Editing Tau Cadre (section)

== Organization ==

Cadres are composed of ''teams'' of [[Fire Warrior]]s, [[Battlesuit]]s, [[Tau Pathfinder|Pathfinders]], and other infantry, and also have support in the form of tanks, gunships, and other vehicles. Unlike Imperial Guard companies and regiments, cadres are expected to be capable of serving almost any function, so they are fully combined, unlike the Imperial Guard's practice of organizing tanks, infantry, and artillery in separate formations and only integrating them at the battlefield.

When a single cadre isn't enough to get the job done, or where the job in question requires too many dissimilar elements to be reasonably organized into a cadre, several cadres may be combined into a ''contingent''. Such a formation is not permanent, although when several cadres are seen to work well together during a single campaign, they tend to stay together for the campaign's duration.

Contingents may be temporarily formed into ''communes'' for even larger operations. They tend to be made of cadres from different [[T%27au_Septs|septs]].

An entire world's complement of a single caste is organized into a ''command'', and the four commands at a single world (one for each caste) are organized into a ''coalition''.

All of these formations are commanded by "Commanders" (Shas'O), but cadres tend to be run by younger, newer Commanders, higher command levels are reserved for more senior and experienced Commanders. Ethereals usually stay at the contingent level and above, though they may attach themselves to cadres if they feel a situation demands their personal attention.