Soldiers and Warriors
By Robert Bateman

I am a Seventh Cavalry officer. I commanded in that most famous of American units, and my regimental affiliation and affections will always be with the men who wear the upturned horseshoe crest of that regiment. As a historian, and as perhaps the de facto regimental historian (since there is no such thing as a de jure position for this function), I am also very well acquainted with our legacy.

The Seventh Cavalry was created to man the outposts of the frontiers in the wake of the Civil War, and to fight against the warrior cultures of the Native American tribes as need be. But in doing so they were not then, and are not now, warriors themselves. The men of the 7th Cavalry were and are soldiers. There is a significant difference between the two.

Unfortunately, and I cannot nail down when this started, a trend started to take hold in the Army and the Marine Corps which blurred that distinction. Sometime in the mid-90s we started to hear senior officers (defined in my head as "Colonels and Up") calling us "warriors."


Soldiers and Warriors - Intel Dump - Phillip Carter on national security and the military.

Isn't it just a case of semantics coming in to play? I'm pretty certain that a soldier could quite easily fall into the mould of 'warrior caste.'

Or more likely, it's the press, looking to up the sales figures and front paging our 'gallant lads' and regaling our returning troops, one and all, as heroes.

"Warriors" is probably a nice attempt to decribe all the people in a unit without distiction for rank and gender, as opposed to "Officers" and "Soldiers" terminology used by the British. This still smacks of "officers and their ladies, sergeants and their wives, other ranks and their women"

There used to be a road sign outside chattenden bks pointing to "r&f accommodation" no warriors there then

Originally Posted by eodmatt

There used to be a road sign outside chattenden bks pointing to "r&f accommodation" no warriors there then

Indeed

The term Warrior is a social construct, and you could argue that due to the social evolution and increasing democratic society we live in, this is now replaced by Soldiers. Darwinism at its finest.

Zulus were warriors, defeated by soldiers.

Apaches were warriors defeated by soldiers.

I think you get my drift. Warriors and soldiers are not the same thing at all. My own view when I hear the Yanks going on about this sort of stuff is that it is just propaganda for internal consumption of the gulible.

A warrior, in my view, can only be recognised as such by soldiers who know the difference between ordinary men overcoming fear to do their duty, and complete nutters who count any time spent out of combat as wasted.

The US Army has taken the term to inane lengths, some examples:

Common Task Training- the skills every Soldier from finance clerk to SFOD-D operator need to know renamed "Warrior Skills Training" Land Navigation without GPS crutches almost unheard of now, but plenty of MOUT and how to fight through vehiclular ambushes and dealing with the press.

Battle Drills- Warrior Drills and some basic Infantry Battle drills gotten rid of (Enter/Clear Trenchline," " Bunker, Platoon Attack) for Convoy defence drills. Guess the Army is done assaulting dug in enemy positions.

Training lanes renamed Warrior training lanes, Mention Soldier or troop in front of seniors during briefings and you are corrected, it's"Warriors"


NCOES Courses renamed Warrior Leader Course phase I/II/III

There was/is a serious idea to rid "Soldier" from Official documents for "Warrior"

Another term overused is "Excellence" as in US Army Infantry School of Excellence, US Army Quartermaster school of Excellence, etc.

Most Bn Level and below NCO's Officer think its total bullshit, but the head shed is too busy roaming the pentagon trying to look like General McClellan in their new Blues to care.

Warrior = an experienced soldier or fighter, usually one who has both experience and skill in fighting.

Soldier = a person who a person who serves in an army and wears its uniform.

So warriors are soldiers but soldiers are not always warriors.....simples!