Alpha is where the new players and veterans go, FF is high.
Bravo is where the engineers go, and will be on FOB duty.
Charlie does the chores and has the best cohesion throughout the game.
Delta is full of robustos who prefer to run at the enemy full-pelt rather than listen to command.
It doesn't say so on the wiki, there is no guide in CIC demanding that you reinforce these perceptions through orders, but by God: You will suffer if you try to play against type.
These general statements run true, and are the absolute law for the player base. Attempting to reign-in behavior as an SO will have you ignored, telling Bravo to go to the front will result in grumbling and a lacking turn-out, and someone will be shot to death by seeming accident in Alpha.
The issue is that the Squads get the same sort of orders close to every round, but this is not reflected in Gameplay.
- While Alpha - as a consequence of having the highest concentration of new players and being used often as a Quick Reaction Force - will face a high amount of injuries, they lack the medicine and weaponry to minimize injuries.
- While Bravo may get FOB duty every round, they still often hit their engineer cap, and don't have anything special in the way of materials, or long-ranged weaponry that would benefit a defense-heavy squad the most.
- While Charlie is a safe bet for setting up power, guiding the IOs, and reinforcing other Squads, they lack the the ability to easily prepare for a multitude of tasks.
- While Delta greatly utilizes a blitzkrieg-style assault "strategy", many still forego armor in favor of speed and are easy to overwhelm shipside crew should they turncoat, moreso even than the other Squads.
What's my solution for this?
No fucking clue.
It's a semi-complicated issue. Devs already have to balance the attachments that go on weapons that are used by marines of varying skill levels with different kinds of armors under the influence of various orders and drugs as-is, so the additional balancing act of "it works fine for Alpha, but what if a Delta took advantage of it" would probably be a great pain.
At it's simplest, I think it wouldn't hurt to give the Squads minor boons for their stereotype. Give Alpha medics more vendor points or some of the special mixes of medicine (TriBica, ImiAlky, KeloDerm, Iron just to name a few), Bravo Engineers more points in their vendor, Charlie more of the technical kits (Experimental trooper, M-OU53, J-TAC), and Delta access to jackets that allow speed and the stowing of a weapon or pointier bayonets.
All of these are inevitabilities of the round and will be reinforced sooner rather than later (for the most part, Alpha medics aren't guaranteed to shape-up, nor Charlie to be so tactical). If not, it will after the round, or in dead chat.
To the further end of the spectrum is unique equipment or abilities for the Squads, but I see this as unlikely: More IFF-enabled weapons like SMGs and rifles for Alpha, sophisticated scopes and a stronger mortar for Bravo, motorbikes or trucks for Charlie to reinforce moving tacticooly about quickly, and Double-barreled shotguns for Delta: All ideas that vary from welcome, to novel, to disastrous.
At this point, I'll just sound repetitive, but at the end of the day: We've engrained the Squads into their roles, and they're here to stay. The question is if we should give the squads advantages to playing the role that they either logged in to play or are expected to play, or if we shouldn't compromise the mild flexibility of the Squads.