Military Speak

[VampireRanger676]

Was checking out my Ranger Handbook and normally I can get the jest of what they are speaking about but when you join the military are you taught all the speak or do you have to learn it :confused:

[crashdive123]

You just figue it out. For me, after over 20 years in the military I'm still figuring it out. Now, the military speak that other branches of the service use....(I was Navy)....I still haven't figured out too muck of that.

[Ole WV Coot]

You learn words your Momma didn't teach you. Any branch a head is a bathroom. Most are shortened to letters like CO. You will pick it up and not even know it and will be using it also. Most of what young people under 20 say now I don't understand.

[Rick]

Hey, Crash. Was muck just a Freudian slip? Other services speak Muck?!:D

[hopeak]

Every vocation has it's own language. Try deciphering communications between a commercial pilot and Air traffic control.

[RobertRogers]

yes, and that is how you can often distinguish between the posers and the real thing.

[Beowulf65]

I did 8 years in the Army, you'll learn it and not even know it. Here's a few:
Dog & pony show: Doing something for the brass or public.
Lifer: Anyone who re-enlists in the military
Latrine: Bathroom
Bunk: Bed
Mess Cook: Works in the dining hall
Chow Hall: Dinning Hall
Cup of Joe: Coffee
Kool-Aid or Bug Juice: Insect Repelant
BDUs: Army Uniform
Cammies: BDUs
Sergeant E-5: Buck Sergeant
Staff Sergeant E-6: Staff
Sergeant First Class E-7: Seven
Master Sergeant E-8: Master Sergeant (never mess with him)
First Sergeant E-8 with diamond: Top
Sergeant Major E-9: Sergeant major (never mess with him either)
Second Lieutenant: Butter Bar (worst weapon army ever made)
First Lieutenant: Lew
Captain: Cap (if he's your company commander then C.O.)
Major: Major
Lt. Colonel: Colonel
Colonel: Eagle
And all Generals are General whoever. This is what we called the enlisted and officers in my unit, may be different in other units and Sir was always used with officer rank. All the Warrant Officers we called Chief.
Article 15: Yo azz in trouble, loss of 1 months pay, maybe even 45 days extra duty and restriction to barracks when off duty.
Skivvies: Underwear
Radio: Commo
Satalite Communications: Satcom:
Hat: Headgear or cover
Boots: Jumps or Jungles
Temporary Duty: TDY
Sent on a mission: Deploy
Prop Wash: Wind from a helicopter
Helo: Helicopter
Class A's: Dress Uniform
Hummer: Humvee
Flak: Flakjacket or getting yelled ay
Shammer: Someone who does little work
0 Dark thirty: Midnight or early morning
Spitter: M60 or Saw
Grunt: Infantry or rifleman
Bird: Airplane
Dog Watch: Guard duty
ETS: End Term of Service
Jar Head: Marine
Swabby: Navy
Air Farce: Air Force
Scout: Snoopy
Rifle: Pea Shooter
Grenade: Popper
Azz holes & elbows: Work Hard
Hoof'n: Marching
Watch your 6: Watch your back
Dope: Information
Lima Charlie: Loud & Clear
REMF: Rear Echelon Mother F****r
BOHICA: Bend Over Here It Comes
FUBAR: F****d Up beyond all recognition
Arty Units: Gun Bunnies
Buster: Idiot or Punk
Hope these help
Beo,

[Beowulf65]

