# "Four troops were wounded"--is this right?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-troops-were-wounded-is-this-right/315621>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 4, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-troops-were-wounded-is-this-right/315621 "2005-08-04T21:09:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-troops-were-wounded-is-this-right/315621/21 "2005-08-05T16:19:48Z")

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What I find even more grating is the insistence by members of the U.S. Marine Corps that it is some kind of insult to refer to them as “soldiers.” The word “soldier” has a meaning beyond “member of the U.S. Army,” one that has been in use for some centuries now, and, in my view, that meaning fully encompasses members of the Marine Corps.

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**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-troops-were-wounded-is-this-right/315621/22 "2005-08-05T16:41:35Z")

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> [@acsenray](#):
>
> I agree with both points being made here: (1) It is a grating usage, and (2) It has been common for a while, at least as far back as the first Iraq war.

Dunnigan’s book’s first edition predate Gulf War I. Much of his info covers the era from WWII through the ~15 post Vietnam.

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