Militant squad

"Down with GDI!"

- Militants, never too happy about the GDI

The Brotherhood of Nod militants are the millions-strong irregulars of the Brotherhood following the Firestorm Crisis.

Background
Militants are primarily disillusioned (or possibly ecstatic) men and women who have suffered from harsh lives in Yellow Zones and have been attracted to service in the Nod armed forces by the latter's relief efforts. The use of militia plays an important role for Nod, the inevitable product of the "Control The Media, Control The Mind" social doctrine, with commanders preferring to sacrifice their militant auxiliaries rather than endanger the thin ranks of the surviving Nod regulars and "true believers" who comprise the Brotherhood's cherished elite troops, such as Shadow Teams and Black Hand troopers.

Militants wear drab, gray hooded jackets and pants, with bandoleers, backpacks, and goggles. In some regions, they wear old worn Second Tiberium War combat armour previously used by Nod light infantry ranks. The Militants use a variety of small arms, ranging from old 20th century assault rifles, such as the late 20th century GAU-3 Eliminator 5.56mm assault rifles, to new GD-2 rifles. Militants are poorly trained and equipped when compared with their GDI counterparts, but their fanatical zeal, willingness to fight for the Brotherhood and sheer numbers make up for their weaknesses.

Quotes
"Down with GDI"

"We fight for Nod!"

"Fighters, arm up!"

"The oppressive must die"

"Militia"

"Everybody get inside"

"Inside now"

"Hold Your weapons high"

"This way"

"Yeah"

"Bring them to their knees"

"Make them suffer!"

Upgrades
"Fighters, arm up!"

- Militants, after being trained from the Hand of Nod

In-game
Unfortunately, militants have universally bad armour and are the weakest units in the conflict. Pretty much anything capable of taking on infantry should be able to dispatch them without too much trouble. They are also usually very poorly trained compared to their GDI counterpart, the riflemen squad. This can be a benefit, however, as they are the cheapest unit to completely arm and train in the conflict, not to mention the squad size of the unit is the largest of all infantry units in the war. This distinct advantage can often be seen utilized by Nod commanders, to simply overwhelm their opposition in bodies, using their dedicated foot soldiers as nothing but meat shields while more advanced (and expensive) war machines march forward. They can be trained in a short time, making them favoured in Rushing Strategies. However, they start becoming more effective with the Tiberium infusion and Confessor upgrade, making them a threat to most infantry later in a conflict.

Effective counters to these infantry formations have been developed by GDI in the course of their engagements in Yellow Zones in the form of advanced grenadier units garrisoned in Guardian APCs and heavy anti-infantry units.

The Black Hand and the Marked of Kane prefer to rely on well trained squads of elite soldiers, respectively Confessor Cabals and Awakened cyborgs.

Trivia

 * While looking them closely when they are attacking, they seem to only use one hand to fire their rifles unless they're in a crouching position near a structure which they will hold their rifles with both hands.
 * Sometimes while idling, they look straight down the barrel of their rifle, a reflection of their poor training.
 * Attack bikes and Raider buggies are piloted by Militants. Their appearance changes depending on whether they are in Tiberium Wars or Kane's Wrath, but the cameos are left unchanged.
 * Large excessive amounts of militants can induce slow gameplay, on console versions. This is quite common with Balanced Skirmish AI.
 * Some of their idle animations show them disrespecting their own firearms by swinging it like a baseball bat, they also can not perform a proper salute without dropping their rifle on the ground.