I am seeing people referring to themselves as echelon. I looked it up but I keep getting something about a global spy system and I don't believe that is what they mean by that term. Anyone have any ideas?

echelon: –noun
1. a level of command, authority, or rank: the top echelon of city officials.
2. a formation of troops, ships, airplanes, etc., in which groups of soldiers or individual vehicles or craft are arranged in parallel lines, each to the right or left of the one in front, so that the whole presents the appearance of steps.
3. one of the groups of a formation so arranged.
4. Also called echelon grating. Spectroscopy. a diffraction grating that is used in the resolution of fine structure lines and consists of a series of plates of equal thickness stacked in staircase fashion.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
5. to form in an echelon.

What I think they are referring to is this:
ECHELON is a name used to describe a highly secretive world-wide signals intelligence and analysis network run by the UKUSA Community.

More information can be found here: ECHELON

The personal references may be a simple case of people playing around.
Bit like l33t's and their private language.

AFter all if you were really a member of this I'm darn sure you wouldn't be able to talk about it ;)