OT - Military question

Hi

What constitutes light and "heavy" infantry?

Both in role and equipment:

Light are primary skirmishers that hurass the enemy and have little to no
armor (even sometimes naked)

Heavy are the troops that fight in formation (like Romans) with heavy armor

simple description.....

> Leon wrote:

I guess the question was really in relation to modern/sci-fi.

In a lot of places the "Light" and "Heavy" blur.

Really the terms in modern warfare refer to Light Scales and Heavy Scales and
really refer to the TO&E capabilities. Light Infantry units will generally
have less organic heavy weapons support and are unlikely to have
organic transport larger than Landrover/HummVee. They are more suited to
Airmodbile Operations, with a Role of Point of Entry Seizure as an example. A
Mechanised Infantry Battalion is an example of a Heavy Infantry unit with
Rangers being Light Infantry.

In modern terms both have the same basic weapons and skill sets.

Don't even think that Light Infantry means that the individual soldier carries
less if he is 'Light'. Often it is the reverse as the Light Infantry unit
needs to carry more of it's own kit as it doesn't have teh same logistic tail
to rely on!

Cheers,

Owen G

> ----------

> I guess the question was really in relation to modern/sci-fi.

Owen's definition is fine for present-day stuff, but in the typical
"combat SF" background (ours and many others), with a resurgence of effective
personal body armour (powered and unpowered) I think Light infantry should
refer to largely unarmoured troops (SG partial armour at maximum) while
Heavy are the guys in full-body combat suits up to actual PA. Most of
the
roles that Owen mentions will still hold true - the LI are more likely
to act as "leg" troops, scouts, recon etc. while the HI (unpowered) boys ride
around in APCs to do the nasty assault work.