
A rifleman is an
infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer.
Etymology
The wo ...
armed with a
rifled long gun
A long gun is a category of firearms with long Gun barrel, barrels. In small arms, a ''long gun'' or longarm is generally designed to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, which can be fired being held w ...
. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century
hand cannoneers and 17th century
musketeer
A musketeer ( ) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifl ...
s, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the
rifled musket
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their Gun barrel, barrels replaced with Ri ...
. By the mid-19th century, entire
regiments of riflemen were formed and became the mainstay of all standard infantry, and ''rifleman'' became a generic term for any common infantryman.
History
Units of musketeers were originally developed to support units of
pikemen. As firearms became more effective and widely used, the composition of these pike-and-musket units changed, with pikemen eventually becoming support units to the musketeers, particularly against
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
. The last pike regiments were dissolved by the 1720s, as pikes were superseded by the invention of the
bayonet
A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...
. This converted the musket into a pike for those situations where it might still be useful, such as following up volleys with a charge, crowd control, or defensive formations.
Smooth-bore weapons, such as the
musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...
, had always been recognized as relatively inaccurate, especially at longer ranges, and required massed volleys to be combat-effective. Although the smoothbore barrels impeded the accuracy of a musket, it was an advantage when loading because the looser fitting musket ball slid down the barrel quickly and easily with the ramrod being used mainly to compress the powder charge at the base of the barrel. Rifles required a tighter fit and thus more work to get the ball to be rammed all the way down the barrel. This meant that the soldiers chosen for this role needed to be
good shots, resilient, brave, and resourceful. Riflemen were trained to act in isolation and were dispersed in teams of two, defending each other while they re-loaded. They were still vulnerable, especially to cavalry, as they could not present the solid wall of bayonets a larger mass of soldiers could. These factors: the time and expense required in training, the limited number of suitable recruits, and the specialized roles and situations where they were most effective meant they were highly prized, given special privileges, and used sparingly rather than squandered.
Such rifle units reached their heyday in the period shortly before and during the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, with the British riflemen partially derived from units of colonial
militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
(see
Rogers' Rangers or the
Royal Americans) — truly excelling in the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. Regular units of rifles formed in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
in 1800 were the
60th Regiment of Foot and the
95th Regiment of Foot. These units were often given the name "
light infantry
Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...
", emphasizing their specialized roles.
Starting in the 1840s, with the advent of the
Minié ball
The Minié ball, or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié for muzzle-loaded, rifled muskets. Invented in 1846 shortly followed by the Minié rifle, the Minié ball came to prominence during the Crime ...
and the first military
breech-loading
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...
rifles, the rifles entered the age of
industrialized warfare. It was mass-produced and accessible to all infantrymen. The high level of training and specialized roles gave way to generality: the rifles were much faster and simpler to load, able to be reloaded while prone, and impossible to be double-loaded after a misfire. The term 'rifleman', once used solely as a mark of distinction and pride, became a commonplace description of all infantry, no matter what their actual status was. Nevertheless, the term retained a certain ''élan'' that is still found today.
Rank
In many (particularly Commonwealth) armies, "rifleman" is a
rank
A rank is a position in a hierarchy. It can be formally recognized—for example, cardinal, chief executive officer, general, professor—or unofficial.
People Formal ranks
* Academic rank
* Corporate title
* Diplomatic rank
* Hierarchy ...
equivalent to
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
, abbreviated
Rfn.
Modern tactics
Modern riflemen are armed with
select-fire assault rifle
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...
s, which are considered technically distinct from older forms of rifle. However, the grouping of infantry according to their function as linemen is the structure which early modern militaries emerged from. Riflemen are the basic modern soldiers from which all other soldierly functions stem. Though by tradition certain infantry units are based on the rifleman, they employ a variety of other specialised soldiers in conjunction with the rifleman.
In the context of the modern
fire team, rifleman can be used to indicate a basic position such as
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
** Scouts BSA, sect ...
, team leader, or
designated marksman. In the same context, the terms "designated automatic rifleman" and "assistant automatic rifleman" are used to describe a soldier who carries either a
light support weapon or its ammunition.
The term "long-rifleman" is often used by
police tactical units,
counterterrorist units, and small-scale team-based military forces worldwide. It is an assignment rather than a rank, and refers to a
marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized telescopic sight, scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper ri ...
or
sharpshooter
A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...
(not a
sniper
A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...
, who is additionally an expert in
fieldcraft
Fieldcraft comprises the techniques and methods involved in living, traveling, or making military or scientific observations in the field. The term "fieldcraft" is used in a broad range of industries including military, oil and gas, wildlife and ...
