Cossack society and government were heavily militarized. The nation was called a host ("vois’ko", or "viys’ko", translated as "army"). The people and territories were subdivided into regimental and company districts, and village posts ("polky", "sotni", and "stanytsi"). A unit of a Cossack troop could be called a "kuren". Each Cossack settlement, alone or in conjunction with neighboring settlements, formed military units and regiments of light cavalry or, in the case of Siberian Cossacks, mounted infantry. They could respond to a threat on very short notice.