Paramilitary

Not to be confused with Paratrooper or Private army.
For the 1993 supplement for the role-playing game Paranoia, see Paramilitary (Paranoia).

A paramilitary is a force or unit that functions and is organized in a manner analogous to a military force, but does not have professional or legitimate status. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. It has been used by many different Political organizations. Paramilitaries have widely been synonymous with violence, political repression, ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity. Paramilitaries may use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security/SWAT vehicles), or even actual military equipment (such as armored personnel carriers; usually military surplus resources) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement, coast guard, or search and rescue. A paramilitary may fall under the command of a military, train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.