Combat occupations

A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an officer.

right|thumb|The mounted archer represented the quintessential samurai. The were members of the professional warrior class in pre-industrial Japan, who served as retainers to the lords. These men came from warrior families and trained from a young age in military arts through private instruction. Swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship were the primary martial skills; and often in Japanese history, only samurai had the right to even possess these weapons. These weapons required years of training to master, and this commitment made the samurai superior to conscripts and militia, the latter who

thumb|upright=1.35|4th Hussar Regiment (France)|French 4th Hussars at the [[Battle of Friedland, 1807]]

thumb|upright=1.35|French Army and [[British Army infantry during a military exercise in 2020]]

thumb|Drawing of the archetypical ninja from a series of Hokusai Manga|sketches by Hokusai. Woodblock print on paper. Vol. six, 1817.

thumb|Vasily Zaitsev (sniper)|Vasily Zaytsev, left, and other Soviet snipers equipped with Mosin–Nagant M1891/30 during the [[Battle of Stalingrad in December 1942]] thumb|A modern sniper weapon system which consists of a [[sniper rifle (here Barak HTR 2000 chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum), telescopic sight (Leupold Mark IV x10), and additional optics]]

thumb|upright=0.8|right|A Greek hoplite Hoplites ( ; ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimise its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen or bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult ma

thumb|Helmet of Centurion Numerius Popnius A centurion (; , . ; , or ) was a professional non-commissioned officer in the Roman army who commanded a group of soldiers called a centuria or "century".

thumb|200px|Archduke Stephen of Austria (Palatine of Hungary)|Archduke Stephen of Austria, Palatine of Hungary, in 19th-century Hungarian general's hussar style gala uniform; with characteristic tight [[dolman jacket, loose-hanging pelisse over-jacket, and busby]]

thumb|upright=1.35|East Indiaman (left) battling , a privateer commanded by French corsair [[Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Ambroise Louis Garneray.]]

A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste.

thumb|Painting of two British light dragoons in 1809 during the [[Peninsular War]]

military units trained to conduct special operations

A musketeer ( ) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare from the mid 15th to mid 19th centuries, particularly in Europe, where they normally comprised the majority of their infantry after 1600. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifleman. Muskets were replaced by breech loading rifles as the almost universal firearm for modern armies during the period 1850 to 1870. The traditional designation of "musketeer" for an infantry private survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I.

elite force of soldiers who fought for the Achaemenid Empire

thumb|upright|Grenadier of Old Guard (France)|Napoleon's Old Guard c.1812 by [[Édouard Detaille]]

thumb|Polish uhlans from the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, 1807–1815, [[January Suchodolski painting]] Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started with the tartars in the Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Poland, France, Russia, Prussia, Saxony, and Austria. The term "lancer" was often used interchangeably with "uhlan"; the lancer regiments later formed for the British Army were directly inspired by the uhlans of other armies (even though they were never known by that

thumb|212px|French cuirassier (1809)

thumb|upright=1.2| Royal Marines from [[40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured]]A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines.

thumb|An 1843 illustration of a First French Empire|French aide-de-camp (right) assisting a général de division (centre) during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] An aide-de-camp (; ; plural: aides-de-camp) is a personal assistant or secretary to a person of high rank, usually a senior military, police or government officer, or to a member of a royal family or a head of state. The term comes from a French expression meaning "helper in the military camp".

thumb|Agrianes|Agrianian peltas. This peltast holds three javelins, one in his throwing hand and two in his pelte (shield) hand as additional ammunition. A peltast (, ) was a type of light infantry originating in Thrace and Paeonia and named after the kind of shield they carried. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops.

thumb|Afghan soldiers on patrol in 2011, during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|War in Afghanistan. As adult armed personnel in active service with a military force, they would legally be considered combatants and therefore could launch targeted attacks against, or be subject to targeted attacks by, opposing armed forces. Combatant is the legal status of a person entitled to directly participate in hostilities during an armed conflict, and may be intentionally targeted by a belligerent for their participation in the armed conflict under the law of war. Combatants are not afforded immunity f

thumb|Modern sapper equipment

thumb|Ishi-jo wielding a naginata, woodblock print by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1848]]

light infantry

thumb|upright=1.20|Polish Lancer (left) and Austrian Cuirassier (right) in a mêlée A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by heavy cavalry, but fell out of general use by the late 16th century, before its revival by light cavalry in the early 19th century. Lance cavalry remained in an active role into the early 20th century and World War I. In modern times, many

type of infantry

soldiers who are highly mobile engaging in both direct and indirect combat on horseback

thumb|right|220px|A lieutenant of the Coldstream Guards bears the Regimental Colours during an inspection of No. 7 Company, prior to the start of the ceremonial season. thumb|right|220px|17th-century copy by Gerrit Lundens of The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch aka The Night Watch with lines added indicating the areas cut down from the original painting in 1715

