Militarum Veteran Squad
Imperial Veteran Squads are the hardcore Guardsmen who have proven themselves with their colossal badassary by being the only survivors of their parent company or even regiment, they are usually attached to other, newly-formed regiments in order to pass on their hard-won skills to the new recruits. Their constant survival in just a T-shirt has earned them massive brazen balls of adamantium unlike those power armored faggots. How harcore are they? well they are often the first squad in an assault and the last in retreat. Fucking Manly.
They are given greater freedom of operation than other squads and access to a wider array of equipment as well, along with whatever they can loot from the battlefield or otherwise "borrow" from other friendly units. Compared to normal infantry squads they tend to carry a greater number of squad support weapon including grenade launchers, flamers, sniper rifles, plasma guns, meltaguns and even a Heavy Flamer. Some are organised as grenadiers and wear carapace armour for additional protection, while others operate as forward sentries and equip themselves with camo-cloaks and snare mines. Still others specialise in demolition and carry a disturbing amount of explosives in the form of melta bombs and demolition charges.
A Regiment that has been reduced to the point when there are just a few Veterans left are combined with a new Regiment in the hope that their skills will rub off onto the new men. Many of these Veterans may not be from the Regiment or even the same home world, and so may introduce brand new combat-tactics and an entirely different war-ethic to their foster regiment. They are also Tactical Geniuses as they often employ unconventional, but effective tactics such as the use of booby traps that are not taught by the Tactica Imperialis. Veterans excel in all aspects of warfare, from close-range firefights to heavy demolitions work.
They are one of those guys who will be BLAMing the Commissar and asking them to fuck off rather than the other way round and are known to intimidate the red caps until they soil themselves and know their place. Most Veterans often use the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer as literal toilet paper and can get away with it due to their accomplishments and massive balls. They are often seen as an inspiration to newer Guardsmen and highly respected because of it.
Cadia have the highest proportions of Veteran Squads as it sits next door to the Eye of Terror and are thus the most iconic of the Veterans.