Most of you guys have it all wrong.
I'll start with the distinction between soldier and merc. The difference comes solely from the origination of the service.
Soldiers are drawn into a service, trained, equipped, housed, and otherwise taken care of. There generally isn't any requirements beyond simple physical requirements made of the people joining up. The government provides training and equips the soldiers in most cases. There is an expectation that to muster a new unit of soldiers requires some lead time to prepare the soldiers and to train.
Mercs are paid to perform their tasks. Generally the paying entity (i.e. the government) doesn't provide a whole lot other than the pay and orders. Sometimes they'll provide transportation, sometimes some housing, but usually the bulk of what it takes to build a fighting unit is put upon those they are hiring. Meaning that the government generally doesn't pay for training, doesn't pay for most of the equipment, etc... In most cases, mercs are 'purchased' ready to go, or very near ready to go - very little prep time/training time is allotted for.
Once a soldier or a merc is brought on board, there is little/no difference between them. They both can do the same tasks. They both can kill, they both can decide to care about an issue or not.
The only other real difference I guess is what happens when a particular member decides to retire - as a soldier generally they are taken care of by the state, whereas as a merc the outfit has to take care of them (if it all).
Assassins on the other hand are different, and could be a subset of either group. Assassins are defined simply as someone whos sole job is to kill other individuals without regard to any other conflict related tasks (such as holding ground). An assassin can be a soldier or a merc - all that depends on is whether they are trained and equipped by the country or the unit/themselves.
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