Warfighters

[Blacksheep]

... it's a word that appears more and more often in the trade publications concerning avionics and defence electronics.

Warfighter? It sounds more like an X-Box character out of "Call of Duty" rather than a professional soldier, sailor or airman. What's that all about?

[BEagle]

It's an Americanisation wordwise.....

.....which, regrettably, appears to have crossed the Pond :uhoh:

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

It's similar to the mejia habit of now calling Members of Parliament "law makers".

[Blacksheep]

I thought they were Law Givers?

Or is that the European Commission?

[Bevo]

The term “warfighter” appears to be originally a US Department of Defense term used by analysts when discussing or analyzing warfighters (and how to best train them, equip them, support them, deploy them, etc.).

The term has utility because a) it includes the members of every branch of the armed forces, including soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen, b) it distinguishes between those who fight in a war and those in a support capacity, and c) it is gender neutral. Unfortunately, as with many words in language, its use has been “expanded” and used in a variety of ways not associated with the original meaning.

[Wander00]

aah, semantic b@@ll@cks again

[teeteringhead]

I thought they were Law Givers? ... and some of them (allegedly) Law Breakers!

[thunderbird7]

It's similar to the mejia habit of now calling Members of Parliament "law makers".

And I thought they were just "Conniving-self-interested-unscrupulous-gas-bags"? :rolleyes:

[Haraka]

Americanisation wordwise.....

Beags ,from you of all people!!!! :)

Along with..

"Hero",

"Duty of Care",

"In harm's way"

"On my watch"

and all the other "fluffy" cross-Atlantic aphorisms which have crept in to our language in recent times.

[BEagle]

Haraka, you obviously missed the intended irony.....:hmm:

[goudie]

If the term 'warfighter' is intended to describe personnel actually fighting a war, then, for the purpose of clarification of who's doing what, I think it's 'fit for purpose.

[Wetstart Dryrun]

It's clearly analogous with 'firefighters'...

...also postfighters, binfighters and Bill and Ben the flowerpotfighters.

wets

[barnstormer1968]

Warfighter is used too widely IMHO, and often includes:
Medics
Drivers
Peace keeping troops
Admin personnel (from themselves)

Firefighter is just as daft. Not too much fighting when doing site visits, checking hydrants or fitting smoke alarms. :)

[Easy Street]

'Warfighter' is not a useful word, in my opinion. Where do you draw the line between 'warfighter' and 'non-warfighter'? Chinook crews? C17 crews? Voyager crews? Engineers? Fighter controllers (sorry, ABMs)? Loggies? Adminers? Wherever you draw the line, it's just as divisive as 'aircrew' vs 'blunties' - so in the modern, inclusively-minded, fluffy way, most commanders seem to describe all their personnel as 'warfighters'. Might as well just call them 'military personnel' in good old plain English.

[TomJoad]

Warfighter is used too widely IMHO, and often includes:


Firefighter is just as daft. Not too much fighting when doing site visits, checking hydrants or fitting smoke alarms. :)

Don't be to hasty there you can fight fires in many ways - checking hydrants and fitting smoke alarms is a pre-emptive attack - a kinda denial of service:E


What about the foo fighters ;)

[Laarbruch72]

Warfighter is used too widely IMHO, and often includes:
Medics
Drivers
Peace keeping troops



Plenty of medics, drivers and peace keeping troops have been in the thick of exchanging rounds with bad guys in the last decade in Afghanistan (some quite famously winning gallantry medals), so I have no problem with them being labelled warfighters. I prefer the term serviceman / servicewoman seeing as most service people are part of fighting wars in some way.

Clearly, the degree will differ, but there is an expectation there that all service people will do their bit in fighting wars*.

*Except adminers, obviously. ;)

[barnstormer1968]

Tomjoad

Sorry, but that just doesn't work out.
If it did then peace keepers would be war fighters as they are doing something actively, just like fire fighters doing a site check to avoid a fire breaking out later.

Laar.

