Hacker News Reader

> ... civilian author's ...

Hmm... the author is listed as: "Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Guthart, U.S. Marine Corps", which does not sound civilian to me. Civilians usually don't have military titles.

View on HN

Are they posting as an official voice of the US DOD? Or are the posting with a title in the hope that associating themselves with the military gives them more authority? Are they identifying their rank so other defence people reading the article will understand that a gunnery sergeant might not be appraised of the relevant information?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com