[hcmama]

My son is at Fort Benning right now. He can barely bring himself to use the term “battle buddy,” at least not without laughing.

[defconw]

Good to know. Our grand nephew is in the Marines, I hope he feels the same way. He was raised by the Marine so I think he's OK. But really what a dumb term! I understand the reasoning, but they really could come up with something that sounds a bit more intimidating, I should think.

[AbnSarge]

The term “Battle Buddy” has been around since the early 1990’s, and started during the drill sergeant scandals. Female recruits could not go anywhere alone, and had to have their “Battle Buddy” with them.

20 years later, I still think they would have been hard pressed to come up with a dorkier term.

But then, the army has been on a campaign to make people brave through language:
- Everyone is now called a “Warrior”
- The work “soldier” must be now capitalized
- Army Reserve drill weekends are called “Battle Assemblies”

..and the list goes on