GI

G.I.

Unit

Internal ID

E1 (rules)
GI (art)

Faction

Allied Forces

Role

Light infantry

Armament

Compact full-auto SMG (standard weapon)
M60 (deployed weapon, cutscenes)
Spectre SMG (concept art)

Protection

Composite combat vest

Tech level

1

Properties

Hit points

125

Armor type

None

Amphibious

No

Production

Cost

$200

Produced by

Allied barracks

Combat

Ground attack

15 (25 when elite) (SA)
25 (deployed) (SSA)
30 (40 when elite) (when garrisoned) (SSAB)
25 (IFV) (SSA)

Cooldown

20
15 (deployed, garrisoned, IFV)

Speed

4

Attack range

4
5 (6 when elite) (deployed)
(7 in RA2) (deployed)
6 (garrisoned, IFV)

Sight range

5

Function

Abilities

Deploys in sandbags

Elite upgrade

Increased strength, firepower, rate of fire, self-healing

“

Commander, this Allied GI is a well-trained soldier quickly deploying a heavy machine gun when stationed within buildings or deployed with his sandbag nest.
- Zofia^(src)

”

The G.I. (Government Issue or General Infantry) is the basic Allied infantry unit in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. Along with their counterparts in other factions, G.I.s are able to garrison civilian structures.

Official description[]

“

The GI is the basic Allied infantry unit. Slow and capable of only light damage, GIs are nonetheless necessary because of their low cost and ability to set up sandbags around them like a bunker. Left-clicking on a selected GI unit will cause him to deploy into a heavy machine gun platform which offers increased range and power, but no ability to move. Left-clicking again undeploys the GI.
- Red Alert 2 manual^(src)

”

Background[]

These soldiers possess basic combat training in urban warfare, which allowed them to effectively garrison civilian buildings and use them as makeshift fortifications.

Each GI was equipped with what appears to be a Spectre submachine gun which they used on foot, and an M60 general-purpose machine gun which they used in entrenched positions. For protection, they wore a composite combat vest with shoulder pads and a composite helmet with goggles. The game's files identify the GI's standard weapon as the M60 and its deployed weapon as "para", likely a reference to either the M249 Paratrooper ("Para") or the older FN Minimi Para.

Aftermath[]

After the war, they were replaced by Peacemakers in the Post-War Crisis, and later by Peacekeepers in the new Third World War, which possess shotguns, and are more effective against enemy infantry.

Game unit[]

When undeployed, the GI uses an SMG, which is inferior to the Conscript's weapon. However their true strength lies in their deploy ability. GIs may deploy into a ring of sandbags. In this static mode, they do more damage per burst and have longer range, which is enough to keep most hostile infantry away, but also to counter lighter vehicles and even, to some degree, heavily armored tanks and buildings. Therefore when deployed in numbers, GIs can counter almost any ground threat thrown at them and form a very formidable defensive bastion when combined with Guardian GIs. Even on their own without additional support, swarms of deployed GIs can take care of themselves. Additionally, Elite deployed GIs can also fire outside the range of Pillboxes, Gatling Cannons and Sentry Guns. However they are still vulnerable to Snipers and Virus units.

When put into an IFV, they gain even more firepower against infantry, but the damage output to buildings and vehicles is less potent. The GI may also garrison structures and do more damage per second than garrisoned conscripts, but are outmatched by garrisoned initiates.

Although trained from the Allied barracks, Allied Commanders can also drop in some free GI reinforcements via the Paradrop Support Power (which drops 6 GIs upon capturing of the Tech Airport). Moreover American Commanders have access to the Airborne (which drops 8 GIs) power after constructing an Airforce Command, and they are separate powers to Paradrop which in turn will allow them to drop up to 14 GIs on one target or 2 targets.

AI behavior[]

GIs controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:

All difficulties[]

3x guarding Allied Barracks, accompanied by 3 Guardian GIs

Easy[]

2x targeting buildings, accompanied by 2 Guardian GIs

Medium[]

2x loaded inside a Battle Fortress then proceed to target infantry; accompanied by 2 Guardian GIs and 1 Navy SEAL
3x targeting buildings, accompanied by 3 Guardian GIs

Medium/Hard[]

3x loaded inside a Nighthawk Transport then proceed to unload near a Weather Control Device or Nuclear Missile Silo before targeting it; accompanied by Tanya, and 1 Guardian GI
3x guarding Allied Ore Refineries, accompanied by 3 Guardian GIs

Hard[]

2x loaded inside a Battle Fortress then proceed to guard Allied Battle Lab; accompanied by 2 Guardian GIs and 1 Navy SEAL
5x targeting buildings, accompanied by 5 Guardian GIs
6x targeting production buildings, accompanied by 4 Guardian GIs and 2 Engineers

Changelog[]

Yuri's Revenge patch 1.001: GIs and Guardian GIs under the effect of a chaos drone can no longer be (un)deployed by their owner.

Quotes[]

When selected
Can do! How 'bout some action? Orders? Ready! Sir, yes, sir! Squared away, sir! Who's next? (cut)
When ordered to move
Double time! Got it! Hoo-ah! Movin' out! On my way! On the move!
When ordered to attack
Attacking! Diggin' in! Enemy sighted! Let's do it! Safety first, sir! You got it!
When suppressed
We're being attacked! We're pinned down!

Trivia[]

GIs seen in cutscenes are played by Sharif Perry, Micheal Rouleau, Jeremy Olson, Brett Logan, Lamar Lucas, and McKenzie Woodcock.
The game unit was voiced by Michael Bell, like most Allied infantry.
Some concept art refers to them as heavy machine gunners.
A selection voice line was cut from the game, and is often restored in mods.

Technicalities[]

It should be noted however that when deployed GIs get full damage from enemy fire instead of the usually-reduced ProneDamage (Prone state is when the infantry ducks; when that happens infantry are damaged less (or more, if set by modders) by specific percentage, as set on the weapon's Warhead). 'Deployed' in sandbags doesn't count as Prone in-engine.
When deployed, GIs are actually more vulnerable to attacks because of how Prone mechanics work.
- Basically, when ducking/"Prone", InfantryTypes may receive less damage from a warhead if ProneDamage= is specified on that warhead (can be abused to increase damage, but Westwood didn't use it that way except for the Orca Bomber, Artillery, Gas, fire, Cyborg Commando). Being in a deployed state doesn't count as being Prone.