I have not reached for my dictionary. In the old days, and I am an old guy, a “troop" was a unit with a given number of soldiers, a trooper is one soldier, consequently 2 or 3 troopers is the same as 2 or 3 soldiers. Trooper is synonymous with Soldier. The problem today is that since Bush made up his own vocabulary and it was quoted/repeated so much that it became accepted and therefore real. The best example is his use of the non-word “decider." To a degree that is so stupid. However, on the other hand the English language evolves at an incredible rate so I expect the improper use of troop will become proper in the future. This is true because everyone is using it incorrectly these days. I will not be a surprised to see the new meaning for troop in future dictionaries, just because the media has fallen to such low levels of unprofessional journalism. Brave to Barbara for bringing up the issue. Brave to everyone who commented.