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Originally Posted by Abcdxxxx
I'll accept that. Except, wouldn't a military planner get confused? How do they differentiate the two? Hand signals? I mean when are troops just a troop, instead of an actual troop? According to dictionary dot come the boy scouts use the word to describe a group of five or more scouts. Should I be concerned that our Boy Scouts are more specific then our military? Also, this puts a new spin on the various accounts I've read about Vietnam describing entire troops being demolished. Maybe they meant the entirety of one troop, describing the death of an individual soldier? Worse yet, this is going to put a new spin on "hang in there little trooper" pep talks. I give a lot of pep talks. Anyway, I'll get used to it. Keep on Truck.
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It's just a general term in most instances unless you're talking about a specific type of unit like the cavalry wherein "troop" actually applies to a particular size of unit. Other than that, I would say that, in formal correspondence, reference to units of men (in the army) usually follow the this sequence (in ascending order):
soldier
squad (8 - 12 soldiers)
platoon (36 - 40 soldiers)
company (180 - 200 soldiers)
battalion (800 - 1000 soldiers)
brigade (5500 - 6000 soldiers)
task force (sometimes, but not always)
division (28,000 - 30,000 soldiers)
corps ( ? )