) who is meant to expand the team's effective range with a long, scoped rifle.
Rifleman in different countries
Australia
Riflemen are employed by the
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...
in both the Regular Army and the Army Reserve. Riflemen in the Australian Army are members of the
Royal Australian Infantry Corps
The Royal Australian Infantry Corps (RA Inf) is the parent corps for all infantry regiments of the Australian Army. It was established on 14 December 1948, with its Royal Corps status being conferred by His Majesty King George VI. At her corona ...
. Riflemen in the Regular Army are organised into seven battalions of the
Royal Australian Regiment
The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) is the parent administrative regiment for regular infantry battalions of the Australian Army and is the senior infantry regiment of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. It was originally formed in 1948 as a t ...
.
The 7 battalions are composed of:
*
1st Battalion (1 RAR)
*
2nd Battalion (2 RAR)
*
3rd Battalion (3 RAR)
*
5th Battalion (5 RAR)
*
6th Battalion (6 RAR)
*
7th Battalion (7 RAR)
*
8th/9th Battalion (8/9 RAR).
Riflemen of the Army Reserve are organised into individual state and university regiments with reserve depots being found in many places throughout rural and metropolitan Australia.
Israel
In the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...
every soldier goes through some basic infantry training called ''
Tironut''. However, the level of training changes according to the role and unit to which the soldier belongs. The Rifleman profession (in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: רובאי) includes basic military skills, physical training, military discipline, and use of the
assault rifle
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...
. More infantry skills (such as operating diverse weapons) are added as the level of training increases.
Basic training (''Tironut''):
* Non-combat soldiers are trained as Rifleman 02.
* Combat-support troops are trained as Rifleman 03.
*
Combat Engineering
A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, tunnel and mine warfare tas ...
soldiers,
Field Intelligence Corps soldiers, Border Guard policemen and
infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
soldiers are trained as Rifleman 05.
Advanced training (''Imun Mitkadem''):
* Combat soldiers of Artillery Corps are trained as Rifleman 03.
* Specialized Combat Soldiers of the Artillery corps are trained as Rifleman 04.
* Combat soldiers of Armor corps are trained as Rifleman 04.
* mounted
Field Intelligence Corps soldiers are trained as Recon Rifleman 05.
*
infantry Field Intelligence Corps soldiers are trained as Recon Rifleman 07.
*
Combat Engineering
A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, tunnel and mine warfare tas ...
sapper
A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...
s are trained as Rifleman 07.
*
Infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
soldiers are trained as Rifleman 07.
Additional training for combat soldiers:
* Combat squad
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
s are trained as Rifleman 08.
* Combat Senior Sergeants are trained as Rifleman 10.
* Combat
officer
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...
s are trained as Rifleman 12.
Rhodesia
The
Rhodesia Regiment had an affiliation with the
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...
since World War I. The regiment's badge was the
Maltese Cross
The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically.
It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...
, the colours were red, black and rifle green and rifle green berets were worn. A private soldier had the title of Rifleman.
United Kingdom

From their inception British Rifle Regiments were distinguished by a dark green dress with blackened buttons, black leather equipment, and sombre facing colours designed for concealment. This has been retained to the present day for those British units that still carry on the traditions of the riflemen. Their most famous weapon was the
Baker rifle (officially known as the Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle), which in the hands of the elite 95th regiment and the light companies of the 60th regiment and the
Kings German Legion
The King's German Legion (KGL; ) was a formation of the British Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Consisting primarily of expatriate Germans, it existed from 1803 to 1816 and achieved the distinction of being the onl ...
gained fame in the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
against
Napoleonic France
The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...
.
*
60th rifles/King's Royal Rifle Corps
*
95th Rifles/The Rifle Brigade
*
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an light infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal ...
*
Royal Green Jackets
The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry).
History
The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgam ...
*
The Rifles
The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...
*
Royal Gurkha Rifles
The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the Unit ...
*
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
During the
Siege of Delhi the
8th (Sirmoor) Local Battalion along with the
60th Rifles
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...
defended
Hindu Rao's House during which a strong bond developed. After the rebellion, the 60th Rifles pressed for the Sirmoor Battalion to become a rifle regiment. This honour was granted to them the following year (1858) when the Battalion was renamed the
Sirmoor Rifle Regiment. Later all British Army Gurkha regiments were designated rifle regiments a nomenclature maintained to this day with the
Royal Gurkha Rifles
The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the Unit ...
.
The rank of Rifleman instead of
Private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
was officially introduced in 1923.
The British military had, from the union of the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...
and the
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a Anglo-Sc ...
to form the
Kingdom of Great Britain
Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...
in 1707 until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, included a standing army (the "Regular Army") and the
Board of Ordnance
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...
