Conscript (Red Alert 3)

Concripts are the soviet basic infantry trained during the War of the Three Powers.

While Anatoly Cherdenko altered the time line by removing Albert Einstein, conscripts still remained the foundation of the Soviet army. However, there was little difference between these and the previous Conscripts, now they are armed with Molotov Cocktails along with the classic rifles.

Background
In the Soviet Union, military service is understood to be a rite of passage, for boys and girls alike, into a patriotic adulthood. And, much like the onset of age, this rite is not optional. Opportunities do abound, and based on a child's scholastic achievement and parentage, he or she may end up serving either behind a desk or behind a machine gun for the glory of Russia and all her sister republics. Among the entirety of Soviet youth entering the armed forces, a large percentage consists of boys of unremarkable strength, intellect, or pedigree. These boys, once properly trained and equipped, are boys no longer: They are conscripts.

The millions of drafted boys destined to become conscripts tended to have no distinguishing attributes or patronage. Training had a heavy theoretical component with an emphasis on raising morale and reinforcing indoctrination learned earlier in life, (such as how to properly fire a gun, salute high-ranking officials, cry out authorized Soviet war cries, etc.). In addition to this, conscripts were often promised great reward for their service, motivating them further. By comparison, technical skills, such as marksmanship, merited relatively little time and swimming was completely ignored, reportedly due to fears of desertion.

Training program


The conscript training program was regarded as highly efficient by the Soviets. Exit polls suggest conscripts come away from this video series genuinely inspired and enthusiastic for combat, (and the few that are unsatisfied typically are sent to the gulags straightaway). However, the cost of turning out enthusiastic but poorly trained was apparent by conscripts possessing the shortest average combat lives out of all the Soviet forces. Conscripts rarely lived above 26.6 years before being killed or (more rarely) promoted.

Armament
Conscripts were armed with the battle-proven and easily manufactured ADK-45 assault rifle. The rifle was inexpensive to manufacture and fired bursts of 7.62mm rounds effective against infantry. Equipping new conscripts made extensive use of battlefield salvage. The bayonet seen on one of the propaganda poster is clearly not standard equipment as Conscripts in the battlefield rarely used them.

New gadget
Conscripts gain the Molotov Cocktail which allows them to clear garrisons. According to the official website, the Molotov Cocktail was "named for the great Soviet bartender who first invented the concoction in exasperation when his patrons refused to leave his establishment." Based on this knowledge, it can be assumed these Molotov Cocktails are poisonous as well as flammable, but apparently some Conscripts have tried drinking it anyway as "Reports of conscripts drinking this substance for pleasure, and subsequently falling ill or dying, are described as 'patently false' by the Soviet media.". This cocktail is easily made (with main ingredients being fuel such as petroleum or kerosene and motor oil, both available in great supply). Conscripts may carry these in specially designed containers.The Molotov's fire will produce tear inducing smoke (due to impurities and battlefield condition).

Deployment History
The Allies often ran into en-mass Conscript attacks in the early missions, such as Ride of the Red Menace, but most were dealt with by superior defenses and tactics.

However, when the Allies and Soviets worked together against the Empire of the Rising Sun, they proved to be good defenders along with their counterparts, the Peacekeepers, specially when the coalition invaded the floating fortress in the North Atlantic (even as both parts were constantly in tension).

In the Soviet campaign, the lowly Conscripts actually had a dramatic effect on the Soviet Perspective. Many of the Unions most heroic moments were fought by them, including the Defense of Leningrad, the Battle of Vladivostok, and the Battle of Geneva, as well as the conflicts regarding the Soviet Civil War (e.g. No Traitors Tomorrow and The Stone Faced Witnesses). However, the greatest moment for the Conscripts was during Operation: To Tame A Living God. In the operation, a Conscript and a War Bear, (the sole survivors of the first wave), managed to sneak past the bored guards, and attack Yoshiro. Despite the fact it was really a mechanic duplicate of the Emperor the pair "assassinated", and the fact they were captured immediately following the stunt, they were liberated, and taken back to Russia, (where they were presumably treated as national heroes and given many honors for their unquestionable bravery).

In the Imperial campaign, Conscripts were often brushed like away like dust before the divine wrath of the Empire, due to their lacking of sophisticated weapons.

Trivia

 * If you examine a conscript (shifted in defense forces) sitting behind the machine gun in a sentry gun, and the structure is not selected, conscript will snuggle down and will be drinking unknown drink, possibly Vodka, or maybe his Molotov cocktail.
 * Due to the fact that the conscript is sometimes seen drinking from a bottle when idling, it is possible that they carry two distinct bottles (one with a beverage and one with a molotov), though they may occassionally mix them up.
 * In mission March of the red army, they are commenting about some mistakes in the mission, like apparence of Dolphins, and Aircraft carrier in the middle of the lake.
 * They are almost identical to the Shock Infantry of Rise of Nations in their apearence (ushankas, greatcoats, AKs); however, the game includes Red Guards Infantry as an earlier unit, who wear the stereotypical summer uniform, as well.
 * Strangely, when you sell a "SHRINKED" outpost deployed from a Sputnik, a mini conscript will appear with a size just like the ones seen in the Commander's Challenge-S.H.R.I.N.K. Z.O.N.E. Mini Conscripts deal full damage and move just as fast as a regular conscript although they are much harder to see.

Behind the Scenes
In comparison to their Red Alert 2 counterparts, the conscripts in Red Alert 3 appear far less equipped both aesthetically and experience-wise; their predecessors sported a pressed steel alloy helmet with a breathing apparatus, a pair of alloy steel plated shoulder pads, a revolver, and a bandolier loaded with munitions. However, the Red Alert 3 conscripts are stripped of all of these accessories; leaving them with their signature trench coat and ADK-45 assault rifles, possibly for economic reasons due to their mostly short lives. In fact, the ushanka and the shinel (trenchcoat) is the non-combat winter uniform; in reality, Soviet troopers would at least trade the fur hat for a helmet, and later the shinel for body armor before going into combat (although a cut-down shinel' was usually worn under WWII-era SN-42 steel breastplate to absorb bullet impacts).

The ADK-45 seems to be the alternate history version of AK (Not AK-47, same as the PPSh, not PPSh-41) or maybe the successor of it. It is quite plausable that Mikhail Kalashnikov was still involved (note the A for Avtomat, while D and K stand for designer's surnames), although he got into armament design after being wounded in World War Two - he had been a tank driver. The placard with a bayonet also depicts a barrel attachment charecteristic of later AK models

Molotov cocktail is named for the Soviet foreign minister of 1930s, and was first "served" in the Spanish Civil War; the Soviets later perfected it to be self-igniting - and poisonus. British Home Guard went one step further, issuing a bottle launcher.