Why don't rebels take Stormtroopers' armor?

Question

Admittedly, the armor of the stormtroopers is not the best, but it's better than nothing. Why don't the rebels strip the armor from dead stormtroopers to use with their best soldiers?

I'd really like to understand why they don't do this.

Answer 1

Because they're rebels, not soldiers.

Sure, the armour that Stormtroopers wear is better than what the Rebels generally wear, but it doesn't exactly blend in, even if you repaint it into something else.

The Rebel goal isn't to fight the Empire head on, and most rebels you see are smugglers and thieves, not soldiers. Their main protection is blending in with a crowd and not instantly being stopped and shot because they're running around in bulky, suspicious armour, which is no doubt restricted contraband on most Imperial planets.

Answer 2

Because the armor will not stop a blaster shot, which is the main weapon both the Rebels and the Empire use. Plus I understand that you can't see a thing in those helmets. Plus rigid armor slows you down somewhat and makes you easier to hit. Plus it's shiny white, so you stand out like a sore thumb in any non-winter terrain.

The rebels are the smart ones.

Answer 3

Reality TL:DR because it's more compelling to see a "rag tag militia" fighting against the uniform "might of the empire" and we need to see that in every scene. But that's not a fun answer, now is it?

If you look historically, there are plenty of situations that would cause a lesser equipped militia to steal from a regular army, and just as many reasons why they wouldn't.If a soldier were given enough time to loot the battlefield, they are 'obviously' going to grab anything they have that's better than what they got, especially if they are lacking in their personal supplies. There are plenty of instances in the Legacy Universe where entire stories revolve around the rebels attacking and raiding supply lines and caches of the Empire. So why wouldn't we see more squads of rebel soldiers loaded up with piecemeal bits of white, grey, and black armor, or periodically see a red blaster bolt flying back at a stormtrooper? Maintenance and Logistics.

As a reference the historic 16th century suit of plate armor cost months and heavy sums of money to outfit a knight. They required an entourage of to keep a mounted knight in full fighting condition; whether it be their armor repairs after even a light battle, or preparation after traveling for days to the site of a battle. Even if we were to magically wave the fiction wand and say that the stormtrooper's armor is "self repairing" or even "Easy to Repair by the individual soldier" it's not far fetched to think that they will require replacement parts, specialized tools, and other logistical concerns that would come from a formalized standing military machine.

But clearly some equipment could be used without this concern right? There's no reason why it shouldn't be so. I'm sure you can open almost any star wars book and hear about how a small resistance force, was using "stolen" empire equipment, time and again. But why not the regular rebel forces? Again, logistics. If the empire has the money, infrastructure, and capability to keep a standing army in the 10's of millions in fresh white stormtrooper armor; the actual regular rebel forces will have to come up with uniforms and their own logistical infrastructure to match.

This means cutting corners where they can and knowing what they can afford, and while a standard stormtrooper might have a mask that protects against dust and toxins, your standard rebel soldier will have a belt mounted respirator that does the same thing and is easier to transport and maintain. The imperials might completely control Blas-Tec for their blasters, but a Corellian company might be able to make something similar and cheaper. Perhaps on Geonosis they have an entire continent devoted to turning out stormtrooper Armor, but it's easier to get wool for rebel jackets on Hoth. Etc Etc Etc.

So in the massive battles; the rebel forces, a standing outfitted militia, with tactics and logistics built around that, against the Empire, a standard outfitted army, with tactics and logistics built around that, Might make it a point not to allow their equipment to be used unless the mission calls for it. Allows commanders and planners to work within given parameters of the operation, and keeps people safe when something gets broken during a war zone.

Answer 4

"Flying a false flag" is serious business in war. If the enemy finds you in one of their uniforms, they take you to an officer, who confirms your bona fides, and then shoots you in the head. That's the Geneva Convention and the story behind the famous Vietnam war photo.

