Loadout of a colonial defense trooper late in the war
The loadout of a colonial defense trooper late in the defense of Hightower. While there was a lot of variation in what troopers carried, this is a representative example that would have not been unusual.
A TechSpeed TSC-86i series multirole headset; independent colony produced body armor with polyres inserts; chest harness carrying three Draft Standard (DS) long arm power cells, omni splatter grenade, two packs of Reds, and high-low electric torch; Modified STGW.99 energy carbine with a phasic optical sight, and a launcher for DS Light Direct Support compatible munitions (the fore end of the launcher is mounted on a locally produced non-standard muzzle extension, a common practice); the belt carries a personally owned sidearm, personally owned knife, improvised medical kit containing anti-bleed and anti-shock auto-injectors and a pill hard case, and a belt mounted multirole spectrum detector; a colony produced backpack counted nutritional pills, two water bladders, a water purifier, two more DS magazines (one modified for "hotshot" energy output), an emergency beacon, a change of top and bottom uniform, and sleep pad. An improvised camouflage cover for the pack has been made of netting and old camouflage cloth by the trooper.
From the arrangement of equipment, it is likely the trooper was left handed, although they wore a right side tailored set of armor. Small problems like this were not uncommon.
The shoulder patch displays the symbol of the 1st Infantry Volunteers, raised from Hogan's Hope colony. This unit adopted the image of an old fashioned can opener during the Cyborg War. The 1IV fought on Hightower from the mid war until the end, suffering high losses in the infamous final 18 hour battle.