Identification

How do we identify ourselves on the battlefield, or outside of it?

Most of us wear dropsuits nearly around the clock, and under the armor is nothing but a stock clone with barer than minimum facial characteristics. Most of the time during the heat of battle we sometimes can't tell the difference between a friend and a foe even with the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system, nevertheless identify specifically who is the person wearing the dropsuit.

When outside of combat in our quarters, we never meet other people in person, we just talk through text or voice comms. The only place we can have physical contact with other clone soldiers outside of battle is in the Warbarge for a minute or two. This is a problem not only from a tactical and logistical, but a psychological viewpoint too.

I feel, and quite a lot of my friends also feel, that we are all too similar. We blend in to the mass and are indistinguishable from each other. Many capsuleers have pointed this out, since they have troubles distinguishing us from each other while communicating with them. We can not select the portrait we use for text communications, we can't customize the looks of our dropsuits. It has a toll on your morale when you feel like you're just a faceless clone, a tool to be used by others with no free will of yourself.

In essence, the only identification we have over ourselves is our callsign, and our voice. Some people come up with the whackiest callsigns to try and single themselves out, some being very silly. Others use voice modulators to make their voices sound funny to make their squads memorable experiences. But most often of all, people use special dropsuits.

Over the course of our mercenary careers, after doing special contracts or achieving something special for our empires, we get rewarded special equipment, dropsuits and vehicles. Usually these dropsuits have special paintjobs or other characteristics that makes them different from other dropsuits. For instance I have a stock of Federal Defense Union Scout G-1 dropsuits, colored Gallente green. They're horrible and I would never imagine using them during combat, but it makes me singled out, different from the sea of grey assault suits.

Even if people can see these special dropsuits for only a few minutes at most, it still makes me feel more unique, more like an individual and not just another grunt paid to shoot someone who was paid to shoot you. And finally, we use our memory. We memorize the voices we talk to, we associate them with names, and address to each person by their name during the heat of battle. It also increases the sense of trust and brotherhood among the squad, when we can call each other by name and can rely on our squadmates to keep us alive and win the battle.

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering, the piece of Intaki on the bottom of each post is my name and rank within the Intaki Liberation Front. It reads "Grahisha Denak Kalamari Intaki adiit nikaay.", translated into Sergeant Denak Kalamari, Intaki Liberation Front. It used to be padati - private, but since I was recently promoted, it is now Grahisha, sergeant. Yay!

ཟར༴ཐ٦ཡཐ༴ འཤན༴བ བ༴ཏ༴མ༴ར٦ ٦ནད༴བ٦ ༴འ٦٦ད ན٦བ༴༴ٲ  

1 comment:

  1. Some may seek recognition, other clones they do not seek it is graced upon them.

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