army

1. Ostensibly for 'defense'. An Army is a device used by governments to enforce their will over people by killing some of them or, through deft command, just by threatening to kill some of them. 2. Often refers specifically to the ground based component of a large military force, tasked with killing people in close combat and directly enforcing a governments will on those people. Rather than doing such remotely, by air or sea. 3. It often refers specifically to the military force of the dominant world power, since they are the most likely to find it necessary to kill people in places where that government does not directly rule, in order to enforce its indirect rule. 4. The least politically advantageous component of the military for a government to use. This is due to the proximity of the army personnel to the people they are with tasked killing. Jet planes aren't put at risk by sticks and stones.