Barrick is quite skilled even as a conscript all knives he has equipped hint he is an expert knife fighter so that’s also a hint of potential criminal past
Valera despite conscript showed tons of talent she survived everything the locust threw at her until she went up close with RAAM few survive him and it took two of the greatest COG regular soldiers Marcus and Dom to bring him down
But it’s true kilo has better trained soldiers though Sofia was ex reporter before being an onyx cadet which imply she showed considerable talent in combat and leadership onyx school is pretty much a special forces officer school not just anyone can get in there as Sofia said that place produced the next gen officers the brightest and toughest.
Padduck was a UIR major specialized in intelligence and formidable combatant
And cole train himself from athlete to warrior