To quote my favorite alien...

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch

;-p

Did not sleep well at all last night. Will go to my podiatrist and see what's up with the toe, then it's back home and back to bed.

Language

Okay folks, let's go over definitions, shall we:

In the following Washington Post article the article refers to "private security firms" and "armed security contractors." And there's this description of theses "contractors": "Most of the firms' employees are military veterans themselves, and they often depend on their network of colleagues still in uniform for coordination and intelligence."

Can we please use the proper term for these folks and stop with this doublespeak of referring to them as "contractors?"

Mercenary:

A professional soldier hired for service in a foreign army.