They would want to customize the armor with new colors or emblems, and would probably want to exceed legal minimums, just to avoid friendly fire incidents. For instance allied forces painted white stripes on their wings during D-day.

There's nothing wrong with reusing the gear. If you charged into the skies of France with a Me109 emblazoned with RAF roundels, that's legit. That's why airplanes have insignia instead of just relying on model/shape.

Answer 5

We never see a rebel soldier in a situation where it would be useful.

The first time we see 'a rebel' soldier they are moving under the pretence of being a diplomatic mission for Alderan and wearing an imperial uniform would break their cover.

The second time is on Hoth where I assume due to the cold, storm trooper armour was not used by the empire and instead the 'snow trooper' armour.

The third was on the moon of Endor where they wore clothes to blend into the forest.

Answer 6

Why don't the rebels strip the armor from DEAD stormtroopers to use with their best soldiers?

I agree with most in universe answers above. Another good reason, is that most of individual protections in our world can be used only once. AKA "It's a terrible idea to use a bulletproof vest picked up on a shot dead body"

As little effective stormtroopers armor are, this wouldn't help either

Answer 7

IIRC, stormtroopers in TNH had a type of communication link in their helmet that was connected with some type of "main control room." All it would take would be for main control to interrogate the suspected individual in order to discover that they had an "intruder." Definitely something that should have been thought out better, imo..

Answer 8

Vision

From a practical perspective, the storm trooper's helmet seems to have quite limited visibility. The empire mostly deploys storm troopers in massed formations, so nearly every storm trooper has others covering his sides and rear. Under these circumstances, lack of visibility isn't a huge handicap.

Rebels, however, more typically fight individually. With their much smaller numbers, each has to take much greater responsibility for covering his own sides/rear. Under these circumstances, peripheral vision is highly valued, and wearing a storm trooper's helmet would border on suicidal.

Visibility

In general, soldiers you want to survive in battle should be outfitted with camouflaged uniforms. The bright white uniforms of the storm troopers stand out--this indicates that they're intended to be seen. As such, we can quickly guess that one (or both) of two things applies:

1. The empire just doesn't care how many get killed, or
2. they're a symbol of the empire, and fear of what they represent (not just what they themselves can do) will normally prevent anybody from resisting or attacking them.

In this case, it's a fair guess that both apply, though the emphasis is undoubtedly on the latter.

I'd estimate that the Empire thinks of a stormtrooper getting killed about the way you or I would about a glass getting broken. You don't normally have any emotional attachment to a glass, and its intrinsic value is quite minimal.

Nonetheless, cleaning up the mess when one breaks is some work, and when too many break you have to go buy more. Depending on how you feel about shopping, that may be a chore that prevents you from doing what you'd really prefer for a while.

Answer 9

The same reason why many rebel groups today don't steal all the equipment that's lying around - because it takes training to use.

Rebel groups, by their nature, can't have giant formal training programs. What training rebels do receive is largely designed to get them to all shoot the same direction without hitting each other. They do not have time to learn how to don complicated suits of armor, operate tanks, or even wield a firearm whose operation requires more training than a can opener does.

Rebel soldiers are largely expendable - their utility to a war is determined by how cleverly their commanders deploy them. In real asymmetric warfare, the underdog loses many more soldiers than the regular fighting force (their goal is attrition, not to overwhelm outright). So there is not even any incentive to train their footsoldiers to the level of a standing army.

Stormtrooper armor seems to have a fair bit of utility to it - including air filtration, power supply, communications, nightvision optics, anti-glare lenses, even motion sensors. Any one of these features requires a good bit of training (ask anyone who has actually used night-vision during an operation).

Real-life rebel commanders are concerned with cost-effectiveness - they may lose more soldiers than the regular force, but every man in the standing army costs dramatically more than a rebel gunman. In-universe we're shown much of a similar situation - the Rebels lose just about every major engagement they get into, and are certainly outclassed in every firefight. Their successes come through attacking critical targets (like the death star).