I was flipping through one of the journals I receive earlier today (Federal Computer Week), and ran across an insert supplement put together by DISA, the Defense Information Systems Agency, which had an odd term I’d never heard before: warfighter.
I am not ignorant of military jargon and the like. But I’d never seen the term “warfighter.” It appears to be roughly equivalent to “soldier” (except that’s just for the Army) — maybe “serviceman/woman,” unless it’s drawing a distinction between folks on the front line and folks in the home office. “Combatant,” perhaps, though that has some legal baggage.
“Warfighter?”
It occurs to me that English already has the term “warrior” that would fit the bill, though perhaps that sounds too … um … warlike. Though “warfighter” hardly sounds like it belongs with the “Department of Defense.”
All I know is that it seems to have become widespread, particularly in DoD circles.
Did I miss a briefing somewhere?
Okay, here’s a reference to it — and the person notes it’s still sort of jargonny (“both popular and obscure”) amongst the military, hobbyists, and computer game players.
Fascinating.