Common Military Units: Difference between revisions

Special note for aircraft carriers: the complement of aircraft and accompanying personnel on a carrier are called its '''air wing''', it has it'sits own commanding officer (immediately subordinate to the ship's CO) and it's internally structured much like a '''wing''' in the air force section below, just with naval ranks. The main difference is that it encompasses a ship rather than an aircraft type or mission: while the air force might have elements of multiple wings at a given airbase, a ship has all her aircraft under one command.

Your basic everyday soldier. Will carry an assault rifle with a few machine guns around to provide support. Will have to walk or get a truck to their destination and generally [[Cannon Fodder|do all the hard work]]. They are absolutely necessary to hold or take ground -- and as most wars are to some degree about dominating turf, infantry is irreplaceable.

Similar to regular Infantry, but is somewhat more mobile and has more firepower due to the support of an [[Awesome Personnel Carrier|APC or IFV]]. However, these are generally smaller that infantry squads because you can only fit so many men into an armoured vehicle.

Soldiers who ride horses, hence, [[Cool Horse|inherently cool]]. Now largely relegated to ceremonial roles or an old name retained for a unit that does something else (e.g. the Household Cavalry, who are a reconnaissance regiment). In skilled hands, [[The Cavalry]] was known to turn the tide of battle, hence, it is a [[Trope Namer]]. In olden times there were two basic types, heavy and light, heavy (big men on big horses with lots of armor), struck the heavy blow right when a formation was about to break. Lights (small men on small horses with little armor) on the other hand did scouting, and in some ways would classify as either irregulars or special forces depending on where they are recruited.

* In some military forces (such as the United States Army), more modern units, such as Reconnaissance, Armor, and Aviation, might be described as "Cavalry",. Examples includinginclude Infantry troops that ride vehicles or aircraft into battle. (interestinglyInterestingly enough, a soldier who rides in a helicopter can be a Cavalry Trooper, but this isn't the case for a Paratrooper, even though they both fight primarily on the ground. This is due to [[Ancient Tradition|varying traditions]] behind the two groups of soldiers.).

* In point of fact these have been eclipsed since [[World War 2]] as the helicopter does more or less the same chore with fewer of the disadvantages such as scatter (less of a problem with modern parachutes),. Also there is the difficulty getting heavy equipment in, the requirement of total loss of contact with base and lack of means of retreat, and just the need to train people to jump. Today jumping is mostly a special forces insertion technique and big jumps are rare.

Often unseen, but specialise in a unique form of [[Death From Above]] thanks to their use of real life [[BFG]]'s and the closest thing one would get to a [[Wave Motion Gun]]. In the past most artillery was used in direct fire mode. This means firing by what you see. Indirect fire is over the horizon at an invisible target according to instructions, like a blindfolded man shooting where he is told. This is the normal mode of artillery today. In siege work artillery was the main player. On the battlefield artillery had an effect that was more like machine guns today except machine guns did not normally appear on the same field as muskets. Today it requires intense mathematics and some of the first computers (mechanical calculators at first) were invented for aiming artillery.

[[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] personifed, and often get first pick of the latest toys. These specialize in [[Hit and Run Tactics]], as well as doing oddball jobs, some of which is not talked about much. Also in providing muscle for intelligence and covert operatives, or in [[Training the Peaceful Villagers]] or other interesting things.

*More dramatically these are useful counterinsurgency units as partisans often use tactics similar to those of criminalsorganized andcrime. henceHence they need a response from units who fit the borderline between constabulary and military roles.

Made obsolete in many ways by changing security techniques, Guards troops are the ones that [[Exactly What it Says on the Tin|guard the person]] of a monarch. They were also his personal strike team in the past when monarchs commanded in the field. In modern times, bodyguarding has become more sophisticated thenthan just putting lots of walking sacks of meat between thean assassin and the target. andBecause of this, Guards units are often as much parade units or honor designations(in.<ref>In the Red Army, weirdly, distinguished units were called guards even though they did no guarding except of their own billet. for theThe name was equivequivalent to a Presidential Unit Citation in America). The most important part of security work is often done by plain clothes agents or special forces or the more specially trained police. But Guards units do carry real weapons, and despite the gaudy clothes they wear for tourists, do also provide an extra assist.</ref>

This is a generic for guerillas or [[Wacky Wayside Tribe|local auxiliaries]]. ManyThey often operate on their own as the basis of an insurgency. However many nations have found a way to officialize them, sometimes by finding [[Lawrence of Arabia|a specialized officer who can make use of them.]] While requiring painstaking diplomacy they possess local knowledge and in some cases are easier to downsize in peacetime. Sometimes irregulars associated with a given army for to long will tempt overtidy bureaucrats into making it something indistinguishable from the rest of the service except for having a cool designation. This is a wasteful practice,. because theAs wholeone of the pointpoints of them is often that their ancestors had lived a [[HAD to Be Sharp|civilian life]] that gave them qualities hard to copy in just any soldier, however frustrating irregulars can be. Special forces are in many ways the modern incarnation though if there was a general war, again the practice of recruiting local will arise again (indeed it seems to have in many places where the US is committed). The difference is that Special forces are from the same manpower pool as regulars, whilethat irregularsis the normal armed forces. Irregulars tend to be from client polities, nearby folk with [[Enemy Mine|their own reason for fighting]] or even straight out mercenaries. But in any case raised under some less conventional form of agreement. In the [[Napoleonic Wars]] Austrian Croats or Russian Cossacks which were contributed by backcountry clans would be irregulars. On the other hand French Chaussers or British Light Infantry which did some of the same work as Croats but were recruited by the normal army would be something like special forces.