It is quite worrying to see otherwise sensible people scurrying about attempting to redefine such basic terms. It is exactly the sort of anti-intellectualism which Orwell and others pushed back against because of the danger it posed to society (think “2+2=5”).
This we agree on. Not so sure about the rest. The origin of the word Soldier wins the argument for me and being able to react in an emergency on a ship doesn’t make you a sailor surely - otherwise everyone may as well be an aviator then as they know how to blow up a life jacket, open the emergency hatches, operate a fire extinguisher and go down the slides!