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Overall, the enlisted men of the Social Security Forces are highly disciplined and well trained. Non-Commissioned Officers are chosen by merit and tend to be ferociously competent. Officers are selected from the middle-class and are usually promoted through their political connections. Their quality ranges from brilliant to abysmal, but tends towards the lower-end of the spectrum except in the cases of those whose families make the military an honored tradiation.

Within the SSF-L, platoons are commanded by Lieutenants; commpanies/troops by a Major (with a Captain as a second-in-command); battalions by Lieutenant Colonels and regiments by Colonels. Military Regions are commanded by Brigadier Generals and there are two Major Generals, one is the Social Security Forces Chief of Staff and the other is the Commanding General of the Social Security Forces.

The SSF-L maintains three tiers of troops. The first tier is made up of the Regular Service (the professional military). These units maintain an active presence along the Free State borders and are made up of veterans. One of their own officers, Lieutenant Samuel B. Griffith, colorfully describes them thus:
"There are the professionals, the 'Old Breed' of the Social Security Forces. many had fought 'billies' in eastern kentucky, 'King's Men' in memphis and river pirates and border raiders along every mile of the Free State borders. And they have proven their ability time and again against the Morrow Scum.

They are inveterate gamblers and accomplished scroungers, who drink hair tonic in preference to post exchange beer ('horse piss'), curse with wonderful fluency, and never go to chapel ('the God-Box') unless forced to. Many chew tobacco or smoke rank cigars (cigarettes were for women and children). They have little use for libraries or organized athletics...in the field they live on jerked goat (beef jerky), the strong black coffee they call 'boiler compound', hash cook in a helmet and hardtack biscuit.

Many wear expert badges with bars for proficiency in pistol, rifle, machine gun, hand grenade, mortar, recoilless rifle and bayonet. They know their weapons and they know their tactics. They know that they are tough and they know that they are good."

The Reserves are made up of those men who have completed at least one tour of duty and then opted to return to civilian life. While still young enough to endure the rigors of military life, they form the various Reserve formations. They perform five days of drill per month and three weeks of field duty every year. Reserve units are required to be completely mobilized within forty-eight hours. When Active units must be pulled from their normal duties for operations, the local Reserve battalion is called up to replace them. In addition, Reserve units are also called up for specific operations that require more forces than the Active units can provide.

The Militia is made up those citizens who are over thirty years of age. They are not normally committed to field operations except in dire circumstances. They perform three days of drills each month and two weeks of field duty each year. When they are called up, they normally perform rear-area security duties that will free up Active and Reserve units for field duty. Militia units are required to be completely mobilized within five days.

Overall, the Reserve and Militia units are equipped and organized identically to their Active counterparts, however, their standards of training, discipline and experience tend to be considerably lower. However, they do provide the Free State with at least some trained reserves. The calling up of the Reserves and Militia leads to considerable economic impact on the entire Free State. For this reason, these units are seldom called up in more than battalion strength. At no point in Free State history, has the complete strength of the Reserves and the Militia ever been called up.