Contractor?

Is it just me, or does it rub others the wrong way when the media refer to individuals as "contractors"?

A recent example is on a Dept of Justice link on the WIFCON home page: "U.S. Army Contractor Charged with Assault in Relation to Stabbing at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan". (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/January/11-crm-013.html)

Sometimes I think I'm being appropriately precise; other times I wonder if I'm too picky.

Dude, having been one, I think you are too picky.

Is it just me, or does it rub others the wrong way when the media refer to individuals as "contractors"?

A recent example is on a Dept of Justice link on the WIFCON home page: "U.S. Army Contractor Charged with Assault in Relation to Stabbing at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan". (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/January/11-crm-013.html)

Sometimes I think I'm being appropriately precise; other times I wonder if I'm too picky.

When I posted that, I read the article to see whether it was a contractor or employee. Here is what I saw from the article:

"The indictment alleges that at the time of the stabbing, Brehm was working as a contractor for DynCorp International LLC, a U.S. Army contractor in Afghanistan."

Since the article did not say that the stabber was an employee, I assumed he was an individual contractor. Maybe I should have put subcontractor but that is not what is in the article.

Bob,

I think the term "contractor" is the right one. Most companies refer to individuals working as 1099's to them as "contractors" while subcontractor refers to as a second tier company and not individuals.

Bob,

I think the term "contractor" is the right one. Most companies refer to individuals working as 1099's to them as "contractors" while subcontractor refers to as a second tier company and not individuals.

The media and others often loosely refer to a contractor or subcontractor employee as a "contractor". So, one cannot always interpret the term as applying only to firms or independent contractors. I doubt that the media always bothers to determine the precise status of a contracted employee, subcontractor, independent contractor, etc., when writing or reporting general news stories.