Troop

A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the Royal Horse Artillery and the US Cavalry, where troops are subunits that compare to an infantry company or artillery battery.

A cavalry soldier of private rank is called a trooper in many Commonwealth armies (abbreviated "Tpr", not to be confused with "trouper").

A related sense of the term "troops" refers to members of the military collectively, as in "the troops"; see Troop (disambiguation).

In some countries, like Italy, the company-level cavalry unit is called "Squadron".

Troops in various forces

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:

Troops (film)

Troops is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio that had its debut at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 18, 1997 and was subsequently distributed via the internet. The film is a parody of COPS, set in the Star Wars universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show Troops.

The film jump-started the modern fan film movement, as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes. Rubio shot the film on location on the El Mirage Dry Lake.

Rubio finished the film while working at the Fox Kids Network, and was able to use well-known voice talent in his cast, including Jess Harnell, Cam Clarke, and announcer Bill Farmer.

Plot

An example of the film's comedic tone comes in the opening monologue, which spoofs the opening of COPS: "TROOPS is filmed on location with the men of the Imperial Forces. All suspects are guilty--period! Otherwise, they wouldn't be suspects, would they?" Adding to the comic tone are the accents from the stormtoopers which is very reminiscent to the accents heard in the movie Fargo.

4troops

4Troops is a pop vocal music ensemble consisting of four retired United States armed forces personnel: former Sgt. Daniel Jens, former Cpt. Meredith Melcher, former Staff Sgt. Ron Henry and former Sgt. David Clemo. All four saw active combat duty in Iraq.

4Troops focus on patriotic songs, often with special relationship to their life and service in the military. Their nationalist appeal and country and western related music themes led to appearances on PBS "Live from the Intrepid", CNN's Larry King Live (May 12, 2010), ABC News with Bob Woodruff,Comedy Central's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, and Game 4 of the 2010 World Series.

The group's first CD, also titled 4Troops, stayed on the Billboard 200 charts for 6 weeks, peaking at 36th position.

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