While I agree with what you say, there are also medics and drivers stationed in Bulford and Tidworth tonight.............perhaps warfighter applies to a time and place rather than a generic coverall term :)

[Laarbruch72]

And there are highly trained young paratroopers based in Colchester who haven't been near a war zone in their life, but they might be next week. Do they become warfighters next week when they get there or before?

Don't be so bloody silly, of course they're warfighters. As I say, I don't like the phrase but your example is daft.

[Haraka]

Haraka, you obviously missed the intended irony.....http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/yeees.gif

Just testing......:O

[West Coast]

If warfighter sets you off, you might be wound a little too tight.

Beags
Prepare to be assimilated, unless you're rejected of course.

[pontifex]

What about "Military Personnel"? Covers everyone and is gender neutral (I hate the requirement to even consider that).

[Haraka]

Is it just me , but does sending "Warfighters" on "Peace Support Operations" come across as bit of an oxymoron and a PR liability?

It reminds me of 60's student days and the vapid taunt of "Fighting for peace is a bit like f*cking for virginity".

[Biggus]

It seems to me that the term "Warfighter" is inappropriate, highly emotive and out of step with our current trend towards increasing use of MBA type yukspeak.

First of all, formal declarations of "war" have been extremely rare since 1945:

Declaration of war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war)

so our "warfighters" aren't generally engaged in "war". :=

Secondly, when we use such yukspeak as "....the kinetic phase..." to describe the active use of military force, the term war seems archaic.


I would suggest the term "Conflict participants" to be both more appropriate, and in line with modern yukspeak (e.g. stakeholders, customers, etc...). :ok:

Admittedly it doesn't roll of tongue too easily - but nothings perfect!

[dervish]

Official definition as far as the Army is concerned:


Warfighting. For the purpose of this requirement, warfighting is viewed as high intensity, medium or large scale, broadly symmetric operations (against a “marched” enemy) that are constrained by climate and terrain. Short of warfighting there will be a requirement to conduct operations varying in scope: time, intensity, size and location. Warfighting capabilities are necessary in other operations. Almost all forces contribute to the UK warfighting capability. Also known as combat operations.

[Hangarshuffle]

Telic 1 eve was the first time I ever heard the descriptive word (or phrase) "War-fighting". Its stuck with me ever since.

Drifts off again....

Wargasm I find a far better, a far more cynical word but I understand it - an exciting feeling felt by those that seem to relish war and its spectacle without having personal involvement - a feeling some politicians,some media types and the relatively non-experienced seem to enjoy.

And a brilliant track by L7 :ok: as well. As below:

Wargasm, wargasm, one, two, three
Tie a yellow ribbon around the amputee
Masturbate, watch it on TV
Crocodile tears for the refugee

Wargasm, wargasm, one, two, three
Smutty, bloody pictures, ecstasy
Blue balls waiting impatiently
From Alcatraz to Lady Liberty

Body bags and dropping bombs
The pentagon knows how to turn us on

Wargasm, wargasm, one, two, three
Pit bull, pit bull ecstasy
Wave those flags high in the air
As long as it takes place over there

Wargasm
Wargasm
Wargasm
Wargasm

Body bags and dropping bombs
The pentagon knows how to turn us

Turn us on


Think Blair sings this when he takes a bath with Bush (or his wife.:eek:) Yep, not exactly Wilfred Owen, but truly a song lyric for the age we are now in.:yuk:

[Hangarshuffle]

Hey dervish I've just read your definition again. They had it all wrong then, our lot, our planners in Telic 1? They banged that word out so many times, but your description of what it meant doesn't seem to match how the fighting panned out over the following decade. What a f:mad:*ck up it all was.

[dervish]

Hangarshuffle

Not my definition! It was included and defined in most Army URDs from about 2000-on, at the very least. I first came across it in qinetiq paper in 2000. On 23.5.02 the Secretary of State for Defence Geoff Hoon said in a speech "SDR New Chapter", ".....developing a networked capability will be fundamental to joint and coalition warfighting in the information age." As you say, What a f*ck up.