The military is a peace keeping force that controls the country of Amestris. Currently the country of Amestris have border skirmishes against the neighboring countries of Creata in the west and Areugo in the south. To the north is the Briggs mountain range and further north is the country of drachma which has a non-aggression pact with Amestris.
The country of Amestris itself is divided into five administrative sectors (Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central) each with their own headquarters. Though each region has its own army and commanding officers, the bulk of the forces lie within Central City, the military capital. The military also has its own collection of enormous libraries, only accessible by high ranking officials and State Alchemists, as well as five laboratories in which alchemic research is conducted. Shown below are the headquarters seen during the series.
Eastern Headquarters:
Southern Headquarters:
Central Headquarters:
>The Military's History
A topic seldom discussed of in the series, the history of the military is, for the most part, unknown. It is known, though, that there were two very large scale wars in which the military partook. These were the Northern War and the Ishbalan War. The Ishbalan War, heavily discussed in the series started when Juliet Douglas, the Furher's secretary, then an officer, killed an Ishbalan child. This caused large scale riots which eventually escalated into a war that lasted many years.
>The Ranks, Insignias and Uniforms
The military differentiates between ranks through the symbols on the shoulders of service men as well as the type of uniform. The enlisted rank equivalent of private wear a black and white uniform and everything from corporal up wears a blue and white uniform with a gold cord on their shoulder. Military staff wear the officer uniform without the shoulder cord and the shoulder insignias. The dress uniform is the same as the regular uniform but the front is not cut out and there is a hat. All state alchemists enter the military at the rank of Major.
Personnel Uniform:
Personnel Dress Uniform (I think this is it):
Officer Uniform:
Officer Dress Uniform:
