Irregular military organizations

An irregular military organization is a military organization which is not part of the regular army organization of a party to a military conflict. Irregular military groups are sometimes referred to as revolutionaries, guerrillas, militias, resistance fighters, freedom fighters, terrorists, or insurgents. The uses of which come in and out of fashion, based on political and emotional associations that develop.

Described below are some examples of irregular military organizations.

Anti-Devil's Village cult
A militant cultist group based in Scandinavia harbored a deep hatred for a seaside hamlet known as the Devil's Village. At some point, after acquiring weapons, the cult attacked the Devil's Village and killed the majority of its inhabitants. They spared only one person, a young girl they referred to as "The Devil's Child," only to force her to kill her friends and family, while laughing. The girl would later develop post-traumatic stress and become the PMC soldier Laughing Octopus.

Chechen rebel groups
After the 1991 attempted coup within Russia (then having recently collapsed the Soviet Union) under Boris Yeltsin's regime, and the Chechen National Congress' attempted declaration of independence from Russia, various Chechen rebel groups were created during the war of independence, but then fled after the war officially ended with the deaths of 250,000 Chechens, nearly a quarter of the Chechen population. They then made camps and factions upon fleeing to the Caucasus Mountains.

The terrorist Andrey Dolzaev was rumored to be a leader of one of these rebel groups, although this, along with Dolzaev's alleged Chechen nationality and ethnicity, was disputed.

Egg Plant
Egg Plant was the name of an extremist terrorist group, originally commanded by the Outer Heaven mercenary, Dirty Duck.

Former members
 * Dirty Duck

FARC
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or FARC) are a Colombian Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization involved in the continuing Colombian armed conflict since 1964. The operations of the FARC are funded by kidnap to ransom, gold mining, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs.

During the 1960s, FARC provided land on the San Hieronymo Peninsula to the Red Army, in exchange for weapons and additional forces to fight the Colombian regime at the time, following the Soviets failure to import missiles to Cuba.

FRELIMO
The Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO; Portuguese: Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) was a liberation movement which was founded in 1962 to fight for the independence of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique. It fought in the Mozambican War of Independence from September 25, 1964 until June 25, 1975. After independence was achieved, the new Marxist-Leninst FRELIMO government was engaged in a civil war against the anti-Communist political faction RENAMO, from May 30 1977 to October 15, 1992.

In the early stages of the Mozambican War of Independence, a young Frank Jaeger fought as a child soldier for the FRELIMO, killing dozens of Portuguese government soldiers with his knife. He was placed in a rehabilitation center by renowned mercenary Big Boss after being defeated in combat, but would later return to Mozambique to fight in the civil war, this time for the RENAMO.

FRELIMO has ruled Mozambique from independence until the present, first as a single party, and later as the majority party in a multi-party parliament. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it retreated from traditional Marxist ideology and became a democratic socialist party.

Former members
 * Frank Jaeger

Kazuhira Miller's guerrilla unit
In 1972, a guerrilla group came under the command of then-freelance mercenary Kazuhira Miller, who had left Japan. They were apparently backed by the KGB. He kept a full regiment of elite soldiers on reserve. Two months later, the standard guerrillas he had led ended up killed in an ambush orchestrated by government soldiers, with their commander, Miller, being captured (largely due to inexperience in combat), with Big Boss participating in the battle, resulting in their first meeting. Big Boss later implied that the rebel forces were under the belief that Miller had actually been a government agent sent to take down the guerrilla unit from within and would execute him if he were to return. Big Boss later discovered the presence of an elite unit loyal to Miller amongst the guerrillas due to a Colombian peddler acting as a spy for MSF, Miel, delivering the letter to Big Boss before its intended recipients from Miller to stage an ambush on Big Boss's forces, with them joining after sitting down and talking with them. They later continued with Miller's planned operation to ambush Big Boss, which involved surrounding them at sunset upon getting the signal of Miller yelling loudly "speed shooting," but after Big Boss disarmed Miller with his CQC field-strip, they restrained Miller, although they were reluctant to do so. Big Boss also revealed that his men saw through the rumors about Miller being a traitor to the guerrillas as being propaganda.

Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម Khmer Krahom, English: Red Khmers) were the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 as an offshoot of the Vietnam People's Army from North Vietnam. It was the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, one of its leaders being Pol Pot.

