Military terminology refers to the

and language of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or pa ...

organizations and

personnel Employment is the relationship between two party (law), parties, usually based on a employment contract, contract where work is paid for, where one party, which may be a corporation, for profit, not-for-profit organization, co-operative or ot ...

as belonging to a discrete category. As distinguishable by their usage in

military doctrine Military doctrine is the expression of how military force A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between Sta ...

, they serve to depoliticise, dehumanise, or otherwise abstract discussion about its

operations Operation or Operations may refer to: Science and technology * Surgical operation Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical or dental specialty that ...

from an actual description thereof.

Common understanding

The operational pressure for uniform understanding has developed since the early 20th century with the importance of

joint operations ''Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising'' is a 2004 first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution ...

between different services (army, navy, air force) of the same country. International alliances and operations, including

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

, have added additional complexity. For example, the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance A military alliance is a formal agreement betwe ...

alliance now maintains a large

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by radical-and-stroke sorting, radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include in ...

of common terms for use by member countries. Development work is also taking place between NATO and Russia on common terminology for extended air defence, in English, French and Russian.

Criticism

Some claim military terms serve to depoliticise, dehumanize, or otherwise abstract discussion about operations from an actual description thereof. Similar to "

legal terminology Law is a system A system is a group of interacting Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as oppose ...

" and related to "political terminology", military terms are known for an oblique tendency to incorporate

technical language Jargon is the specialized terminology Terminology is a general word for the group of specialized words or meanings relating to a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use. This is also known as terminology science. Term ...

. In many cases, it reflects a need to be precise. It can also reflect a perceived need for

operational security Operations security (OPSEC) is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by enemy intelligence, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, an ...

, giving away no more information than needed. It can also serve to disguise or distort meaning as with

doublespeak Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning Meaning most commonly refers to: * Meaning (linguistics), meaning which is communicated through the use of language * Meaning (philosophy), definit ...

. "Kinetic activity" as a

buzzword A ''buzzword'' is a word or phrase, new or already existing, that becomes very popular for a period of time. Buzzwords often derive from technical terms yet often have much of the original technical meaning removed through fashionable use, being si ...

for

combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violence, violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not using weapons). Combat is sometim ...

combat

, in use since the inception of the

War on Terror#REDIRECT War on terror The War on Terror, also known as the Global War on Terrorism and U.S. War on Terror, is an international military campaign launched by the Federal government of the United States, United States government after the Septe ...

, has been criticized as a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy for murder.

Notes

{{Reflist

External links

Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the Vietnam War

Terminology Terminology is a general word for the group of specialized words or meanings relating to a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use. This is also known as terminology science. Terms are words and compound words or multi-w ...

Warfare

Common understanding

Criticism

See also

Notes

External links