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What is an Operator?

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Once upon a time you had to be a member of one of two units in US Special Operations to be considered an operator.  Those units were SEAL Team Six and Delta Force and only those who passed selection and training were entitled to call themselves that, not support personnel or those on the periphery.

Today everyone is an Operator.

When I was in Ranger Battalion, our Sergeant Major would send out memos for us to read, with pearls of wisdom.  One of them reminded us that we were not operators, we were Rangers and should be proud of that fact.  We were not Ju-jitsu experts, marathon runners, or body builders.  We were Rangers.

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Comments

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  • Avatar
    Robert L

    Amen

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    Richard H

    The SAD/SOG guys were what I would consider the original operators. But I think Jack was talking about "operators" in the military service context. The CIA guys would be outside that, guys like Billy Waugh are definitely operators in every sense of the word.

  • Avatar
    Ray Inabnitt

    George Hand is an OPERATOR.

  • Avatar
    Edward H

    This is the first article I've read since becoming a subscriber. Excellent read. Keep em coming.

  • Avatar
    John B

    This applies to the LE world as well. It seems that everyone in any type of SWAT-type unit considers/calls themselves operators. What ever happened to the titles we all used to use- "officer, deputy, trooper..." They were good enough when we came on board, why not now?