boy soldiers
Underage military recruits
Boy soldiers are children, typically males under eighteen, recruited or conscripted into armed forces or militant groups.
The term emphasizes their youth and the exploitation involved: The rebel army relied heavily on boy soldiers.
International law prohibits using children in armed conflict, though the practice persists in various regions.
The broader term *child soldiers* includes girls.
- recruitsNewly joined members
- conscriptsCompulsory military personnel
- warArmed struggle between groups
- armed conflictMilitary combat between groups
- war zonesAreas of active fighting
combat · youth · military · rifles · uniforms · innocence · lost innocence · trauma · Africa · guerrilla · militia · drums · marching · camps · indoctrination · survivors · exploitation · conflict
- military trainingfield manual, drill instructor, training manual, combat drills, drilling
- Spartaagoge, helots, phalanx, Spartans, Leonidas