, a more ancient part-time, conscripted
Militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
, the part-time
Yeomanry
Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles.
History
Origins
In the 1790s, following the ...
cavalry, and various short-lived volunteer and fencible units formed for the duration of emergencies. In the 1850s, the Militia was re-organised into a voluntarily-recruited force that, like the army, enlisted recruits for fixed terms of service.
Concerns over the vulnerability of Britain to attack by a continental power, especially with much of the Regular Army garrisoning the Empire, also led to the creation of a permanent
Volunteer Force
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a Social movement, popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increa ...
. Although this would include various types of units, the majority were company-sized Volunteer Rifle Corps, dressed in rifle-green or grey uniforms and trained as skirmishers to support the line infantry of the regular army or to act independently to harry enemy forces.
Successive reforms saw the smaller corps grouped into battalions with neighbouring corps, then most lost their identities when they became volunteer battalions of new county regiments 1881. These regiments typically contained two regular battalions, which had previously been separate single battalion regiments, as the first and second battalions, sharing a depot, with militia and volunteer units in the same county becoming additionally numbered battalions. As the majority of these new regiments were formed from regular line infantry and most of the volunteer rifle corps linked with them would lose their identity as rifle units. Examples included the
Robin Hood Rifles, which was to become the 7th (Robin Hood) Battalion,
Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). The rifles identity was not always lost despite becoming part of a line infantry regiment.
The
5th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps, became part of the 2nd Administrative Battalion Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, which became the 5th (Liverpool Rifle Brigade) Rifle Volunteer Corps, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the King's Regiment (Liverpool), and then the 6th Battalion (Rifles) King's Regiment (Liverpool). In 1936, the battalion was retrained to operate searchlights and redesignated the 38th (The King's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers (Territorial Army), and in 1940 it was renamed the 38th (The Kings Regiment) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery (Territorial Army). Despite the change of parent corps, the battalion wore 'Liverpool Rifles' shoulder titles with red lettering on a Rifle green backgrounds.
Other volunteer rifle corps retained their independence and their identities through the various re-organisations of the latter 19th and earlier 20th Centuries, such as the
Artists Rifles. Twenty-six former volunteer rifle corps in London on the formation of the Territorial Force (merging Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteer Force) in 1908 became battalions of the new
London Regiment, with each retaining its own distinctive rifle green or grey uniform. Colonial military establishments often lagged behind re-organisations in Britain or followed different paths of re-organisation. Examples include the
Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the British Army, Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the ''Bermuda Rifles'' in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965 ...
, which was not re-organised as a territorial until 1921, but remained an independent corps and retained the same name until being re-designated the
Bermuda Rifles in 1949 (it lost its rifles identity when amalgamated into the
Royal Bermuda Regiment
The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single Territorial Army (United Kingdom), territorial infantry battalion#British Army, battalion that was formed on the amalgamation ...
in 1965) and the
Hong Kong Artillery and Rifle Volunteer Corps, re-named the Hong Kong Defence Corps by 1917.
United States
In 1808, the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
created its first
Regiment of Riflemen
The Regiment of Riflemen was a unit of the U.S. Army in the early nineteenth century. Unlike the regular US line infantry units with muskets and bright blue and white uniforms, this regiment was focused on specialist light infantry tactics, an ...
. During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
three more Rifle Regiments were raised but disbanded after the war. The Rifle Regiment was disbanded in 1821.
In the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
Colonel
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
created and led the
Mississippi Rifles.
Riflemen were listed as separate to infantry up to the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.
During the Civil War, Sharpshooter regiments were raised in the North with several companies being raised by individual states for their own regiments.
In the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
, the
Military Occupational Specialty
A United States military occupation code, or a military occupational specialty code (MOS code), is a nine-character code used in the United States Army and United States Marine Corps to identify a specific job. In the United States Air Force, a sy ...
(MOS)
0311 is for Rifleman. It is the primary infantry MOS for the Marine Corps, equivalent to the
U.S. Army MOS 11B for
Infantryman
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
. Training for Marine Corps Riflemen is conducted at the
U.S. Marine Corps School of Infantry and training for U.S. Army Riflemen is conducted at
U.S. Army Infantry School.
See also
*
Chasseur
''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action.
History
This branch of the French Army o ...
*
Jäger
*
Light infantry
Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...
*
Schützen
*
Skirmisher
Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They may be deployed in a skirmish line, an irre ...
*
Tirailleur
*
Voltigeur
References and notes
{{reflist, 2
Rifle Volunteer Corps of the British Army
Infantry
Combat occupations
Combat occupations of the late modern period
Military ranks of the British Army
pt:Caçador (militar)