The Advance Guard, similar to Starfleet, has multiple divisions to support our mission. Specifically, those include Intelligence, Operations, Engineering, Medical, and Sciences. Each division has at its most basic level the goal of advancing the knowledge of the Advance Guard and protecting the Federation.
The Intelligence division is responsible for learning about the plans of our known enemies and discovering as-yet-unknown enemies through any number of means: Diplomacy, covert Intelligence operatives, clandestine missions, and much more that cannot be discussed over this unsecured communications channel. With this information, the Advance Guard is able to gain a clearer picture of the galaxy and how it shall affect the Federation as time marches forward. When there is a credible threat, that information is passed along to the Security division.
The Operations division is responsible for the internal security of the Advance Guard as well as answering the threats identified by the Intelligence division. Security provides for the internal security of our facilities and starships with the most obvious presence being our folks in yellow uniforms and armed with Type 2 phasers at all times. Those who work behind the scenes on strategy and tactics are the ones who provide missions to our field operatives and ships, provide specifications for the development of new technologies to the Engineering division, and advise the Medical and Sciences divisions of information needed regarding the species and/or environments that our forces will encounter on those missions.
The Engineering division has the highly-skilled engineers who develop the tools of our trade. It is thanks to them that our combadges, for example, are able to transmit and receive much farther than the standard issue Starfleet combadge: a few light-years as compared to only about 40,000 kilometers. Without the advanced weaponry and support equipment they provide us, we would be unable to accomplish our tasks.
As such, they are very highly respected by all members of the Advance Guard and the AG places much trust and faith upon them. Further, because of this high esteem and the equally high expectations, only the most skilled and driven engineers are accepted into the Engineering division, especially for their Advanced Projects department.
The Medical and Sciences divisions keep the Advance Guard apprised of changes in the biology of our enemies and the environments in which we will serve, any changes or new knowledge of chemistry or physics in those environments, greater knowledge of the cosmological events or other aspects of the galactic space that could force changes to our plans, ensure that our astrometric charts are as current as possible, and otherwise keep the Advance Guard at the very cutting edge of medical and scientific knowledge to keep our folks as safe as possible, to allow our enemies as few opportunities to surprise us as possible, and to allow us to develop some surprises to give us the advantage over said enemies.
Together, all five divisions of the Advance Guard work toward the common goal of keeping all members of the Federation safe and secure from the hostile forces that threaten our way of life. To this end, we accept only the best, brightest, and most capable. All members of the Advance Guard are elite and at the tops of their fields.