18+1+1+Find Sarah Connor

Sometimes, I get pretty cool spam. I'm signed up for all kinds of tool company promos, and somewhere in the crush of new ratchet platings and air drivers I get this thing from IHS Standards:

Future Combat Systems: Machines+Mind+Warrior (18+1+1)

That's kind of neat. I can read about these future combat systems, and then Acronym drop on Commander Cardy at Fubar: "So Commander, what do you think will be the effect of UGS, NLOS-LS, and IMS on the Rapid Dominance doctrine?"

But some of the descriptions of this FCS are kind of confusing to me. Take:

These technologies, linked by the network, would give warfighters unmatched information superiority and unassailable dominance of the battlespace.

Whatever happened to 'the battlefield'? Battlespace sounds like something that is dominated by a Battlestar. Not that I am in any way opposed to the United States military developing a Battlestar, mind you. If they do, they should name it Battlestar Chaonica. Cylons would piss brake fluid if they heard that they were going to engage the Chaonica.

Back to the FCS. We won't have battlefields any more, and it looks like we won't have soldiers either. We'll have warriors or warfighters. I don't think warriors is the right word. Our brave men and women overseas, who are above reproach in every way, get paid. They may not get paid in solidi, but they get paid. Warriors fight because it is their identity, their title. Soldiers fight because it is their profession. Spartans were warriors. So are Klingons. And I don't know what to make of warfighters. It's pretty cumbersome. Maybe in common usage it will be abbreviated to... Worfs?