-- Former Marine here. 0511 Enlisted MAGTF Planner though, not a grunt, so keep in mind my perception is heavily influenced by logistics considerations. I post ome musings on this subject a long time ago that I've collected on
my website. Note that most of those were written several years ago while I was active duty, and before I partipated in OEF/OIF and became
very disillusioned with the current technofetish trend (e.g. Tom Clancy type bullshit).
QUOTE (LivingOxymoron @ Jul 12 2010, 05:18 AM)

What are the comparative strength levels of a Regular Military squad vs. a Shadowrunner team? Should one necessarily be able to dominate the other the majority of the time in an even match? How would a typical infantry squad (not a SpecOps squad like Ghosts, Delta, or Wildcats) be outfitted, specifically as regards armor? What is the norm? Armor Jacket/Camo Suit? Security Armor? Light Military Grade Armor?
-- First off, you need to start associating "Shadowrunners" with "special ops" because in all but the most gritty street level game they really are a special elite in stats, skills, equipment availability, and psychological prepation to commit violence. A shadowrunner group with mage and hacker support will RIP APART any plausible conventional military unit: jamming their comms, jacking their own drones, making headshots at a thousand paces, mind controlling their officers, etc.
-- Second, I can recommend that you skim through the
Small Wars Journal site and read their forums. They have some exceptional resources on there that can be adapted. For example, I got a lot of use from the thread "
Weight of Combat Gear is Taking Toll"
Armor-- There is not a "no casualities at any price" attitude that I can discern in Shadowrun, so right off the bat you need to be
very careful about taking modern US military trends and applying it to Shadowrun. It is extremely unlikely that miltiary grade armor (Arsenal, p. 50) is common at all -- the requirement that it be custom tailored pretty much kills it except in special ops units (and even there it's a problem).
-- Something akin to SWAT Armor (Arsenal, p. 49) strikes me as far more likely an analog to the current protective systems.
Communications-- The ECM/ECCM environment in Shadowrun is SERIOUS BAD NEWS for modern conceptions of C4I. Troops probably have high-rated comm systems that are reasonably SOTA (in fact, that's probably the only thing they use that is!) but Tom Clancy micromanagement is a recipe for disaster with wireless hackers around. I suspect a military commlink will be something like an Renraku Airware (Signal is more important than Response, good price point) with a custom OS that strongly emphasizes Firewall Rating). Probably has skinlink and subvocal mic. All together this is a pretty inexpensive bit of kit, and is largely off-the-shelf. A simrig is asking for trouble in most cases.
Electronics-- Goggles with Flare Compensation, Image Link, Low-Light Vision, and Smartlnk. Drop the Smartlink for militia armies (that 500 nuyen adds up FAST in bulk purchases).
-- Earbuds with Select Sound Filter
Weapon System-- Money to blow: XM30 type system.
-- More reasonable: AK-97 or FN-HAR (neither smartlinked). The M22A3 (Arsenal, p. 26) also isn't half bad.
-- Probable: As most operations are in urban areas I suspect that the carbine will continue to be popular, so more stuff like the Praetor (Arsenal, pp. 24-25).
Other Crap-- Gas Mask is useful to have on you due to the effectiveness of various SR chemtech. But it's actually fairly expensive.
-- Slap Patches get much love.
QUOTE
Understanding that the T/O doesn't allow for a mage to back-up every squad, what does the typical squad use to protect themselves against a single mage with an overcasted powerbolt from wiping them out, especially in a vehicle?
-- Good communication to identify high-priority targets and hit them hard and fast before you get geeked. If they can, avoid direct contact and use supporting fires (drones, artillery, mortars, etc). Think of a mage like a small, fairly squishy tank. Something not encountered all the time, but extremely dangerous when it's around and requiring a lot of training and forethought to tackle.