"Soldier"

[Bill Palmer]

CBS news correspondent Bill Plante reported today that 4,250 "soldiers" had died in Iraq, although many of them were US Marines along with a few sailors & airmen.

I read an article recently mentioning the 17 "soldiers" who had been killed in the USS Cole bombing.

There are many, many other recent examples.

Is "soldier" now taken to mean any member of the armed forces, even those who man ships? Or are we now so far into the all-volunteer force (>35 years) that none of our journalists have any military experience and don't know the proper terminology any more?

Bill Palmer

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