vanguard

noun2

1. •
   The leading units at the front of an army or fleet.

   • They say, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well strengthened with wings, came to fight. — 1622
2. •
   The person or people at the forefront of a group or movement.

   • The outsiders are looking more like insiders, the vanguard of a cultural and political shift that could be far more profound than in his first presidency. — 2025