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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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|quote = '''''"Children you call them? They can pull a trigger just as well as veterans, and they have the spirit of a bull narthax. Call them children if you wish - I call them troops. Good troops."'''''<br>- ''|source= — [[Colonel]] [[Marus Cullen]] of the , [[Pannonia 5th Infantry Regiment]]{{Fn|1}}''
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Imperial Guard Regiments are generally posted to combat zones far from their homeworlds, and it is rarely practical to recruit from the homeworlds to replace casualties. Typically replenishment consists of folding in other shattered regiments together to bring them up to full strength. However, regiments that are left to garrison a world they have conquered by [[Right of Settlement]] instead gain recruits by drafting the sons of the regiment's Guardsmen when they come of age. Children fathered by Guardsmen are usually brought up within the regiment, immersing them in its culture and traditions. Early in their lives they perform menial and support duties which would otherwise eat into the regiment's fighting strength. However, as they grow older, combat training takes up more and more of their time until they are deemed ready for their first battle.{{Fn|1}}
Once they are deemed ready, probitors are formed into [[Imperial_Guard_Squad#Whiteshield Squad|Whiteshield Squads]] lead by an experienced [[Sergeant (Imperial Guard)| Sergeant]]. The sergeant also wears the whiteshield and stripes of his squad, though only he is allowed to wear proper Imperial Guard insignia and iconography such as an [[Aquila]] of the Astra Militarum. Typically they are assigned alongside normal [[Imperial Guard Platoon| Infantry Platoons]] to learn from the example of guardsmen around them. Occasionally, however, a company may form entire platoons soley solely of whiteshields, trusting that their courage will compensate for lack of experience.{{Fn|1}}
It is often observed that young Whiteshields train more harder and fight more fiercely than many experienced guardsmen. In battle they are driven by a desire to prove their courage and skills that borders on the fanatical. They fight fearlessly in the face of enemies that older and wiser guardsmen would fight with caution. Failure to earn their colors colours is a terrible blow to a whiteshield - cowardice is unforgivable, and death is deemed preferable than to return home in shame.{{Fn|1}}
Passing from Whiteshield to Guardsman is seen not simply as a promotion, but a changing point in a recruit's life. Only those who have distinguished themselves in battle are allowed to become guardsmen. Some regiments simply require that a whiteshield participate in battle without giving way to fear, while others require them to draw or collect a trophy of war from a foe, be it a banner or even a piece of a slain enemy. They are afterwards considered adults and given the right to wear the regimental symbols on their uniform, and are formally inducted into the Imperial Guard. More important are the unofficial rituals unique to each regiment and culture, which can include tattoos or further tests of courage such as receiving a ritual scar without a cry of pain.{{Fn|1}} Perhaps now reflecting on how lucky they were to survive, the fanatical drive to prove themselves cools and gives way to prudent experience and a more cautious will to survive now that they have earned the right to be guardsmen.{{Fn|1}}
The tradition of Whiteshields is over ten millenia millennia old, going back as far as the [[Imperial Army]] of the [[Great Crusade]].{{Fn|4}}{{Fn|1}} The [[Primarch]] [[Leman Russ (Primarch)| Leman Russ]] spoke favorably of them, having fielded them in support of his own [[Space Wolves]] during campaigns.{{Fn|1}}
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|quote = "Only in the [[Space Marines]] of the [[Legiones Astartes]] are courage and expertise perfectly blended. In other troops they are present in varying degrees and proportions, and many scholars have debated their relative merits.<br>For my own part, I come down on the side of courage. For courage can sometimes make a virtue of inexperience. I myself have commanded Imperial Guard troops whose probitor units have achieved great things, because they were too inexperienced to realise that their goal was impossible." |source= —[[Leman Russ (Primarch)| Leman Russ]] on the military use of Whiteshields, ''(De Natura Belli, Book XIV''){{Fn|1}}
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