volunteer force
Civilian defense corps
A volunteer force is a military or paramilitary organization composed of people who serve by choice rather than through conscription or mandatory service.
Members typically enlist without compulsion, often motivated by patriotism, civic duty, or personal conviction.
The term applies to standing armies that rely on voluntary enlistment, as well as to auxiliary units and militias that supplement regular forces.
The country transitioned from a draft to an all-volunteer force in the 1970s.
- reservistsPart-time armed forces members
- national guardDomestic military reserve force
- militiaNon-professional armed force
- boots on the groundMilitary presence in area
- veteransFormer armed forces members
citizen soldiers · neighborhood watch · army corps · auxiliaries · conscripts · paramilitary groups · social activists · civic duty · all hands on deck · unpaid labor · home guard · civil defense · community organizers · training modules · peace corps · first responders · recognition awards · search and rescue
- military enlistmentenlistment, recruit, enlisted, induction, recruits
- state militiasNational Guard, state militia, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, citizen-soldiers
- Military Reservesreservist, reservists, reserve unit, reserve units, Army Reserve
volunteer forceconscript army
Troops raised by compulsion
conscription · mandatory service · compulsory military service · compulsory enlistment · national service
volunteer forceprofessional army
Paid, trained military force
standing army · regular army · mercenaries · soldiers of fortune · hired guns
volunteer, force, volunteers, volunteered, volunteering, volunteerism, voluntary, voluntarily, involuntary