Whats the deal with "operator"?

[The Deer Hunter]

I keep hearing you guys talking about how the term "operator" is going to be the new "tactical", just as "tactical" was the new "combat".

Ok...Makes sense in marketing sense...I guess.

But what does operator mean? The guy pulling the trigger?

 

[AZ Husker]

Operator used to be a polite term for mercenary.

 

[Eric F]

Operator used to be a polite term for mercenary.

it has a few meanings. It could mean merc. or it could mean a refrence to one of the top end military groups Ie. Seals and/or Delta

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I think it's meant to be vague on purpose.

Guess it means whatever one wants it to mean. I would think a bus driver in B'more is an operator (he operates a bus). I think it's the way that a lot of business like to get the mall ninja's to buy their over priced hyped up stuff.

 

[zoom6zoom]

For us older folks, it'll always mean:

 

[AndyC]

But what does operator mean? The guy pulling the trigger?

Pretty much - the guy at the sharp end vs. the support-personnel in the same unit; the shooter as opposed to the storeman.

 

[siglite]

"covert operator"

For people who want to be a Clancy character.

 

[Chris B]

In some of the gun rags, SWAT guys are referred to as SWAT operators, or SRT operators or operators of whatever acronymn a certain district uses for their more heavily armed, better trained unit(s).

 

[Javelin]

I hope that the term operator doesnt hit mainstream. I guess for "mall ninjas" it works as a new term of endearment.

 

[siglite]

I hope that the term operator doesnt hit mainstream.

Too late. I'm seeing it in ads everywhere already. It's not quite as prolific as "tacticlol" but it's gaining ground quick.

 

[LaEscopeta]

Special Operations

I always assumed an “operator” conducts “special operations.” As in the Joint US Special Operators Command. Some one else can bring Special Olympics in this context.

However as I type this I am vaguely remembering reading a novel once by Dashiell Hammett (of Sam Spade fame) where the main character is called “the Continental Op”, short for the Operator working for the fictionious Continental Detective Agency. I just Googled it and came up with:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Continental_Op

..claiming (it is wikipedia – take it for what it is worth) all the Continental Op stories were written between 1923 & 1943. So I’m thinking use of the term “Operator” to mean “BAMF” pre-dates the US military’s use of the term “Special Operations.”

I don’t know, I’m just guessing…

 

[TargetTerror]

For us older folks, it'll always mean:

That picture is amazing

 

[Sgt.Dusk]

"covert operator"

For people who want to be a Clancy character.

exactly!
btw, Clancy is great!

 

[bogie]

"Operator" was probably Pigpen's best song... I think the original Warlocks/Grateful Dead lineup really rocked, altho Donna Jean could crack some glasses...

 

[Thain]

"I woke up this morning to the sound of my tactical alarm clock. I reached over and hit the tactical snooze button, fluffed my tactical pillow and tried to catch a tactical nap. When the tactical alarm went off again, I shut it off, got up, and walked into my tactical bathroom. I took a tactical shower, a tactical poo in my new tactical toilet, and brushed my teeth with my tactical toothbrush. I put on my tactical boxers, tactical t-shirt, tactical dress pants, tactical dress shirt, tactical tie and tactical pocket protector and got ready for tactical breakfast (burnt toast...hey it's black so it must be tactical). After breakfast, I got ready for my day as a mall ninja by getting into my tactical 1986 Nissan Sentra and opening my tactical garage door. Tactical traffic sucked so I was tactically late. My boss gave me a tactical talking to and said if I was late again, I would be tactially fired. It was a long tactical day and I got home and ate some tactical dinner, watched some tactical TV and went to tactical bed."

 

[BlackBearME]

Originally Posted by Red Dragon
"I woke up this morning to the sound of my tactical alarm clock. I reached over and hit the tactical snooze button, fluffed my tactical pillow and tried to catch a tactical nap. When the tactical alarm went off again, I shut it off, got up, and walked into my tactical bathroom. I took a tactical shower, a tactical poo in my new tactical toilet, and brushed my teeth with my tactical toothbrush. I put on my tactical boxers, tactical t-shirt, tactical dress pants, tactical dress shirt, tactical tie and tactical pocket protector and got ready for tactical breakfast (burnt toast...hey it's black so it must be tactical). After breakfast, I got ready for my day as a mall ninja by getting into my tactical 1986 Nissan Sentra and opening my tactical garage door. Tactical traffic sucked so I was tactically late. My boss gave me a tactical talking to and said if I was late again, I would be tactially fired. It was a long tactical day and I got home and ate some tactical dinner, watched some tactical TV and went to tactical bed."

Now that right there is what you call a tactical operator.

 

[Leitmotif]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=3977511&postcount=15
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=3977605&postcount=16

Hivemind?

'Operator' seems like just another word used to make real life seem almost as cool as the movies.

 

[xsquidgator]

I think it's been around (based on seeing it in books about Rangers, Special Forces, and the like) for at least since the Vietnam era.

As far as "tactical" goes, wow. I recently got a mail order catalog that had "tactical" ballpoint pens to go into pockets in tactical shirts, Red Dragon nailed it.

 

[Leitmotif]

Wait until you see the tactical condoms... for tactical insertions, of course.

 

[novaDAK]

When I hear "Operator" I think of a Springfield 1911 model that I don't even own

 

[MASTEROFMALICE]

Someone who handles "Special OPERATIONS" would be a "Special OPERATOR".

Therefore, SpecOps guys would be Operators.

 

[RKBABob]

You're not an "operator" untill you start wearing 5.11 "tactical" socks.

 

[strangelittleman]

I've been wondering the same thing......Operator......more marketing hype! In the good old days "shooter" was the name for the guys at the tip of the spear. You'll never see "O" for "Operator" on a H.U.T.S. report. Some of you will know know what that is.......

 

[Chindo18Z]

WWII: SOE / OSS (UK /USA) - personnel were "Operatives" (a UK term) to encompass broad clandestine military & intelligence functions vice "Agent". The UK SAS retain the term in post-war years.

1976-77: COL Charles Beckwith founds US Delta Force. He had previously served on an officer exchange program between US SF & UK SAS (including graduating from UK SAS Selection Course). An unabashed Anglophile and admirer of the SAS model, as Delta's first commander he transplanted certain terms (such as CQB and Operator) into the American CT vocabulary.

1980s-1990s: There is some bleed-over in terminology between black and white SOF, especially as experienced personnel move between assignments and rewrite schoolhouse doctrine and POIs.

FBI HRT partners with certain US military SOF during its formative years, also enhancing the spread of the term "Operator".

1990s-present: term creeps into the gradual militarization of some American police SWAT-type units and instructional courses for same.

Additionally, the Internet and an explosion of cross-pollinated shooting/combative schools and instructors further spread the term.

Nothing wrong with the term other than overuse. Eventually, something else will replace it.

Anyway, that's my theory. Dates and events are approximate, but etymology is is an inexact science (especially now, with the advent of the Internet).