It probably says quite a lot about Gene that a) 'astronaut soldier' is a perfectly acceptable and brilliant job description and, b) that he would word it like that in the first place.

...he is a bit more sophisticated than this would lead people to believe, but it's buried deep where not a lot of people see it.

'Don' worry abou' it. You can show me your spaceship instead, like you said.'

And in six years time, when a certain movie comes out, he'll have the damndest feeling of deja vu.