath of that war led to a rapid downsizing of the Legion to a the single brigade as FAL supporters came to terms with the UKA's monarchy or fled further away from it's wrath.
Currently, the brigade is serving with the Sultanate of Adana's Army, and is stationed in Thessalonika. It is again actively recruiting. External Security Ministry operatives report that the great majority of its rank and file are Georgians disillusioned by the king's conciliatory policy towards the Black Muslim Sultanates in the Midwest and hardcore anti-monarchy Mormons, with a healthy seasoning of randomly recruited mercenaries of all nationalities.
The FAL maintains a shrinking, yet highly dedicated espionage organization within the borders of the UKA. Some of the operatives are third generation FAL members. Normally, the FAl's espionage organization is known as the CIA. While much of the FAL's network was rolled up by the Mounties after the FAL assassinated Lieutenant General of Police Roger Purcell in Sitka, Alaska in 2028, it still has a functioning apparatus in the UKA government and military, passing vital information on to the FAL and its supporters, both clandestine and overt. The FAL's CIA also maintains approximately four platoon-sized Green Beret Teams, intended for small scale special forces operations against UKA targets. Their most recent operation was the destruction of the UKA Naval Radio Intercept Center and Coastal Defense Battery Dolphin at the site of Fort Fisher, on Cape Fear, near Wilmington, North Carolina, in May 2045.
