Field force

A field force would be created from the various units in an area of military operations and be named for the geographical area. Examples are:

• Kurram Field Force, 1878
• Peshawar Valley Field Force, 1878
• Kabul Field Force, 1879–1880
• Kabul-Kandahar Field Force, 1880
• Natal Field Force, 1881
• Zhob Field Force, 1890
• Mashonaland Field Force, 1896
• Malakand Field Force, 1896
• Tirah Field Force, 1897
• Yukon Field Force, 1898
• Royal West African Frontier Force, 1900

In Australia, a field force comprises the units required to meet operational commitments.[2]

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was considered as a field force created to participate in World War I.

In the United States, during the Vietnam War the term came to stand for a corps-sized organization with other functions and responsibilities. To avoid confusion with the corps designations used by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and to allow for a flexible organization, MACV and General William Westmoreland developed the "field force" such as I Field Force and II Field Force. Unlike an Army corps, which had a size and structure fixed by Army doctrine, the field force could expand as needed and had other functions such as liaison with South Vietnamese and civil affairs functions and was flexible enough to have many subordinate units assigned to it.[3]

In counterinsurgency type campaigns, select and specially trained units of police armed and equipped as light infantry have been designated as police field forces who perform paramilitary type patrols and ambushes whilst retaining their police powers in areas that were highly dangerous.[4]

 Armenia

• National Security Service (Armenia)
  • Armenian Border Guard

 Australia

• Department of Home Affairs (Australia)
  • Australian Border Force
    • Marine Unit (Australian Border Force)

 East Germany

• Stasi 1950 - 1990
  • Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment 1954 - 1990

 Kyrgyzstan

• State Committee for National Security (Kyrgyzstan)
  • State Border Guard Service (Kyrgyzstan)

 Poland

• Ministry of Public Security (Poland) 1956 - 1990
  • Internal Security Corps 1945 - 1965

 Russia

• Federal Security Service
  • Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation
    • Coast Guard (Russia)
  • Kremlin Regiment
• Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)
  • Internal Troops (Russia) 1991 - 2016
  • National Guard of Russia
    • Federal State Unitary Enterprise Guard (Russia)
    • Kadyrovites
    • National Guard Forces Command
      • 50th Separate Operational Brigade
    • National Guard Naval Service Corps
    • OMON
    • Separate Operational Purpose Division

 Soviet Union

• NKVD 1934 -1946
  • Destruction battalions 1941 - 1954
  • NKVD special groups
• KGB 1954 -1991
  • KGB Security Troops
  • Soviet Border Troops 1918 - 1991

 Syria

• Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria)
  • Forces of the Fighters of the Tribes
  • Military Security Shield Forces

 Taiwan

• Coast Guard Administration

 Tajikistan

• State Committee for National Security (Tajikistan)
  • Tajik Border Troops

 United Kingdom

• Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom), British Army
  • Special Reconnaissance Unit 1972 - 2005, (The Troubles) late 1960s - 1998
  • Force Research Unit 1982 - 2007, (The Troubles) late 1960s - 1998
  • Joint Support Group

 United States of America

• United States Department of Homeland Security
  • United States Coast Guard

 Uzbekistan

• State Security Service (Uzbekistan)
  • Border Troops of the State Security Service (Uzbekistan)
    • Uzbek River Force

• List of gendarmeries
• List of police tactical units