W. Post: Warfighters Wanted!

Looking for a job? The Defense Department is hiring civilians, and you have the added benefit of riding the blue and yellow lines!

" ... Projections indicate that the Defense Department will lose a substantial number of civil service employees in the next five years, when 57 percent of Defense civilians will become eligible for early or regular retirement. ...

Now, because of the global war on terrorism, an increasing number of Defense civil service employees are supporting combat functions. The number will continue to grow because the Pentagon plans to shift more than 20,000 jobs performed by the military to civilian workers in fiscal 2004 and 2005. More military-to-civilian conversions are being planned for coming years to free up military personnel for fighting.

> WPost: "At Pentagon, Civilians In Need of Reinforcement"

The article also includes a new phrase which has been popping up in our new, more militarized culture, "war fighter.": " ... the nearly 700,000 federal employees who support the nation's war fighters." It's only a matter of time before the Washington Post fully adopts the language of the military and publishes "Warfighter". (Used by Bush on April 14)