Regular army

For particular forces, seeRegular Army (United States)andRegular Army (UK).

Aregular armyis the official army of a state or country (the officialarmed forces), contrasting withirregular forces,such as volunteer irregularmilitias,private armies,mercenaries,etc. A regular army usually has the following:

• astanding army,the permanent force of the regular army that is maintainedunder armsduring peacetime.
• amilitary reserve forcethat can be mobilized when needed to expand the effectiveness of the regular army by complementing the standing army.

A regular army may be:

• aconscript army,including professionals, volunteers and alsoconscripts(presence of enforcedconscription,including recruits for the standing army and also a compulsory reserve).
• aprofessional army,with no conscripts (absence of compulsory service, and presence of a voluntary reserve), is not exactly the same as a standing army, as there are standing armies both in the conscript and the professional models.

In the United Kingdom and the United States, the termRegular Armymeans the professional standing active duty army, as different from the reserve component: theArmy Reserve(formerly theTerritorial Army) in the United Kingdom and theU.S. Army Reserveand theArmy National Guardin the United States.

Bibliography

• Woodward, David.Armies of the world, 1854–1914.London: Sidgwick & Jackson, cop. 1978.ISBN0-283-98243-8