From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishregular army/troops/soldierregular army/troops/soldierPMAa regular army etc is permanent, and exists whether there is a war or not → regular
Examples from the Corpus
regular army/troops/soldier• Equally ambivalent were local attitudes to the wholesale billeting in Sussex of regular troops and other county militias during invasion scares.• The regular army had become increasingly discontented with its role in the war over the last ten years.• The regular army has not advanced from the edge of the zone.• The regular troops successfully ended the Great Strike within a few days.• The other women in the classroom, except for two in the uniforms of the regular army, wear dresses.• It is possible that some of Mezrag's forces continue to provide the regular army with back-up troops.• The ragged guerrillas become a new regular army with housing and pensions. 