Militia are primarily disillusioned (or possibly ecstatic) men and women, who have suffered from harsh lives in Yellow Zones and have been attracted to service in the Nod armed forces by the latter's relief efforts. The use of militia plays an important part for Nod, as the Inner Circle secretly regard them as expendable, the inevitable product of the "Control The Media, Control The Mind" social doctrine, with commanders preferring to waste their militant auxiliaries rather than endanger the thin ranks of the surviving Nod regulars and "true believers" who comprise the Brotherhood's cherished elite troops such as shadows and Black Hand.