- published: 06 Feb 2012
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A troop is a military unit, originally a small force of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron and headed by the troop leader. In many armies a troop is the equivalent unit to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the Royal Horse Artillery and the US Cavalry, where troop refers to an infantry company or artillery battery.
A cavalry soldier of private rank is called a trooper (abbreviated Tpr., not to be confused with trouper).
A related sense of the term troop refers to soldiers collectively, as in the troops; see Troop (disambiguation).
Today, a troop is defined differently in different armed forces.
In the Australian army a troop is the equivalent of a platoon sized element in units of certain corps, those being:
The SASR is the only unit in the Royal Australian Infantry Corps to use the term troop to refer to its platoon size elements. SASR troops are also unusual as they are commanded by a captain—most troop/platoon sized elements are commanded by a lieutenant. In all cases, units which refer to platoon sized elements as troops refer to company-sized elements as squadrons and battalion-sized elements as regiments. Privates in the RAAC and SASR hold the rank "Trooper" instead of private, however this is not the case for any other Corps/units which use the term Troops.