When did the meaning of troops change?

[tooworried]

Every time I hear that 100 troops have returned from war somewhere I imagine thousands of men returning. It seems however that each man is now being called a troop. When did that happen?

I've thought the same.
I am wondering if we've just misunderstood all this time.

You've not misunderstood. A troop is a collective noun for a variable number of forces personnel. In the Cavalry, it's a specific subdivision of a Squadron and manned by troopers. It can also be used elsewhere in the Armed Forces (though off the top if my head I can only think of Army usage).

My guess is that it's used by broadcasters to avoid saying "soldiers" when they mean any service personnel, but they're simply falling in to another error.

I remember reading about this with reference to the Vietnam War and WWII, and the history books all seemed to use troops to mean single soldiers.

I have always thought they meant a 'collection' of fighting men. I must listen more carefully. What did they say that made you realise they were referring to individuals?

Wouldn't troopers be more accurate for individuals?

My source for the definition I posted was the OED.

I note donthassle cited Vietnam first. Perhaps there is a US variant, but in British English "trooper" is the singular noun and "troop" the collective. As a further example "paratrooper" is a specific type of trooper, "paratroop" is the collective noun applied to a specific airborne formation, and "paratroops" are those formations together.

Yes, I did American history. You can call me BOF