Naginata Battalion is a unit of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, notable for exclusively recruiting women.
Naginata Battalion’s origins begin with one woman - Sho-Sa Azisu Misakari, a veteran of House Kurita who earned her rank during the War of 3039. During its aftermath, Azisu was tasked by her superiors with standing up a new formation to fill the ranks of the Dragon’s forces. She quickly found, however, that very few mechwarriors of House Kurita were willing to serve under her - some were more willing to accept service in a minor garrison force than to accept her command. Asizu eventually saw that her problem contained its own solution - just as there were many men who refused to serve under her, there were many women whose commanders were happy to be rid of them. Azisu began requesting transfers from her fellow commanders of any women listed on their rosters, as well as spreading the word of her battalion - commanded by a woman and consisting of women - through the ranks. While the word was often followed by snickers and even comments about their status as “comfort women”, a swell of willing mechwarriors, technicians, and secondary roles quickly grew Azisu’s ranks.
By 3044, then-Naginata Company had finally reached its paper strength of twelve mechs with sufficient numbers of techs, as well as a Union-class Dropship permanently assigned to their roster. However, Azisu’s superiors had called on her to produce a battalion, and her rank of Sho-sa required a battalion for her to command.
Despite Ganji-no-Kanrei Theodore Kurita’s reforms in the 3030s and 3040s, the DCMS was still not an ideal place to be a woman, and even Theodore’s reformists balked at the idea of a pure-women formation. The Procurement Department in particular continually threw obstacles in the way of Azisu and her pilots, in one notable instance delivering a shipment of maid’s uniforms instead of the new coolant suits which had been ordered. Azisu, considering her options, reported the officer responsible to the Internal Security Force for “standing in the way of the effectiveness of the Coordinator’s forces achieving their duly appointed glory.” The officer in question was quietly reassigned to the frontier of the periphery, and Azisu found herself owing the ISF a favor. This began a long and mutually beneficial relationship - Naginata Battalion, as it slowly expanded to be called, could call on the ISF for both assistance dealing with the rest of the DCMS and with acquiring the newest and best gear, and the ISF could call on Azisu’s assistance with “delicate matters best not exposed to those inflexible soldiers who bring honor to the Dragon” - essentially serving as a reliable mech force to be deployed against seditionists, separatists, Rasalhaguian rabble-rousers, and Davion sympathizers.
At the outset of the Clan Invasion, Naginata Battalion had grown to two full companies, not far beneath its paper strength, and was deployed on the Davion border. News of the Combine’s early defeats against the Clans, however, caused a strategic reassessment, and Naginata Battalion was pulled from the Davion border to join the counterattack against Clan Smoke Jaguar. In the aftermath of the Invasion, Naginata Battalion was positioned along the border with the Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone. Sho-Sa Azisu Misakari continued to pilot the Cyclops she had piloted since earning her rank, but it had been refitted with clan-built weaponry and a C3 Master system that allowed her to lead her forces from the front. In the aftermath of the Tukayyid Truce, Naginata Battalion finally swelled to its paper strength via the new mass production programs House Kurita had implemented, including receiving Battle Armor forces and new Kuritan Omnimechs, enough to form a full Omni Company. Reports indicate that Naginata Battalion’s Omni Company even included a pair of salvaged Clan Omnimechs - a Vulture and a Grendel - which were never turned over to the Procurement Department, probably thanks to their connections with the ISF. As House Kurita’s forces swelled with the glut of salvage and production in the aftermath of Operation Bulldog, Naginata Battalion finally achieved its paper strength.