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alehanro t1_j8us9q0 wrote

Reply to comment by Fatigue-Error in [OC] Paramilitary Forces Manpower by Country according to global firepower index by two_plus_two_is_zero

I guess maybe the source considers the police a government agency and thus not “para”military? 🤷‍♂️ I guess we’d have to ask the source

Edit: So I was curious and checked the source. The US is dead last with 0 forces, which I reckon is their way of saying “we have no statistics” for the US

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StubbornAndCorrect t1_j8v9vjw wrote

I mean the US doesn't have paramilitaries. We have literally millions of people in the National Guard. I do agree that ATF FBI etc might count, but then you'd have to include China's massive internal security army, which is bigger than the PLA (and for which the CCP used the Falun Gong - as annoying as those fuckers and their Epoch Times shit is these days - as a complete scapegoat to justify building a millions-strong internal army).

we have militias, which are, uh...much different. I'm sure they would love to be paramilitaries, but they're not.

now cops on the other hand, I would say the distinction is they see themselves as paramilitaries and the military by and large does not see them that way. this may be changing as cops become more and more synonymous with one political party (hey, kind of like China!)

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Raymond911 t1_j8xtgbt wrote

We have lots of paramilitary contractors tho. Literally private companies that contract with the DoD to operate in theaters of war

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gingerbread_man123 t1_j8y9x9h wrote

Paramilitaries are organised in association with some consistent aim and objective. PMCs are more often groups of mercenaries for hire.

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