Nearly each Turk was considered as a warrior and the military service was not considered as a separate profession in the Steppe Turkish states. Therefore, the biggest difference of the Turkish army from the armies of all the other settled and forest tribes was that this army was not a "paid" army and it was a permanent army.
The owners of the titles and offices that we have stated above within the administrative organisation were the commanders ready to war at any time with their military powers under their command. The central armies were under the liability of a chief leader equipped with the proper authorities in the state of peace (for example, Onogesius= On-ugez in the Western Hun State; Tonyukuk and then, Kül-Tegin in the Gok-Turk State).
The biggest military unit was the force composed of 10 thousands of people. This unit was called as "tümen" (squadron) by the Tabgaç people, Gok-Turk State and Uighur people. These squadrons were divided into the units composed of 1000 soldiers, 100 soldiers and 10 soldiers and separate commanders were appointed as the chief leaders of these military units. This 10 (decimal) organisation that was also observed in the foreign armies under the Turkish influence was determined in the period of Mo-tun that was the Asian Hun Emperor for the first time.
This army was trained under the high command of the right and left (or east and west) commanders in the period of the Asian Huns, the European Huns and the Gok-Turk States. This army was organised in accordance with a specific pecking order ranging from the corporals towards the majors within the decimal (10) system. This organisation saved the ancient Turkish State that doubtlessly was based on the "military" essence from its tribal pattern. Therefore, it united the groups that were the possessors of the state around the common purposes and targets in a disciplined manner. The great Turkish Empires that were founded on this basis had the armies that constituted the most disciplined and powerful military powers of those periods.
Although there are some exaggerated figures about the number of these armies, it was absolute that they were very crowded. However, the Turks had found the proper ways for the reinforcement of the nutrition and supplies under the difficult conditions.While the others had to consign the herds composed of thousands of cattle behind their armies, the Turks would meet their need for food with the tinned meat. The tinned meat was known by the Turks at least 500-1000 years before its emergence in China and Europe. Some of the Latin authors had stated that the Huns would eat uncooked meat. This resulted from the fact that they were not familiar with this tinned meat that the Huns carried in their bags that were tied to their saddles.
The Turkish armies were equipped with the most effective weapons in accordance with the techniques of each era (For example; the "extraordinary war weapons that were not ever seen before" possessed by the Sabar people; the catapults with firing shells that threw naphtha possessed by the Kuman people). The principal weapon was composed of arrow and bow. Since the Turks had the capability of speedy and serial manoeuvres due to their horses, they preferred to fight from a distance. They had various bows. The bow that was very difficult to stretch but that had the most effective strength for shooting was the reflexive bow with dual arcs. They also had various arrows. The most dreadful arrows were the whistling (or buzzing) arrows that were made by Hun people and used in the period of Mo-tun for the first time in the history. The Turks were capable of shooting arrows in four directions on the horseback that ran at a gallop.
The Turks that used flat, grooved or hooked arrowheads (arrow-tips) also knew well to throw lassos. The Turks would use lances, spears, bayonets, shields and swords in the close actions and carry the flags with colours that changed in accordance with the colours of their troops. The most widespread Turkish flag was tuğ (Aflag with the bundle of the tails of wild cattle a piece of silken fabric that waved on its top knob).
Furthermore, there were various flags. The cavalry men would take up positions in the specific wings in accordance with the colours of the horses in the battlefield. (This was the war positions of Mo-tun that besieged Kao-ti who was the Chinese emperor in the year of 201 BC). It was alleged that this situation was related with four cosmic aspects.