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Afrikaner Commandos2
The first appearance and use of the term "commando" was taken from the Dutch Afrikaner guerilla units known as "Kommandos" " in South Africa during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902

A commando is a soldier or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force often specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting or abseiling.

Originally "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as opposed to an individual in that unit. In other languages, commando and kommando denote a "command", including the sense of a military or an elite special operations unit.

In the militaries and governments of most countries, commandos are distinctive in that they specialize in assault on unconventional high-value targets. Commandos differ from other types of special forces in that they primarily operate in overt combat, front-line reconnaissance, and raiding, rather than long range reconnaissance and unconventional warfare.

In English, occasionally to distinguish between an individual commando and the unit Commando, the unit is capitalized.

Etymology

The word stems from the Afrikaans word kommando, which translates roughly to "mobile infantry regiment". This term originally referred to mounted infantry regiments, who fought against the British Army in the first and second Boer Wars.

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Comando (fuerzas especiales) para niños

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