Non-state actors have for centuries been used by states in order to achieve their strategic ends in armed conflicts. Even though the reasons and motives, as well as the possible consequences, often are subject to research within the field, few have investigated what roles the irregulars might have in a conflict and their relations with a state actor. This study examines the roles that non-state actors had in the Georgian war. Through a qualitative text analysis, the level of coordination with a state and what type of value they added to the state’s regular forces was analyzed, in an attempt to categorize the groups according to Rauta’s theory. The results of the research shows that analyzed non-state actors may have had different roles from the time leading up to the war, during and after the war ended. This may indicate that they are more dynamic in their roles and relations with a state than it may appear and could point to how non-state actors may be used in the future.