Rifleman squad

The rifleman squad is the main infantry unit of the Global Defense Initiative in Tiberium Wars.

Background
Armed with automatic GD-2 rifles and standard GDI body armour, these six men squads are well trained and equipped. Every soldier carries with him a portable shovel, used to create foxholes on the battlefield.

Riflemen have access to advanced composite armour suits or Tiberium field suits that provide them with better protection. On the battle field, they maintain their fitness by doing push ups, usually in sets of five or so.

Like all GDI infantry, they can be shuttled around the battlefield in the V-35 Ox Transports. Some infantry squads are members of elite GDI Airborne divisions.

Game unit
Rifleman Squads are GDI's counterpart to Nod's Militants and the Scrin's Buzzers. Riflemen cost 300, as opposed to the 200 credit cost of their counterparts. They have more firepower as well and tend to last longer in battle. Their squad size is smaller than a Militant squad, at only 6 troops instead of 8, making them more vulnerable to snipers and sometimes to area attack as well. However, each soldier has more health, increasing their chance of surviving being hit by a highly damaging attack. Keep in mind that in Kane's Wrath, Riflemen are inferior to the Black Hand subfaction's Confessor Cabals, who are the deadliest of the basic infantry units.

Unupgraded Riflemen can defeat unupgraded Militant squads efficiently. However, with the Confessor upgrade Militants can often defeat riflemen, since their Confessor squad leader is particularly strong and also possesses the ability to throw Hallucinogenic Grenades, which can cause Riflemen to shoot each other, effectively causing them to defeat themselves. Militants can also get the Tiberium Infusion upgrade cheaply and early on, which further bolsters their health and makes them tougher than Riflemen. However, once Riflemen get Composite Armor or Tiberium Field Suits (ZOCOM only), they gain a large health bonus and become much harder to kill, which more than evens the odds.

The Armor-Piercing Ammunition upgrade available in Kane's Wrath significantly boosts the damage of Riflemen squads and turns them into one of the most effective counter-infantry units on the field, being cheap, disposable, but good at killing enemy infantry and decent at damaging light vehicles. Combining this with Composite Armor or Chemsuits makes them very durable as well, being good at ranged combat in general, though still vulnerable to being crushed.

Buzzers, like with most infantry, can instantly kill a Rifleman squad once they get on top of them. However, Riflemen can easily dispatch a single Buzzer unit if they are provided enough range between them and the target, so they tend to only be vulnerable to large groups of Buzzers.

They can also build garrisonable Foxholes, where infantry can garrison for a defense bonus. Unfortunately, it costs 100 credits to create a foxhole, takes time to build, and Foxholes are vulnerable to anti-garrison weapons like flamethrowers, Grenades and Buzzers.

GDI commanders (except for Steel Talons commanders) have access to the Armory building, which allows them to replace fallen squad members and heal surviving ones for free. Other factions lack the ability to replace fallen squad members, so a good commander should consider taking advantage of this in the right situations.

Behind the scenes
Originally, the riflemen were supposed to have full body armour, while the Commandos were supposed to wear lighter, less constraining armour. However, somewhere along the line, Commandos were given the fully armoured look, while the riflemen received the lightly armoured models.

Idle

 * Ground support.
 * Keep your weapon ready. 
 * Squad ready. 
 * Reporting in. 
 * Yes sir. 
 * Rifle squad. 

​Moving

 * Affirmative. 
 * Move!
 * Move out.
 * Riflemen, move out. 
 * Roger out. 
 * Securing area. 
 * This way rifle squad!
 * Understood. 

Garrisoning Structure

 * Securing structure. 
 * Cleared for garrison. 
 * Garrison force enroute.

​Digging a Foxhole

 * Sandbags!
 * Dig in! 

​Attacking

 * Clear to engage.
 * Make a push!
 * Yes sir, we'll hold the line!
 * Light 'em up. 

Trivia
Selling Watchtowers in the early game can provide a fast riflemen squad for immediate scouting purposes.