The organization is remembered especially for orchestrating the Cambodian Genocide, which resulted from the enforcement of its social engineering policies. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases such as malaria. Arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements (including the entire intellectual class), or during purges of its own ranks between 1975 and 1978, are considered to have constituted genocide. By the time their reign ended, more than a third of Cambodia's population was extinguished. Locations that acted as mass graves for the victims of the genocide were later given the name "killing fields." By 1979, the Khmer Rouge had fled the country, while the People's Republic of Kampuchea was being established. The organization itself was officially dissolved sometime in December 1999.

Desperado Enforcement LLC. member Monsoon was a survivor and presumed victim of the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror, which was implied to have deeply affected him into becoming an ascriber to nihilism and misanthropy.

Les Enfants Terribles
Les Enfants Terribles was a French terrorist group, once sub-commanded by Zanzibar Land mercenary, Running Man. The name of the group was presumably inspired by the novel and 1950s film of the same name. It should not be confused with the 1970s government project of the same name.

Former members
 * Running Man

Liberian terrorist cell
During the Liberian Civil War, a terrorist cell operated in Liberia. This terrorist cell was responsible for the deaths of several Americans. A then-teenaged Solidus Snake had managed to capture at least ten members of this cell during his activities as a CIA paramilitary member. On 1990, for the child soldier Jack the Ripper's birthday, Solidus had Jack kill them by decapitation as the former's birthday present for the latter, with each terrorist acting as a "birthday candle" representing each year Jack lived up to that point.

Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army, also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement is a rebel group that intended to take control of Uganda to establish a theocratic government incorporating Islam, African mysticism, and Christian fundamentalism. It started an insurgency in 1987 that lasted a long time.

Former members:
 * Drebin 893 (child soldier)

Mujahideen
The Mujahideen were a Muslim-based group that tries to fulfill Jihad for Allah's favor. During the 1980s, they fought against the Soviets with American backing during the former's invasion of Afghanistan.

Outer Heaven Resistance
The Outer Heaven Resistance was a resistance movement based in South Africa, in the region occupied by the emerging mercenary state of Outer Heaven. The Resistance was led by Kyle Schneider, after his family were killed. During the Outer Heaven Uprising, many members of the Resistance were imprisoned by the mercenary state.

The Resistance assisted Solid Snake in 1995, during his mission to eliminate the threat of Outer Heaven to the rest of the world. However, after Snake's success, many members were killed during the subsequent NATO bombing of the area. Afterwards, some of the surviving members allied themselves with Outer Heaven's former leader Big Boss after he saved them, including Schneider.

Former members
 * Kyle Schneider (leader)
 * Diane
 * Jennifer
 * Steve

RENAMO
The Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO; Portuguese: Resistência Nacional Moçambicana) was an anti-Communist political organization founded in 1975 following Mozambique's independence, sponsored by the Central Intelligence Organisation of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). It fought against the FRELIMO in the Mozambican Civil War and against the ZANU movement led by Robert Mugabe from 1975 to 1992. During the war, Frank Jaeger fought as a RENAMO soldier.

The end of the civil war led to the disarmament of RENAMO, to the integration of some of its fighters into the Mozambican army and to its transformation into a regular political party. It is now the main opposition party in Mozambique.

Former members
 * Frank Jaeger

Stubborn Sheep
Stubborn Sheep was a private military company active during the 1980s. At least two of its cargo containers ended up stolen by a rival PMC, Roughneck Raven, before the PMC in question had their stolen goods stolen themselves sometime later by Diamond Dogs during a short-lived raid on their offshore forwarding base.

Vietcong
The Vietcong, officially known as the National Liberation Front (NLF) and originally known as the Viet Minh, were a Communist-backed guerilla group that was active within South Vietnam that gave a lot of trouble for United States forces.

Some time during Miller's time as a mercenary, he ended up captured by the Vietcong and tortured. Miller proceeded to escape captivity shortly thereafter, also killing the head interrogator in the process.

The Whispers
The Whispers were a renowned guerrilla squad in North Vietnam. It was rumored that they were more advanced in jungle warfare than even the Green Berets. By December 1999, the Zanzibar Land mercenary Night Fright was the last surviving member of this unit.

Former members
 * Night Fright

Wild Geese
The Wild Geese were a mercenary group. Big Boss fought with this unit at some point during his mercenary career, after serving in Vietnam.

Former members
 * Big Boss

Behind the scenes
The name "Wild Geese" is a reference to the 1978 adventure film of the same name, about a mercenary group in Africa. The film was named after a 17th-century Irish mercenary army.

The Liberian terrorist cell, whose members Raiden killed as a child soldier, was first mentioned in a scene exclusive to the Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty comic book released by IDW Publishing, and later adapted into Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. The scene was a flashback experienced by Raiden, during his interrogation by Solidus and Ocelot within Arsenal Gear.