teeth arm

n. a military’s fighting troops, such as infantry, cavalry, and armored divisions. Subjects: English, United Kingdom, Military

Editorial Note: Troops not in the teeth arm have supporting roles in technical, logistic, and administrative arms.

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Citations: 1981 A.J. Trythall Journal of Contemporary History (July) “The Downfall of Leslie Hore-Belisha” vol. 16, no. 3, p. 395: Teeth Arm regiments and corps were of course very powerful. For instance, from 1904 to present, all Army Councillors (or Board Members) have been Infantry, Cavalry, Tanks, Gunners or Sappers. 1991 Independent (U.K.) (June 10) “Army’s System No Longer Suited To Today’s Battlefields”: The six main “teeth” arm units were augmented by soldiers from 10 other regiments. The commander of 7th Armoured Brigade, who is a 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guard, had his tank manned by men from his own regiment. 1992 Gary Gore (Dec. 15) @ Morrow Project Journal (May 24, 1993) vol. 1, no. 1,: Teeth arm units are an Armoured Regiment (8th Canadian Hussars), an Infantry Battalion (1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment) and the Canadian Airborne Regiment. 2003 James Gray (United Kingdom Parliament) (Oct. 16) “House of Commons Hansard Debates”: The Royal Logistics Corps and the Signals also relied significantly on the T[erritorial] A[rmy]. There were lots of other teeth arm people out there—infantry people and special forces—and all of them were from the TA. 2004 Nowa Omoigui Omogui.com (Sept. 20) “Who is General AO Ogomudia”: Signals is a “teeth” arm (in British parlance)…. To be a Service Commander in Nigeria requires that one have the right type of commission (regular combatant) and belong to a “teeth arm” (i.e. Infantry, Artillery, Armour, Combat Engineers, Intelligence, or Signals).

Posted 23 Dec 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend