CODEX: THE KOVENANT IMPERIAL ARMY.

Kovenant Imperial Soldiers.

The Kovenant Imperial Army soldiers.

This men are the most common type of soldier that you are expected to see within the Kovenant Imperial Army and within every Infantry Regiment. They are the common foot soldiers and the backbone of the Kovenant Imperial Army, as this men make up the rank and file of the Imperial Army, giving it its strength and power.

Recruitment and training.

Imperial Army soldiers make up the backbone of any Kovenant Imperial Regiment, making up most of strength and manpower. (Except for Panzer Regiments, as the Infantry for Panzers are known as Panzer Grenadiers)

As such, this men and women were often either conscripted to serve or had volunteered for military service, even after their mandatory service in the Imperial garrisons of their homeworld was completed.

Because of the fact that Hive cities as well as town and other settlements within the Kovenant Empire are so large with each Hive city easily having a population into the billions and even trillions, each Hive city was expected to contribute 100 Million soldiers every 20 Years as part of a manpower tithe system in order to acquire new Regiments for the Kovenant Imperial Army.
This 100 million strong manpower tithe was than followed up by hundreads of millions of weapons, uniforms, helmets, field caps, food as well as other basic equipment for the soldiers. Which may also include all of their transports and other vehicles and even their light Panzers.

Because of the fact that Hive cities are massive centers of Industry, the Hives themselves can produce entire army's worth of war material, which includes hundreads of thousands of Panzers, half tracks, trucks, Opel Krieg engineering vehicles and many other vehicles and military grade equipment, all Hive cities are able to supply their men with more than enough material to make them into a fully equipped Imperial Army formation.

You see... The Kovenant Empire and thusly its military has fully embraced combined arms and not only that, but the Kovenant has also embraced meneuver warfare to a large degree as well...
Kovenant Imperial doctrine emphasis the use of Panzers and mechanised units to win wars in foreign planets, such as during a planetary invasion.
However the Hive city in question is still able to conscript more soldiers on demand when needed.

Because of this, virtually all Kovenant Imperial Army Infantry Regiments, are mostly Mechanised or motorised forces.
This was so that the Infantry Forces can catch up with the Panzers during the infamous Blitzkrieg assault that the Kovenant Imperial Army was infamous for using effectively.

For this reason, each and every Infantry Regiment is already a fully Mechanised or Motorised formation, in order to help them catch up with the Panzer Regiments and Divisions.

Because of military education (See the Military training and Education chapter)
As well as highly advanced training lessons as part of the Imperial Garrisons, this so called "Conscripts" will have already had much military experience and even some kind of expertise during their time in the garrisons.
This can than carry over to when this men are conscripted, as they would only need a 3 - 4 month advanced training course to help hone their skills even more before being deployed into Imperial Army Regiments.

Soldiers during the 3 to 4 month training course would typically undergo extensive retraining drills and combat practices with live ammunition and live laser bolts.
Additionally they were also expected to meet strict physical requirements in order to help shape this men and women into the soldiers that the Imperial Army wanted for fighting its far flung wars.
This was according to the dictum "Sweat saves blood." which emphasised strict physical and mental requirements be met by the recruits.

They were also taught how to apply basic first aid (In the absence of an Imperial medic) as well as how to clean and maintain their uniforms, how to dismantle and perform maintenance on their weapons and to keep them clean at all times. As well as being taught how to write military reports, operate radios and other communications devices