Soldier

For a broader coverage related to this topic, see Military personnel.
For other uses, see Soldier (disambiguation).
Soldier

Israeli soldiers in April 2002
Occupation
Occupation type
 Profession
Activity sectors
 Military
Description
Competencies Physical
Stamina
Mindset
Related jobs
 Commando
SWAT
Police officer
Mercenary

A soldier is one who fights as part of an organized land-based armed force. A soldier can be an enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or junior-commissioned officer, or an officer.

Etymology

The word soldier derives from the Middle English word soudeour, from Anglo-French soudeer or soudeour, meaning mercenary, from soudee, meaning shilling's worth or wage, from sou or soud, shilling.[1] The word is also related to the Medieval Latin soldarius, meaning soldier (literally, "one having pay").[2] These words ultimately derive from the Late Latin word solidus, referring to an Ancient Roman coin used in the Byzantine Empire.[1][2]

Occupational designations

In most armed forces use of the word 'soldier' has taken on a more general meaning due to the increasing specialization of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets. As a result, 'soldiers' are referred to by names or ranks which reflect an individual's military occupation specialty arm, service, or branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employment or technical use such as: trooper, tanker (a member of tank crew), commando, dragoon, infantryman, marine, paratrooper, grenadier, ranger, sniper, engineer, sapper, signaller, medic, or a gunner.

Other terms

"Warfighter" redirects here. For the video game, see Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

In many countries soldiers serving in specific occupations are referred to by terms other than their occupational name. For example, military police personnel in the British Army are known as "redcaps" because of the colour of their caps (and berets).

Infantry are sometimes called "grunts" (in the United States Army or Marine Corps) or "squaddies" (in the British Army), while Army artillery crews, or "gunners," are sometimes referred to as "redlegs", from the service branch color for artillery. U.S. soldiers are often called "G.I.s". Members of the United States Marine Corps are typically referred to as "Marines" rather than "soldiers".

In the United States, the term warfighter is often used to refer collectively to all whose job it is to do the actual fighting, although in 2011 the U.S. Army officially started calling its combat personnel soldiers instead of warfighters, in part to avoid confusion among "warfighters" assigned to peace-keeping or other types of duties beyond combat activities.[3] The U.S. Army has not completely phased out this terminology and still uses "warfighter" in various contexts such as the Project Manager Warfighter Information Network-Tactical.

French Marine Infantry are called marsouins (French: porpoises) because of their amphibious role. Military units in most armies have nicknames of this type, arising either from items of distinctive uniform, some historical connotation or rivalry between branches or regiments.

Career soldiers and conscripts

Some soldiers, such as conscripts or draftees, serve a single limited term. Others choose to serve until retirement; then they receive a pension and other benefits. In the United States, military members can retire after 20 years.[4] In other countries, the term of service is 30 years, hence the term "30-year man".

See also

Look up soldier or warfighter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. 1 2 Mish, Frederick C., ed. (2004). "soldier". Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. ISBN 0-87779-809-5.
  2. 1 2 Harper, Douglas (2010). "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  3. ↑ Patton, Mark (2011-08-14). "Wordsmiths take aim at simplifying acronyms for Army.".. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 2015-07-23 (citing the potential for ambiguity in meaning of term "warfighter" (which could, like the term "firefighter" be read to mean "one who fights to stop or prevent wars")).
  4. ↑ "20-Year Retirement". Armytimes.com. Retrieved 8 March 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.