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- How Are Stormtroopers Trained?
- What Are The Requirements To Be A Stormtrooper?
- What Happened If a Stormtrooper Was Force Sensitive?
The Galactic Empire was a scourge that practically ran the galaxy in the Star Wars series for more than a decade. They ruled with an iron fist, ensuring that any resistance to their power was crushed as quickly as possible. That is precisely why a massive rebel movement ended up being created to oppose the Empire, but even they struggled to deal with the might of the Empire’s footsoldiers, the infamous Stormtroopers.
There are dozens if not hundreds of unique and interesting characters in the Star Wars canon, and yet somehow, fans keep coming back to Stormtroopers time and again. Whether due to their incredible design or the humor they demonstrate across the various films, Stormtroopers have a lot of charm. Aside from that charm, the soldiers are some of the most intensely trained villains in the series, as long as folks are willing to ignore their struggles with hitting their target.
How Are Stormtroopers Trained?
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Stormtroopers |
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Loyalty |
The Galactic Empire |
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Commanders |
Sheev Palpatine, Darth Vader |
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Formed From |
The Clone Troopers |
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Weapon Of Choice |
E-11 blaster rifle |
While it may not always seem like it, Stormtroopers were some of the most heavily trained soldiers in the galaxy during the time of the Empire. Not content to simply utilize Clone Troopers, the Empire recruited countless people from across the galaxy to join the Stormtrooper forces. Once someone had committed to the fighting force, they would be shipped off to the nearest Imperial Training Academy locations. Part of this was to ensure that anyone who joined the Stormtroopers was firmly in line with the Empire’s goals and values, ensuring that all Stormtroopers faithfully upheld their rulers’ mission.
In the canonical children’s book A New Hero by Pablo Hidalgo, Ezra Bridger describes the kind of pull that the Empire has to begin Stormtrooper training:
What makes it worse is that, underneath those white stormtrooper helmets and black TIE fighter pilot helmets, a lot of the Imperials actually come from here. […] I guess a lot of people here, being so used to living out on the edge of nowhere, signed up because they wanted to connect to something bigger. Can’t they see what they’re signing up for?
The Stormtroopers were trained in all aspects of war, meaning they were trained in various unique climates and with plenty of gadgets. The most obvious aspect would be their blaster training, which resulted in a roughly 77% accuracy rating at one time. From there, Stormtroopers would receive training on various vehicles used to engage in war, notably the various models of the Imperial Walkers. There was also standard physical training that would get more difficult as recruits progressed. Those who excelled in their training were even singled out to become Death Troopers.
The Imperial Academies served to strip away all individuality from the recruits, outfitting them all to look the same during training. Occasionally, this training would involve the recruits helping out in other imperial operations, further locking them into the Empire’s grasp. Recruits could get additional experience serving as police officers of sorts, or simply doing whatever was required on a smaller scale on whatever planet the Empire had an interest in.
What Are The Requirements To Be A Stormtrooper?
Open to just about anyone who wanted to join, Stormtroopers could begin training as early as the age of thirteen. The only real requirement from the start was for recruits to have a love for the success of the Empire, one that would result in them giving their lives to see its goals achieved. Stormtroopers and their recruits were expected to follow any and all orders without question, no matter how bad the outcome might be. Stormtroopers were mostly just a number to the Empire, so it was key that they were willing to die at a moment’s notice, or even without notice.
In the short story “Born In The Storm” by Daniel José Older, Stormtrooper TD-7556 makes it clear exactly what is expected of fellow Stormtroopers:
We follow orders. It’s the sum and extend of our existence. Say kill, and we will. Say die, and our arms fly up and take the blasterfire on full. Watch our pointless existence extinguished on command.
There are other physical requirements, as it seems that the Stormtroopers generally have a uniform height and build that is standard across the forces. Recruits were expected to keep up with the rigorous physical requirements of the job, and while it isn’t always clear what would happen to those who couldn’t do so, it’s easy to assume that the Empire would simply dispose of them. As long as a Stormtrooper could prove themselves to be a decent foot soldier, all they needed to do was hold reverence for the dark Emperor Palpatine in their hearts.
What Happened If a Stormtrooper Was Force Sensitive?
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Star Wars (complete franchise) |
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Director |
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Producers |
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Release |
1977–present |
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Budget |
$2.079 billion |
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Box Office |
$10.341 billion |
While it may seem like a Stormtrooper demonstrating some level of Force sensitivity would be unheard of, it actually wasn’t as uncommon as one might think. Any Stormtroopers who even so much as hinted at Force abilities were immediately hauled away to a top-secret project. That project, Project Harvester, was intended to shape those with a connection to the Force into warriors that could further aid in meeting the Empire’s goals. If a recruit was seen to have any sort of connection to the Force, they became something a lot more special and useful in the eyes of the Empire.
This project was likely successful, as proper attention would mean that the Empire would have even more Inquisitors at their disposal. While armies of Stormtroopers were an asset, those who were skilled in the Force would be able to rival the strength of whatever Jedi remained alive in the galaxy, something that even a massive squadron of Stormtroopers could not necessarily do. In a twisted way, it would have been the best possible result for a recruit to demonstrate Force sensitivity. This would immediately put them in a much higher position than most, if not all, of the disposable Stormtroopers, even if they were ultimately just another disposable figure at the end of the day.
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