in the recent Yahoo AP news story:
7 more American troops killed in Iraq
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer.
Just how many soldiers was she talking about? a troop is a group (2 or more individuals) of persons. the "troops" refered to were all killed in 1 tank so I asume they were all of the same service division. were these 7 soldiers or 7 troops? Just curious.
2007-03-18 07:18:55 · 13 answers · asked by dcjames 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
or why dont they say 7 Servicemembers instead of Troops. NOT reading to much into it. As I SAID, just curious.
2007-03-18 07:57:12 · update #1
Troops, or Troopers, is a buzz word used by DoD public affairs. God knows why they choose to put that one out rather than another one that means the exact same thing, but there is usually a reason that would likely offend most people. My guess is that they use Troops as opposed to Servicemembers because they don't think most people can handle all the syllables in the term Servicemembers. They'd be more likely to phrase it by saying that the word Troops is more catchy, easier to remember, or more pleasant to hold on to than the term Servicemembers is. In any case, its a word put out by military Public Affairs that the media has picked up as we hoped they would. This doesn't always happen, for example, the buzz word that the military put out as a title for the war we are currently fighting is "The War on Terrorism", but how many people do you hear say "The War on Terror"? If it were the War on Terror, we'd have Stephen King in GTMO right now.
2007-03-18 11:11:41 · answer #1 · answered by kittiesandsparklelythings 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Soldiers is a term that refers specifically to members of the US Army.
Soldiers=Army
Marines=USMC
Airmen=Air Force
Sailors=Navy & Coast Guard
The media uses "troops" because it is not branch specific. It is an incorrect use of the term in the literal sense but for the media's purpose 1 "troop" = 1 person.
2007-03-18 09:31:20 · answer #2 · answered by Kilroy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A soldier is only in the army. You can have a story saying 3 soldiers and 2 marine died or a story saying 5 troops died and both versions would mean the same thing.
2007-03-18 08:13:44 · answer #3 · answered by gregory_dittman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They say "troops" because the servicemembers in Iraq are not all necessarily soldiers - some of them are Marines, airmen, and sailors. Soldiers only refers to members of the Army.
2007-03-18 07:42:27 · answer #4 · answered by Cloth on Bum, Breastmilk in Tum! 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A TROOP (singular) can be a reference to any military member (Army, Air force, Navy, Marines). In fact, while I was in the Navy, I often referred to the people I supervised as 'my troops.' However a SOLDIER is only a member of the ARMY. A Marine is always a MARINE, regardless of rank. One would not call a Navy Commander 'sailor' but WOULD call a Marine Bird Colonel a MARINE. In fact, that Col would respond to 'excuse me Marine' with a smile, most likely.
(USN, retired)
2007-03-18 15:21:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
By definition a Soldier refers to an Army personel while Troops can refer to any one of the five serives that are over here in Iraq.
2007-03-18 07:24:59 · answer #6 · answered by RCT 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
They all do this, in print also. I don't know how it got started but 7 soldiers is a lot different than 7 troops. How do they not notice this?
2007-03-18 07:23:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The media uses troops to refer to a individual soldier, goes back to the Calvary where the lowest rank was a trooper.
2007-03-18 07:27:14 · answer #8 · answered by asclepeus1 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
some in the marines and navy feel soldier as an army term, I'm not speaking for them just offering an opinion. marines are usually regarded as marines, navy "sailors" air force "airmen" troops refer to all branches.
2007-03-18 07:30:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Don't read so much into it. They are soldiers........ Troops.....Americans. All the same.
2007-03-18 07:39:40 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