war baby

"war baby" means an officer owing his position to the need of the time rather than competence. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.

"war baby" is informal English meaning an officer owing his position to the need of the time rather than competence. It is mainly used in North American English. A more formal or neutral equivalent would be something like "an officer owing his position to the need of the time rather than competence" expressed in standard vocabulary. A common mistake is to assume "war baby" can replace its standard equivalent in every register; keep it for spoken or casual situations and use the formal form in writing.