Alot of the terms have changed but there is also these:
ACAV: armored cavalry assault vehicle
AIRBORNE: (Abn) paratrooper or parachutist-qualified
AIRBURST: explosion of a munition in the air
AIRMOBILE: people or material delivered by helicopter
AIR CAV: air cavalry, referring to helicopter-borne infantry
AIT: Advanced Individual Training, the period following Basic Training,
specialized training given each soldier based on his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), ie MOS 11B10, 11B20 received Infantry training, 13E20 received artillery training.
AMMO: ammunition
A-O: area of operations
APC: an armored personnel carrier
AP ROUND: armor piercing round
ASAP: (A-sap) as soon as possible
BANANA CLIP: banana shaped magazine for an automatic weapon
BLIVET: a heavy rubber bladder in which fuel was transported in an aircraft or under a chopper to refulers.
BUSH or back Forty: expressions for the jungle, or any remote area away from a base camp.
BREAK SQUELCH: to send a "click-hiss" signal on a radio by depressing the push-to-talk button without speaking, used by LRSDs and others when actually speaking into the microphone might reveal your position.
BRING SMOKE: to direct intense artillery fire or air force ordnance on an enemy position.
BVR: Beyond Visual Range
C & C: command and control
CG: commanding general
CLACKER: firing device ('exploder') for triggering claymore mines and other electrically initiated demolitions.
CLOSE AIR SUPPORT: air strikes against enemy targets that are close to friendly forces.
CONUS: continental United States
CREW CHIEF: Huey or Bllackhawk or Chinook crewmember who maintains the aircraft.
CROSSCHECK: everyone checks everyone else for things that are loose, make noise, light up, smell bad, etc.
DOC: what the grunts would call medics
DUSTOFF: a nickname for a medical evacuation helicopter
E & E: escape and evasion
ELINT: electronic intelligence
EOD: explosive ordnance disposal
EXFIL: exfiltrate, exfiltration--sneak out/pick up/extract personnel; point of exit from an AO.
EXTRACTION: voluntary or involuntary withdrawal by air of troops from any operational area via helicopter.
FAC: (Fack) Forward air controller
FAST MOVER: jet
FIELD OF FIRE: area that a weapon or group of weapons can cover effectively with fire from a given position.
FIRE FOR EFFECT: when all ordnance was aimed at the enemy in continual firing.
FIRE MISSION: an artillery mission.
HEAT: High Explosive, Anti Tank
INCOMING: receiving enemy mortar or rocket fire
KLICK, K: short for kilometer (.62 miles).
MAD MINUTE: concentrated fire of all weapons for a brief period of time at maximum rate.
MECH: mechanized infantry
MIKE-MIKE: millimeters
NO SWEAT: can do...easily done or accomplished
POINT MAN: lead soldier in a unit
POP SMOKE: to mark a target, team sight (location), or Landing Zone (LZ) with a smoke grenade.
PUCKER FACTOR: assessment of the 'fear factor,' as in the difficulty/risk in an upcoming mission.
PUFF: AC-47 aircraft fitted with side-firing miniguns and flares.
RAP: Rocket assisted projectile
RUCK, RUCKSACK: backpack
SAR: search and rescue
SHACKLE: encrypt, a method of encoding sensitive information, such as unit locations, in order to be able to send the information by radio.
SLACK MAN: second man in a patrol, behind the pointman
SPOOKY: C-47 gunship - 7.62 mini guns mounted in side windows
WART HOG: A-10 aircraft. So slanged due to its 'ugly' appearance
WEB GEAR: canvas belt and shoulder straps used for packing equipment and ammunition on infantry operations.
57: OH-57 Scout Helo
Duck & cover: get down
Push: Do some push ups
On your face: Get in the push up position
Get ups: Squat thrusts
Tude: Attitude
TOC: Tactical Operations Center
Spy Glass: Laser designator used to lase targets for missles, hand held and portable carried by scouts or LRSD, Rangers, etc.
Down Rabge: Any area inside a combat zone

[Ole WV Coot]

Remember all except it was always a head not latrine and I still say head and I don't like salt water. Must have been somewhere I spent some time and it was used a lot. Oh well at least everyone knows what it is.

[Beowulf65]

Weeeeeehooo, that took a while.

[Beowulf65]

We called it a latrine when I was in from 83 to 91. Head was Marine term to us.

[Ole WV Coot]

Navy I thought. and BLIVIT was 10lbs of crap in a 5lb bag. Some new ones, but 20yrs DO make a difference. Everyone I ever worked with said head best as I can remember

Had to edit, didn't want to start a war between USN & USMC about a potty.

[Beowulf65]

The blivets used in the 101st are 500 gallon rubber collapsable drums. One got dropped from a helo once when the load swung and bounced twice before splitting.

[crashdive123]

Hey, Crash. Was muck just a Freudian slip? Other services speak Muck?!:D

Could be. I'll attribute it to fat fingers early in the morning.

[VampireRanger676]

Thanks Beo for the list and thanks everyone for explaining it

[crashdive123]

As with all lists that have centuries of history behind them, they are too long to post. Here is a list of some Navy jargon - some may be a bit "salty". http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:U.S._Navy_slang