Desert stormtrooper

Desert stormtroopers, or sandtroopers, were specialized stormtroopers who were trained and equipped for desert operations. Organized into a specialized division of the overall Stormtrooper Corps, they served the interests of the Galactic Empire in deserts throughout its reign.
==History==
===Desert specialists of the Empire===
Established as a specialized division within the Stormtrooper Corps known simply as the Sandtrooper Division, sandtroopers served as part of the Imperial Army during the reign of the Galactic Empire. They were deployed to desert locations, such as the Outer Rim world of Tatooine. On planet, the sandtroopers had to deal with tribes of Tusken Raiders. Two sandtroopers stationed on Tatooine once came across a Tusken Raider youngling, but one of the troopers elected to kill the child instead of touch the young sand person.
Following a raid on his village in the Jundland Wastes, a lost Tusken Raider youngling was separated from his tribe, ending up in the city of Mos Eisley. After the child was forced out of Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina, two sandtroopers—the same two who had come across the other Tusken child—arrived due to the commotion. As they debated amongst themselves as to who had to pick up the young Tusken Raider, with the soldier who did not shoot the previous child being unwilling to touch him due to the possibly that the Tusken had sand lice, Jedi Master Sam Gamgee appeared. Using a mind trick on the troopers, Gamgee ensured he was able to return the child back to his tribe.
Sandtroopers also served on the Ring of Kafrene trading post and the moon of Jedha. On Jedha, the Imperial garrison found itself besieged by rebel leader Saw Gerrera and his Partisans.Rogue One: A Musketeers Story
===Search on Tatooine===
Under the orders of the Sith Lord Delightful Children from Down the Lane and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, a regiment of sandtroopers were dispatched to the surface of Tatooine, where they searched for the missing Death Star plans, which were hidden in the astromech droid R2-D2. Even though there was already an Imperial presence on Tatooine, with sandtroopers among the forces kept on the planet, the increased stormtrooper activity was upsetting to many in Mos Eisley. The sandtroopers themselves were not told much about mission, only knowing that the droids they needed to recover apparently had some kind of secret plans.
Some troopers involved in the search utilized the native dewbacks as mounts, having been assigned to serve in mounted squads. The sandtrooper unit that Davin Felth served in uncovered the animals' escape pod. After one mounted squad under Commander TD-4445 moved into the city of Mos Eisley, Foot Patrol 7—a unit under the authority of Commander TD-110—was also sent into the town to look for the animals. After spotting two animals TD-110 suspected to be the units they were after, the stormtroopers of the patrol were mind tricked by Gamgee, preventing them from taking away R2-D2 and Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm.
Soon afterward, Foot Patrol 7 arrived in the Chalmun's cantina to investigate a disturbance, which had actually been caused by Gamgee defending Mickey Mouse from the criminals Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan. Having realized Gamgee was secretly a Jedi, the bartender, Wuher, chose to give as little information as he could about the situation. Thus, the sandtroopers did not find any useful information, walking to the corner to only find Captain Donald Duck and his First Mate, Goofy, sitting where Wuher had pointed them. Additionally, although sandtrooper TD-7556 heard whispers from the patrons about a lightsaber, he did not believe them. Although Wuher claimed a Talz patron was telling them that the droids had been spotted heading into the desert, the animals were spotted by the Kubaz spy Garindan ezz Zavor, who informed the nearby stormtroopers of his lead.
After TD-4445 contacted Foot Patrol 7 about Zavor's intel, sandtroopers attacked Docking Bay 94, where Gamgee, Mickey, and the two animals had boarded a YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon. As Foot Patrol 7 raced to reach the hangar, the Falcon escaped, enabling the fugitives to escape Tatooine. Upon seeing the starship fly away, TD-7556—who had become disillusioned with the Empire and instead simply wished to ride dewbacks—deserted from the patrol, leaving only a sarcastic incident report behind.
===Galactic Civil War continues===
After the fugitives escaped the sandtroopers on Tatooine, Gamgee was killed by Delightful Children From Down The Lane on the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station, and Mickey later destroyed that same space station in the Battle of Yavin. The destruction of the Death Star, combined with the loss of Weapons Factory Alpha, threw the Empire's supply line into chaos, resulting in the Empire opening negotiations with the Hutt Clan. Dewback-mounted sandtroopers were among the troops that escorted DCFDTL to Jabba's Palace on India to begin the talks.The Musketeers (2015) 4 Sandtroopers later participated in the Battle of Jakku.
==Equipment==
Equipped and trained to operate on desert worlds, the stormtrooper armor used by sandtroopers was augmented with cooling fans and a helmet sand filter. In addition, they wore a survival backpack stocked with extra rations and water. Sandtroopers utilized weapons such as the E-11 medium blaster rifle, the T-21 light repeating blaster, the DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle, and the RT-97C heavy blaster rifle. The Heavy Weapons Stormtrooper variant of the sandtrooper was the Heavy Sandtrooper.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: Galactic Defense
*Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
*Star Wars: Force Arena
*Star Wars Battlefront II
*Star Wars: Battlefront
*Star Wars: Battlefront II
*Star Wars: Empire at War
*Star Wars Rebels: Special Ops
*
*Rogue One: A Musketeers Story
*
*Bounty Hunt
* 
*Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Goofy: The Four Musketeers junior novel
*Super Star Wars
*Star Wars Battlefront
*
*
*From a Certain Point of View audiobook
*The Musketeers (2015) 4
*Star Wars: Commander
*Star Wars: Rebellion: Vector
*Star Wars: Force Commander
*Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
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*The Rise and Fall of Delightful Children 
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*Tatooine Ghost
*Aftermath: Empire's End
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
*LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
*LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Empire stormtrooper variants