Are these "temporary defense gained by discarding cards" markers?
According to the Rulebook, next to a picture of these markers:


  Two counters are supplied to track a player’s total possible Military on
  defense (for use with Rebel Pact).


These markers are for use on your military track to show you (and your opponents) your potential maximum defense if you count both your defensive bonus from Rebel Pact and all your sources of temporary Military (denoted by the discard symbol on the token).

Page 8 of the rulebook has an illustration.