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Originally Posted by Texian
Special Operators et al,
Hello, I'm from Texas and surfed into this board from another site. I'm a civilian who wishes he could've had a career in the military. Thanks for having me. I'll be lurking about awhile before posting.
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Tex,
Do not refer to us as "Special Operators".
We are often referred to as the Quiet Professionals, The Green Berets, or Special Forces soldiers. While I've no idea actually who coined the phrase "operator" you can rest assured it was not a Special Forces soldier. (Most likely some wannabe that was actually never in the Special Operations community.)
I dislike the term "operator" because it denotes that the title itself bestows some sort of special warfare talent that the individual obviously lacks and attempts to make up for with a "title". Over the past decades I've seen individuals with zero training in Special Operations profession often call them selves "operators". This list includes policemen, conventional Army, Marines, Navy and AF personnel, contractors, mall security specialists, civilian firearms instructors, air-soft enthusiasts etc. all calling themselves "operators".
I've heard it used in some Special Operations units to denote the difference between combat soldiers and non combat soldiers. For some individuals it is not enough to belong to a highly decorated, Special Operations combat unit and they still feel the need to distinguish themselves with this term "operator". When I hear the term, "I was an operator in G-Force." I ask "What did you operate?"
Most combat soldiers of the US Army Special Forces when asked "What did you do in the Army?" will answer "I was a soldier." And when asked to be specific will answer, "I was a Special Forces soldier."
Do not call me an "operator", I am Special Forces soldier.
Team Sergeant