CanonSourcedReign of the Empire, 19–1 BBY

Han's Imperial Army service on Mimban

10 BBYExact dateLast checked: 23 October 2026

Warning: this entry reveals minor plot details.

With no money for a ticket, Han enlists in the Imperial Navy, and the recruiter gives him the surname Solo. Three years later he is expelled from the flight academy for insubordination and fights as a mudtrooper on the planet Mimban against the Mimban Liberation Army. In the trenches he meets “Captain” Tobias Beckett and his accomplices, who are posing as Imperial soldiers.

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After leaving Corellia, Han found himself at an Imperial Navy recruiting station, where he hoped to train as a pilot. When asked about his family and surname, he had nothing to say, and the recruiter registered him as Solo — someone alone. His service, however, turned out differently than he had expected: for breaches of discipline he was expelled from flight school and transferred to the infantry. Three years later he ended up on Mimban — a swampy world where Imperial units were waging protracted combat operations against the local population, which refused to give up its land. The war was fought in the mud and under constant fire, offensives bogged down, and losses were heavy and brought no noticeable progress. Serving in such conditions finally stripped Han of his former notions about Imperial order. It was on Mimban that he encountered Tobias Beckett's crew, which was posing as an Imperial unit, and tried to join it, which was regarded as an attempt at desertion. The punishment imposed for this act led to his meeting Chewbacca, and the Mimban campaign itself remained for Solo an example of the senselessness of the Empire's wars.