Comrade

**Key Features** | »9.6mm TBK-60 battle rifle (New)»MY-203 Underslung smart grenade launcher (Marked with kill tallies)»Tactical Combat Bayonet (Serrated)»Body armour (Classified composition)»Mark 9 Helmet and Mark 9 facemask (Usually painted)

## Tactical Analysis

* **First line of the people:** The Comrade serves as the main infantry of the Revolutionary Exportation Force Black Division reinforcement for the Comintern Volunteers, compared to the Volunteer Marines. Their rifles are reasonably potent against all infantry targets; particularly with their skilled marksmanship, and their HE grenades can provide a powerful punch against slow-moving or immobile targets. And if infantry gets too close they can spear them with their bayonet.

* **Storming the Winter Palace:** The ComraComrade'sades are not only useful against slow-moving, tightly packed, or immobile targets, but they are also excellent for flushing targets out of cover due to their arcing trajectory; which also serves well in the purposes of garrison clearing!

* **Only so much we can do:** The Comrade, while swifter compared to the Volunteer Marine; is ultimately just another infantryman who is going to get shredded by dedicated anti-infantry fire, and their ability to fight heavy vehicles and aircraft is very strictly limited.

* **It's dangerous to go alone, take these:** Comrades who have earned distinction in serving in the Red Army are equipped with the latest inventions of the Soviet Union, a cyclotronic rifle meant for mass production with an underslung tesla bolt caster and electronically heated bayonet that provides an all-around improvement to firepower, allowing them to take on just about any opponent.

## Background

### Unit History

*"Freedom calls to all those who bend their will."*

- Anonymous Comrade
In the Soviet Union, military service has become a way of life after the Russian Revolution and numerous efforts to defend revolution where it occurs from the forces of reaction. Created to make a soldier who could take the best out of the training regimens and the ideas of all the members of the Soviets, the Comrade program has produced what is arguably the world's finest soldier. Whereas infantry in the Second World War; generally named "rifle infantry" due to the widespread usage of the Mosint-Nagant Bolt-Action Rifles and Soviet AVT-39 Battle Rifle by the Soviet forces, were largely still trained in the manner of the Spanish Civil War and other such conflicts of the first half of the 20th century, it was decided that the next generation infantryman would need to be a warrior for the future.

Examining the Second World War showed the leaders of the International Military that the paradigm of warfare had changed from the so-called "single shot" era of warfare, which started in the Franco-Prussian war, had definitively ended as a model for a modern infantryman, and that squads should be changed in reflection of that. When the entire squad could offer machine gun like firepower as needed; the rules of suppressive firepower had changed. Similarly, experiences in the Second World War had shown that plentifully available explosives were essential for infantry to maximize their effectiveness on the battlefield. The VDV, Rangers, and other paratrooper formations also demonstrated expanding the paratrooper training regimen so that all soldiers would at least know how to drop out of a plane without making a splat on the ground.

Similarly, the increasing usage of infantry body armor changed the paradigm of warfare again. Whereas armies in WWII at first had little protection beyond their helmets save for certain shock formations equipped with steel bibs, as the war progressed materials science had advanced to the point where bullet and fragment-resistant armor could once again be carried comfortably and affordably. Towards the end of the war, troops were universally bringing flak jackets into battle and the first (primitive and clunky) battlesuits were making their appearance, and soldiers could be much surer of surviving a thrown grenade or small arms fire. They might even come out of it with little worse than some sore bruises if they were lucky. Similarly, night vision became an increasingly indispensable part of the infantryman's kit, and by war's end, every infantry squad had at least one man with an infantry scope.

The Soviet Union also considered its likely threats. The "core" nations of the Allies were likely as ever to rely on their armoured and airborne surgical strikes. Its soldiers would be optimized for mechanized and airborne deployment and thus would likely rely on large numbers of "light" infantry meant to move ahead of their transport due to the weight of their gear. The Allied rear echelon troops would be deployed in largely the same manner, while the Empire of Vietnam's forces were light, swift, and highly destructive. The Southern Contingent forces, though not interested in attacking the Union, had become reliant on increasingly heavy armor and short-range firepower, all while becoming increasingly slower at the same time. The forces of the Arab Coalition would also largely be on the same lines of heavily equipped soldiers ill-suited for foot slogging long distances. The American Unionist paramilitary forces, however, would be more poorly equipped though all their vehicles could serve as transports.

The NRA would create trenchlines that would span an entire continent, slowly marching forward with a barrage of artillery and heavy firepower, and though the Indians had a less ramshackle army; they were no less reliant on sheer numbers. The Syndicate, by contrast, would generally field small numbers of soldiers with "paper for vehicle support, nonexistent fixed wing air support, but plenty of helicopters, tough troops; hordes of drug addicts, and cyborg monstrosities". And the Revolutionary United Nationalists would continue to use lightly armored but extremely fast irregulars, while the Chemical warfare-loving IPDI troops and level of mechanization were of generally mediocre to decent quality. The Combine as far as Communist planners could ascertain; would stubbornly refuse to adopt the assault rifle, not out of cost reasons like India and Blue China who could only afford to give some soldiers automatic weapons; but out of an earnest belief that world war one style warfare was the best.

So the new Infantry Man would need to be trained and equipped to deal with as large a variety of enemies as possible. They had to perform against hard-as-nail Peacekeepers or cheap-as-chips and fragile-to-boot Indian Sepoys. They had to contend with enemies with all manner of specialties and had to come out on top in a cost-effective manner. Similarly, they had to be able to work alongside more localized armies of the Soviet Union as well as pro-socialist movements around the world and a number of specialized task forces. Given their need to be able to handle anything, the program came to be called the "Comrade" program because they had to be able to handle just about any situation under the sun and work together with their foreign allies, in comparison to the more numerous Conscripts who formed the major defense lines.

Making their mark in the Third World War as debate raged about who was truly at fault in starting the war between the Soviet Union and Allied Nations, but it became clear that the Communists were soon on the defensive. Living up to their moniker, Comrades worked tirelessly to defend their homelands from the soldiers of Bingham pouring into them.

#### Post-War Operational History

The science teams of the Soviet Union were already trialing the weapons they believed would soon replace bullet-firing firearms with the distribution of cyclotronic weaponry to their special forces and their adoption by the Comintern Volunteers and other national militaries' special task forces. Already being widely adopted by the Soviet militaries, the XADK-73 cyclotronic rifle comes with the XM-7 tesla bolt caster and the XB-3 electronically heated bayonet. A quantum leap in firepower that can always be entrusted to have ammunition so long as it's powered; never an issue with the Tesla reactor technology employed by the Soviets and its attempts to study up on the energy generation techniques of other powers; these new weapon systems allow Comrades who have been earmarked to receive them due to outstanding service to cut through enemies who would have confounded them before, particularly light vehicles and all but the heaviest of battlesuits. Due to the newness of the weapon system and the large numbers of Comrades; only these veteran units can be expected to receive them before they undergo full mass production.

The Third World War and the conflicts with the new Atomic Kingdom also demonstrated the need to improve on NBC resistance and new General Defender suits have markedly improved resistance to radioactive environments, Devastator and DDT fumes, rage gas (though large amounts will overwhelm their defenses), virus gas, and other such attacks. This has been particularly useful in continuing efforts to deal with GLA terrorist attacks and to push back the attempted Chinese offenses on members of the Soviet Union and in volunteer support of conflicts involving socialist movements such as the Indochina wars. Combined with recent refinements to the Comrades arsenal, it is believed that the General Defender is likely to continue to remain the most well-rounded and well-balanced of the world's basic infantry, being the hammer to the Conscript's multiple anvils.