Language

[legalmoose]

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.

Comments

[ironmanjt.livejournal.com]

Quick stepping in my field.

Your definition has a major deficiency. This is not a foreign army. These people are best termed "CONSULTANTS" ;-)

DC all the way. ;-)

[fj.livejournal.com]

If you want to be hip in political discussions, the term to write is 'mercs'. As in: dude, those weren't engineers putting in powerlines or volunteers bringing medicines, those were Blackwater mercs.