Republic officer

"We've got mongrel officers now, for fierfek's sake, and that one only got through the Academy because his dad's some ranking captain. If he could read a chart, he'd be dangerous. You should hear Pellaeon having a go at him. Pellaeon's all right, though. They're not all useless."

―Clone trooper Tel^[4]

Republic officers, known as mongrels in clone trooper slang, were the men and women commissioned into the Republic Military and served in a command capacity.

Description

"It's conduct unbecoming to an officer. They're supposed to be squeaky clean and upstanding."

―Clone Captain Rex^[5]

Republic officers served both onboard capital ships and on the ground, directing both the Jedi Knights and the clone troopers under their command. The Republic officers were outranked by the members of the Jedi Order, the chief officers of the military such as Admiral Wullf Yularen and Captain Wilhuff Tarkin were superseded in authority only by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

History

The Clone Wars was not the only time the Republic recruited men and women into its military. This practice has gone back as far as the Old Sith Wars, when the Republic army fought against the Sith Lords Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma and during the subsequent Jedi Civil War, when many, including Ensign Trask Ulgo and Admiral Forn Dodonna, fought against the army of Darth Malak, whose numbers included many of their former comrades, such as Saul Karath, a Sith officer.

During the Clone Wars, while clones such as Clone Captain Rex displayed respect for their nonclone contemporaries,^[5] the term "mongrel" emerged within the clone troopers ranks for those non-clones given commanding positions^[6] and saw use by troopers such as Tel, who expressed a distain for most "mongrels." Even then, Tel made an exception for those who held skill, such as Captain Gilad Pellaeon.^[4] Following the end of the Clone Wars, those Republic officers who were considered the brightest and most decorated of the conflict became officers of the Imperial Starfleet and Imperial Army. As part of the Imperial propaganda, many Imperial officers were falsely credited for many of the heroic acts that were performed by the Jedi during the war.