citizen soldiers
Armed volunteer civilians
Citizen soldiers are civilians who serve in military roles while maintaining their ordinary lives—members of militias, reserves, or national guards rather than professional standing armies.
The term carries democratic connotations, evoking the ideal of ordinary people taking up arms to defend their community: The minutemen were citizen soldiers, farmers who grabbed their rifles when the alarm sounded.
The concept contrasts with mercenaries or career military personnel.
- reservistsPart-time armed forces members
- minutemenInstant-ready colonial militia
- part-time soldiersNon-professional military personnel
- militiaNon-professional armed force
- volunteer corpsOrganized group of unpaid workers
weekend warriors · army reserves · call-up · drill weekends · yeomanry · home guard · irregular troops · civic duty · colonial militia · paramilitary · paramilitary units · duty · serve and protect · reserve forces · patriots · training camps · muster · call to arms
- Military Reservesreservists, reserve unit, reserve units, Army Reserve, reserve forces
- militiamilitia, colonial militia, state militias, minutemen, militia training
- Militiascolonial militia, colonial militias, territorial defense, home guard, minutemen
- National Guardguardsmen, Air National Guard, drill weekend, Army National Guard, weekend warrior
- volunteer forcesvolunteer army, volunteer corps, civilian volunteers, auxiliaries, home guard
- state militiasstate militia, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, state troops, home guard
citizen soldiersstanding army
Continuously maintained military force
regular army · career soldiers · mercenaries · regulars · legionnaires
citizen soldiersmercenaries
Soldiers paid to fight
conscripts · soldiers of fortune · draftees · hired guns · private military contractors