Chapter 1 Page 14

Commissar_Tarkin on Aug. 23, 2022

Lieutenant Valdis Janssens is in the supply and engineering branch of the Army, evidenced by his orange rank strip and shoulder patch. The various branches are color-coded:

Purple - Headquarters
Orange - Supply and Engineers
Red - Armour (mostly tanks)
Green - Infantry
Black - Artillery (including Anti-Air)
Gray - Mechsuits
Light Blue - Army Aerospace Forces (they exist)
White - Medical

A lot of Army personnel tend to look down on people with orange patches, because of the number of rear-echelon specialists in that category. “Turning orange” and similar expressions are sometimes used as euphemism for cowardice, which, in turn, extremely annoys combat engineers, AKA assault pioneers or simply sappers, whose temper is often as short as their life expectancy.