The intriguing military origins of the term 'special operator'
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Stavros Atlamazoglou, SOFREP
Aug 6, 2020, 10:12 AM
"Operator" has become a catch-all term for members of the US military's special operations forces.
But US military documents from the 1950s indicate that the term itself may have originated with US Army's Special Forces — the Green Berets.
Operator — someone who operates.
In the civilian world, that could be someone operating an excavator, a wheeled tractor, and other similar heavy equipment. Historically, the term applied to people who worked in the old-school telephone centers and operated the manual telephone switchboards that were necessary in order for someone to call another number.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-intriguing-military-origins-of-the-term-special-operator-2020-8?amp
