ghost soldier

Ghost soldiers or ghost battalions refers to army troops whose names appear on military rolls, but who are not actually in military service, generally in order to divert part of the soldiers' salaries to an influential local entity such as army officers or others. Soldiers may equally benefit from the corruption scheme by returning to their civilian occupation and routine while gaining marginal income. The practice, however, weakens the military and makes it susceptible to military offensives and major defeats since leaders ignore the true number of available troops at their disposal on various front-lines. Severe occurrences of ghost soldiers have been cited in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries with dramatic military, humanitarian and historic consequences.