Peacekeeper Sentinel

"Looking out for friendlies."
 * - Peacekeeper Sentinel

Tactical Analysis

 * Heavy Suppressive Fire: Peacekeeper Sentinels are tough, machine gun armed infantry. They use their machine guns to great effect, suppressing enemy infantry for their shotgun armed brethren to finish off at point blank range.
 * Shielded From Attack: Like other Peacekeepers, Sentinels have been equipped and trained to use their Riot Shield to shield themselves from attack and close distances under fire.
 * Watching Over Everywhere: Peacekeeper Sentinels are a rare sight, only available via reinforcements and even then only in small numbers. Despite their thick armour, prolonged fire from anti-infantry weapons will still kill them, and their machine guns are less than effective against tank armour.
 * Minigunner Madness: Elite Peacekeeper Sentinels are being issued enhanced armour frames that allow them to wield the MX-336 "Eliminator" 5.56mm man-portable minigun, which can easily blanket an area in lead.

Background
One of the more controversial decisions made early in the history of the Peacekeeper programme was the decision to arm the graduates of the then new programme with pump-action shotguns and heavy body armour, rather than a more traditional set of equipment. At the time, the decision was criticised by many, who pointed out that the Peacekeeper's weapons and equipment was only good for fighting in close quarters and urban areas; in open battle, it was argued, the Peacekeepers would be cut down long before they got close enough to use their weapons effectively, as they lacked any form of long ranged firepower.

In response, several officials in the Peacekeeper programme released a scathing rebuttal to the various criticisms pitted at the Peacekeeper programme, noting that "many of their detractors were greatly misinformed". While it was true that Peacekeepers would normally be armed with the Grummond-8 shotgun, Peacekeeper Assault Armour, and Legion Riot Shield, the officials pointed out that graduates of the Peacekeeper programme were fully proficient in many other types of firearms, and could be just as easily be equipped with FN FAL battle rifles and Kwolek body armour. The reason, the officials argued, why they made the decision to arm the Peacekeepers with their equipment was because most combat tended to take place at fairly short ranges over a few hundred metres. While even this was often too great a distance for the limited reach of a shotgun, Peacekeepers were trained to close the distance behind the protection of their bulletproof shields and heavy body armour.

Furthermore, they pointed out, the critics were incorrect in claiming that squads of Peacekeepers would lack long ranged firepower; every squad of Peacekeepers would have a soldier armed with a Browning Automatic Rifle to provide long ranged automatic firepower, just as each squad would possess an anti-tank specialist with a shaped charge rocket launcher. These machine gun wielding specialists soon gained the unofficial nickname of Sentinels, since they "watched over" their fellow Peacekeepers as they closed the distance with the enemy.

More recently, the introduction of the newer MG-60 light machine gun has led to the replacement of the outdated BAR; though some Peacekeeper units still do not have the new weapons, the Peacekeepers expect to fully phase out the BAR by the end of the year. Apart from this and the issuing of the improved model of Peacekeeper Assault Armour, the equipment of the Peacekeeper Sentinels otherwise remains unchanged; like other Peacekeepers, they are equipped with Legion Riot Shields, as well as Nightingale pistols as backup sidearms. There are also some claims of experimental man-portable miniguns being issued to select units, though the Allies have neither confirmed nor denied these rumours.