What is "Combat Power?"

During the recent PBS documentary entitled "Carrier," one of the
shooters on the Nimitz described the sequence after a jet on the cat
takes tension, demonstrating the hand signals as well. When giving the
familiar run up command with two fingers at the end of an elbow bent 90
degrees he said "military power." I assume this is because the
retirement of the F-14 means no aircraft launch in afterburner, correct?
Or do earlier Hornet variants use A/B off the cat?

The shooter then called "combat power" and pumped his fist straight over
his head. Finally he did the fencer's lunge just prior to the cat firing.

I've heard of "military power," but I've never heard of "combat power."
What it is? Is it something peculiar to the Hornet? And if so, does it
vary between the Super Hornet and other variants?

One final shooter question: Where does the tradition of using the cat to
launch the shooters boots off the bow come from?