A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status.[1] The term uses the Greek prefix para- (expresses proximity), also seen in words such as paramedic. The term paramilitary is subjective, depending on what is considered similar to a military force, and what status a force is considered to have. The nature of paramilitary forces therefore varies greatly according to the speaker and the context. For instance, in Northern Ireland, paramilitary refers to any illegally armed group with a political purpose, but in Colombia, paramilitary refers only to ilegally armed groups which do not combat the government (for example United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), while illegally armed groups rebeled against the government, such as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, are referred to as guerrillas.[2] [edit] Examples of paramilitaries Depending on context, paramilitaries can include: - Auxiliary services of regular armed forces, such as the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Civil Air Patrol, the Canadian Rangers or World War II organizations such as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), WAVES, SPARS and Women's Army Corps.
- Some national intelligence services units that are composed of civilian agents tasked with covert action in areas that are difficult or sometimes illegal for military forces to operate, such as the Special Activities Division of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
- Some internal security, border protection and law enforcement organizations that are not considered part of the regular military but are similar in training, equipment and/or organization. Examples include the Internal Troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), the Egyptian Central Security Forces and India's Border Security Force. There is sometimes overlap between these and armed forces auxiliaries. They may be administratively separate from the military, especially in countries where the military is forbidden or restricted in law enforcement, or the unit's role may differ from the military's, or offer a special service. India's National Security Guards is a special counter-terrorism paramilitary force and Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry (now a part of the army) was trained and conditioned to fight at altitudes of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) and greater.
- Law enforcement agencies may include police forces organized along military or semi-military lines, sometimes called gendarmeries, such as:
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
- Ontario Provincial Police,
- Connecticut State Police,
- Florida Highway Patrol,
- New Jersey State Police,
- New York State Police,
- North Carolina Highway Patrol,
- Pennsylvania State Police,
- Turkey's Jandarma,
- Italy's Carabinieri,
- French Gendarmerie nationale
- the former Royal Irish Constabulary,
- the China Armed Police Force, and,
- the Portuguese National Republican Guard
- Insurgent militia, irregular military, armed resistance movements and guerrilla forces which consider themselves military but which governments may consider rebel or terrorist, for example Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force, United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), and the Szekler Legion.[3] Similarly, groups such as the White League and Red Shirts, operating on behalf of white supremacists and the Democratic Party in the Deep South of the United States after the American Civil War, were paramilitary groups.
- Private armies and militias.
- To various degrees, youth groups and movements. Modern examples include military cadet movements such as the British Army Cadet Force, Sea Cadets, Air Training Corps and the Combined Cadet Force. Some consider the Boy Scouts of America an example as it is generally formed on a military pattern. Other nations also have such organizations such as the Australian Defence Force Cadets, the Royal Canadian Army Cadets, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, the United States JROTC programs, Singapore National Cadet Corps and India's National Cadet Corps. Perhaps the most notorious paramilitary youth group is the Hitler Youth movement.
- Firefighting
[edit] In history - Historically, in World War II, the Schutzstaffel (SS, literally "Protective Eschelon" in German) and Sturmabteilung (SA, "Storm detachment" or "Stormtroopers") of Nazi Germany were considered paramilitary forces, and were officially endorsed by the Nazi Party and its leader, Adolf Hitler. Before the war, the SA was essentially usurped by the SS after the Night of the Long Knives. The SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA, "Reich Main Security Office"), Gestapo (secret police), Sicherheitsdienst (SD, "security service"), and other law enforcement agencies subsequently fell under the auspices of the SS, and led to the SS having absolute control of the police and security forces, vastly empowering the Third Reich independently of the military. Other notable SS divisions include the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV, roughly translated as "Death's Head brigade"), which was responsible for carrying out The Holocaust by operating concentration camps, labor camps, and death camps; and the Waffen-SS ("Armed SS"), the elite fighting arm of the SS that was attached to the Wehrmacht ("defence force" or "war effort"), alongside the Heer (German Army). Heinrich Himmler was the Reichsführer-SS, Minister of the Interior, and Chief of German Police, and thusly had complete control over the SS and all its subdivisions, subordinate only to Hitler, as the Führer and Supreme Commander. Himmler was also essentially the sole architect of the Final Solution, which resulted in the extermination of approximately 6 millions Jews and 5 million other minorities, such as Gypsies, Roma, homosexuals, the disabled, and others. The Heer had much contempt for the SS and were wary of a coup, a fear that was exploited in the failed July 20 plot to kill Hitler, executed by Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg. After the war, many SS and other Reich officials were tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials, however, of the nearly 70,000 members of the SS implicated in war crimes, less than 2000 were tried in court. Officially, the SS and all of its subdivisions were permanently disbanded after the war and Himmler committed suicide in Allied custody, before questioning. However, the Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen (ODESSA, "Organization of the former SS members"), was formed in Argentina to help other former SS officials evade prosecution by seeking refuge in Latin America. In modern times, there is no official successor organization to the SS, although several neo-Nazi groups claim inheritance.
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