Alpine regiment

Alpine Regiments depend on mountain warfare to engage enemies and survive harsh conditions. The term alpine comes from the Alps in Europe and regiment comes from the French term régiment describing a military unit. An alpine regiment is a unit or division of a countries' armed forces that is tasked with conducting operations and or patrolling alpine areas.

Conducting military operations in alpine areas is an extreme challange to foot soldiers due to below freezing tempetures, crevasses and extreme weather. Fighting on slopes in areas with a very low tactical advantage against an enemy presents it's own problems. Troops need specialized weapon systems, advanced support systems, specialized clothing and camouflage, highly trained soldiers and a group mentality.

Individual Gear and Weapons

Specialized weapons are needed to fight in extreme conditions. Gun oil gets very viscous in cold temetures, so special lubricants are needed for reliable small arms. Assault rifles, sniper weapons pistols and submachine guns, normally silenced and having advanced optics, are used by alpine forces. Long range killing is prefered, to keep stealth and reduce risk of fatalities. Grenades, mortars and rocket launchers are rarely used due to risk of avalanche. Machine guns are rare too, becuase of thier wieght and bulk. Most common ammunition is of a coarse-grained gunpowder and brass coated projectiles. Most common calibers are 5.56, .308 and 7.62. .50 BMG is not as common becuase it produces a very large sound and the weapons it is used in are much too heavey and bulky. Snow Camouflage is also a huge factor in alpine warfare, due to little or no natural cover. "Snow camo" was a key emphasis in the Winter War in the 1940's because of the winter contitions of the front lines.

Modern snow camo is a kind of MARPAT style snow variations.