since Juan's mate is clearly the nerdier

Yes Juan is obviously not a driven nerd. He's just nerdy.

Have you read After On?

sorry, no

The other main character is a good fit for what I'm trying to describe

although I am confused by one thing.

Marauder armour does have a rocket launcher and a flame thrower

what do MI use when they're trying to take out specific targets?

do they have a gun at all?

I don't think they do

I assume they have snipers or the like

Maybe even true rifleman

But from what I gather the MI are shock troops

But idk

Well to me it seems that MI are the only ground force that exists

@Shurik the federation doesn't seem to have anything except MI and aircraft

it makes sense, I imagine MI would fill most battlefield roles

I assume the MI aren't just made up of infantry.

Considering they have an engineering core.

But idk

My military knowledge is pretty slim.

well engineers probably just do what all Combat engineers do

TL;DR If you've got hands, you're holding a rifle.

I assume the MI are the Marines

solve problems

But in space.

So idk how Marines actually are structured

Well I can't help but wonder if there's a federation version of the national guard

That defeats the purpose

I don't think so.

people who can deal with issues that are a bit hairy for the police but don't quite need power armoured nutjobs

Yeah, I'm sure there's SWAT teams in the police

could be

or some kind of paramilitary organisation

It wouldn't be a national guard though

there are MI scouts

I wonder if they wouldn't also make good infiltrators

like if you need to get into a bunker holding prisoners, a marauder suit might not even fit

@Fitzydog thing is though, the book never describes a "rifle"

That tii

But I think they definitely use them