These words refer collectively to the men that make up a military group as distinguished from their arms and material. Troops is relatively informal and refers to the whole body of men in a unit or to fighting men in general. The word is more often used for land detachments rather than for naval or air units, and it is sometimes used exclusively to apply to non-commissioned men as distinct from their officers: sending troops into the off-shore island; officers trying to quiet the grumbling of the troops . Army clearly distinguishes land troops from naval or air units, but, unlike troops , it clearly includes both officers and other ranks: one of the youngest colonels in the army ; an army sent to put down the rebellion. Soldiers may loosely refer to all the men in an army , but more specifically it applies to those below commissioned rank, and sometimes even more strictly to men enlisted in the infantry: invading soldiers supported by massive artillery detachments.

Both forces and personnel are more formal, more inclusive and more abstract than the other words here. Personnel refers collectively to all the men in a unit, whether of an army , navy or air unit. It can, in fact, refer collectively to the men in all these groupings: the cancelling of leaves and discharges for all military personnel . The word is used in distinguishing men from arms or matériel. In a wider context this word can refer to the members of any kind of group or business whatsoever: the factory’s personnel . Forces specifically considers collectively all the men in all branches of the military: asserting that our forces in the present struggle were adequate to the task at hand. The word differs from personnel in viewing soldiers and officers in the context of all their supporting armament and supplies: building up their military forces into the best-equipped and most modern in the world.