Military Abbreviations

The word military is related to the verb lie and the actual meaning is therefore: permanent berth, residence of animals, especially game such as hares, rabbits and deer. German has Lager with an a that originated under the influence of Lage, English has lair.

By extension, army is also used for mooring for people. Armed is still known for: bed, in which the second part of the word stede is the same as stee and stad, namely: place. Then army comes to mean: abode in the open air, especially of a fighting force in the field. Hence it is said: break up the army and save the army. Finally, army then means: the armed forces itself.

Every man of about 20 years of age who is medically approved must fulfill his military service. A distinction is made between a professional army and a militia army. In the professional army, the soldiers serve on a voluntary basis for a number of years. In the militia army, conscripts are called up for a certain, shorter period of time. In a narrow sense, army is understood to mean a force of all weapons composed under a single command; the United States, for example, has several armies.

In the broader sense, the armed forces on land, in the narrower sense, a armed force under one command, composed of all weapons . The division of the ever-growing L.’s into divisions (during the Seven Years’ War*) and into corps of 30,000 to 40,000 men was a requirement of good command.

The enormous troop masses in WWI and WWII brought an amalgamation of L. Corps into L., finally L. Groups. A distinction is made between professional, militia, cadre and volunteer L. Furthermore, occupation, observation, liberation and auxiliary L. Coalition L’s are made up of contingents from the cooperating nations.

List of Acronyms Related to Military