Type of soldier that engages in direct combat on horseback

military vocation

thumb|right|The sōhei Benkei with [[Minamoto no Yoshitsune|upright]]

thumb|367x367px|Napoleonic French Carabinier, 1810 thumb|300px|right|Spanish Carabiniers in the Pyrenees, 1892.

thumb|225px|A member of the French Army's , armed with a [[flintlock, ]] Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French word – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has been used in contrasting ways in different countries and at different times, including soldiers guarding artillery, various elite units, ordinary line infantry and other uses.

type of light infantry that were arrangeed into long thin lines of alternating rows and fired volleys of shot into enemy ranks

thumb|An American marksman looks for enemy activity along the hilltops near Dur Baba District, Afghanistan (2006) thumb|A soldier with a Heckler & Koch HK417|G28 of the [[German Army]] A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle, sniper rifle and anti-materiel rifle to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-usual ranges.

upright=1.4|thumb|Relief of paired fighters Amazonia and Achillea, found at Halicarnassus, identified as women by their gendered names The gladiatrix (: gladiatrices) was a female gladiator of ancient Rome. Like their male counterparts, gladiatrices fought each other, or wild animals, to entertain audiences at games and festivals (ludi).

thumb|upright|Austrian pandur, , using a tree for cover while skirmishing thumb|upright=1.25|As with most other modern foot soldiers, the US 6th Marine Regiment, on patrol near [[Marjah, 2010, routinely uses skirmish formation.]]

thumb|300px|Reiter cavalry, c. 1575-1650 thumb| (Reiter swords) from Wendelin Boeheim, Waffenkunde (1890), figs. 281–283 thumb| A matched set of Reiter's pistols () Reiter or Schwarze Reiter ("black riders", anglicized swart reiters) were a type of cavalry in 16th to 17th century Central Europe including Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tsardom of Russia, and others.

Medjay (Egyptian mḏꜣ.j, a nisba of mḏꜣ) was a demonym used in various ways throughout ancient Egyptian history to refer initially to a nomadic group from Nubia and later as a generic term for desert-ranger police. They were sometimes confused with the Pan-Grave culture.

thumb|upright|1498 illustration of a German man-at-arms by Albrecht Dürer. The man-at-arms is equipped as a [[demi-lancer.]]

right|thumb|300px|A Laconian black-figured cup by [[Rider Painter featuring a member of the hippeus.]] Hippeis (, singular ἱππεύς, hippeus) is a Greek term for cavalry. In ancient Athenian society, after the political reforms of Solon, the hippeus was the second highest of the four social classes. It was composed of men who had at least 300 medimnoi or their equivalent as yearly income. According to the Timocratic Constitution, the average citizen had a yearly income of less than 200 medimnoi. This gave the men who made 300 medimnoi the ability to purchase and maintain a war horse during their

Generic designation for armed forces using camels as a means of transportation

thumb|250px|Morlach peasant from the Split, Croatia|Split region (of modern [[Croatia). Théodore Valerio (1819–1879), 1864.]]

soldier sent to a foreign nation to aid that nation in various military tasks

thumb|Chasseurs à pied bugler, illustration by Édouard Detaille in ''L'Armee Française (1885) thumb|upright|The Charging Chasseur'' by Théodore Géricault, depicting an officer of the [[Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale]] thumb|The Chasseur in the Forest by Caspar David Friedrichthumb|Chasseur d'Afrique in 1914 Chasseur ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action.

type of infantry that is heavily armed and armoured

infantry that rides on horseback

homing pigeon in military service

soldier tasked with engineering and construction

thumb|1st Light Cavalry Lancers Regiment of the Imperial Guard (Polish)|Polish 1st Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard during the Battle of Peterswalde.

thumb|240px|Gun crew of the Wehrmacht 37-mm-PaK, 19391 2 Cannoneers (fuse, ammunition a. charge)2 Gunner (team leader)3 Gun pointer (dep. gunner)4 Loader

thumb|Green jacketed British Army rifleman aiming a [[Baker rifle, c. 1803]]

thumb|upright|Harquebusier, carbine-armed cavalry, 17th century The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was the technical name for this type of cavalry, though in everyday usage they were usually simply called 'cavalry' or 'horse'. In Germany they were often termed Ringerpferd, or sometimes Reiter, in Sweden they were called lätta ryttare.

soldier responsible for passing on written military communications between units

manned naval artillery guns as a member of a warship's crew

Petyhorcy (singular: Petyhorzec, , ) was a type of regular medium-armoured light cavalry exclusively in the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army during the 17th and 18th centuries. The petyhorcy are viewed as the Lithuanian equivalent of the Polish Armoured Companion, or as a cavalry type that was between the Winged Hussars and the Armoured Companion. They were organised in Banners. Originally, the Petyhorcy were spear-armed cavalry from Circassia.

military messenger

civilian who follows an army

The system was an institution developed by the Japanese Imperial court in Nara during the Nara and early Heian periods for the conscription and regulation of local paramilitary or militia forces. The kondei system was divided into regional administrative divisions overseen by .