The term military is currently being used incorrectly to describe or cover the three services of the Australian armed forces; ie. the Army, Navy (RAN) and the Air Force (RAAF); however, technically speaking, this is not so. The term military, in its correct context, referrers to the Army and the Army only, and does not relate to either the Navy or the Air Force.

The word military is taken from the Latin for soldier: ‘militaris’. Military is described within the Oxford Dictionary as “…. of, for, soldiers or army”; the Collins English Dictionary describes the word as “… characteristic of, or about soldiers”; even the disgustingly politically correct Macquarie Dictionary (2005 edition) explains the word as “…. relating to the army ….. befitting a soldier …. having the characteristics of a soldier …..”. The Macquarie also describes military police as “…soldiers who perform police duties within the army” (whilst talking about military police; it should be noted that the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police (RACMP) is an Army body (not Navy or Air Force) and is comprised of soldiers only; there are no naval or air force personnel in the Corps of Military Police).

Up until 1991 the Australian Army’s General Service badges (commonly referred to as the ‘rising sun badge’) carried within them the word military (the scrolls within the badge worn over the period 1904 – 1949 read: Australian Commonwealth Military Forces and the 1949 – 1991 badge’s scrolls read: Australian Military Forces). It should be noted that the Army is known in the plural term ‘forces’ because, whilst the Navy and the Air Force are homogeneous bodies, the Army is an elemental organization made up of a number of corps, services and departments (hence there is no such force as the Royal Australian Army).

It appears that in 1991 someone at Defence, neither knowing nor understanding what he was doing, incorrectly decided that the term military would cover the three services. Yes, we know that English is a living language and we understand that we live in an age of ridiculous political correctness, however, the use of the term military to describe the Australian Defence Force is (to put it mildly) wrong! The military is the Army!


By:   Mr Chris Jobson