US Military Jargon Part 4

Another installment from the Hell and Gone website is long overdue, so here it is:


DD214: Official discharge form; "walking papers;" ticket to the World.
Deck: Floor or ground (navy/marine term).
Delta Force: A semi-secret subunit within the US Army portion of SOCOM, organized for direct action in counterterrorist ops, hostage rescue, etc.
DEVGRU: Short for "Development Group"--unofficially "Seal Team 6," a sub-unit within the Navy SEALs with a mission similar to Delta Force.
Didimau: Leave, run, escape, evacuate. (Vietnam era.)
Dittybop: To walk at civilian speed, usually with a swagger.
DILLIGAF: "Does it look like I give a (flute)?"
Dinki-dau: Insane; nutso; loony; whacked-out. (Vietnam era.)
Fartsack: A sleeping bag.
Fast mover: Jet fighter, jet bomber or jet attack aircraft (not counting the A10).
FNG: "F(lipping) New Guy"; a rookie; cherry; newbie.
Frag: Noun: Fragmentation grenade. The famous WWII/Korea "pineapple" type was replaced by a "baseball" type during Vietnam. Verb: To assassinate a unit member--usually an officer or NCO--in the field.
Front Lean-and-rest: The position from which push-ups are executed. There is no resting (or leaning, for that matter) involved. "Lean'n'rest" for short.
FUBAR: F(ouled) up beyond all recognition. (Originally a navy term, WWII era. Used by characters in Saving Private Ryan probably because the technical advisor was a marine.)
F(orget) the dumb s(tuff): Just get the job done, and don't waste time and effort going by the book, following assinine regulations or adhering to strac SOPs.

T'was the Night Before D-Day...

The D-Day Anniversary will be here before we know it. With both that and Memorial Day coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit some cinematic recreations of a momentous point in history.


Here, from the Band of Brothers miniseries, is a dramatization of the jump into Normandy the night before D-Day. And a nice piece of film making IMO.

By the time I myself became a paratrooper, the Actions On Aircraft routine had only changed a little bit from what is shown here in this WWII jump.

As a side note, it was my personal studies of WWII--particularly of the 101st Screaming Eagles' defense of Bastogne--that greatly influenced my decision to go Airborne. Unfortunately the 101st was no longer truly Airborne by the time I came of age (actually, the "Airborne" tab above their division patch had been rendered meaningless long before), and the only Airborne Division left was the 82nd...so that's where I wanted to go.

Concerning this series, this is rather ironic because the Bastogne episode was maybe the most lackluster in Band of Brothers IMO, capturing none of the desperation...or, dare I say: heroism...of that battle. Nevertheless, this drop into Normandy sequence is a gut-wrencher, I think, capturing the nerves, danger, and havoc of that night pretty well.

For the non-historians/military buffs out there, one classic purpose for airborne troops was a tactic called "vertical envelopment"--paratroopers are dropped behind the lines to catch an enemy in the rear while conventional forces meet them head-on. In recent history, the Rangers were thus employed in Grenada; the 504th PIR (82nd) in Panama; and the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Iraq during the opening stage of OIF. Granted, the missions in Grenada and Panama had plural purposes, but this is just a simplified explanation.

Specifically, in France the Airborne was supposed to capture key bridgeheads inland from the invasion beaches and either hold them until Allied armor could break out, or blow them before German armor could blast the Allies back into the English Channel. In theory, paratroopers are supposed to be dropped in undefended, or lightly defended, drop zones within a reasonably short march to their objectives. But American and British air forces had been bombing the living crap out of Germany and Hitler's "Fortress Europe" was bristling with anti-aircraft guns, ready to open up on anything coming from a westerly direction. Ike and his staff actually expected 60% casualties--an unheard-of risk acceptance for American planners.

Well, I could go on about this, but hats off to producer Spielberg and the film makers for telling Easy Company's story, and hats off to the men who put it all on the line in the fight against Nazi Germany.

US Military Jargon, Part 3

Back by popular demand (or perhaps just a demanding schedule), here is more lingo lesson from my website:

 US MILITARY JARGON CONTINUED

Back on the block: Back home; back to the life one had before the military.
Barret Fifty: A .50 caliber sniper rifle.
BDU: Battle Dress Uniform--traditionally woodland camoflage pattern.
Bloop gun: Grenade launcher, or "blooper."
BOHICA: "Bend over--here it comes again."
Bolo: To fail, underperform, or come up short somehow. "I heard he bolo'd the Q-Course and got kicked down to Division."
Boucoup: A lot, much, many. (Vietnam era.)
Break bad: To dress somebody down; chew them out; devastate them with insults.
Bring smoke: Kick butt; decimate; devastate.
BUDS: Basic Underwater Demolition and SEAL training.
Bumfuq, Egypt: A remote, isolated location with nothing of value. Rarely is it actually in Egypt, or even on the African continent. "The middle of Nowhere." Similar to "Timbuktu," "Yogi Bear 7" or "East Judas." Adjective form is usually "Podunk."
Bush: Jungle, forest or swamp. During peacetime it's called "the field."
Cherry: An FNG in an airborne unit.
Cheese-eating: Brown-nosing; boot-licking; kissing-up.
Clerks & jerks: A derogatory term used in the combat arms for non-combatants, support personnel, and other pogues who stay "in the rear with the gear."
Colors: A flag, banner, or unit guidon.
Cundingy: Backside, rear end, can, hiney, butt (of Korean origin?).

US Military Jargon Part 2

It's been a while since I posted the first installment from my website. Here's some more.

 US MILITARY JARGON CONTINUED

A-Team: The component of a Special Forces unit that carries out the operations.

Airborne: Adjective term for a paratrooper or unit composed of paratroopers.

Air land: Transport of troops by fixed-wing aircraft, usually to an airfield or landing strip secured by airborne troops who dropped behind enemy lines and took it by force.

Air mobile: Verb: To transport troops by rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters). Adjective: Troops who normally move by this method. noun: A mission, or component thereof, utilizing such troops/method.

APC: Armored Personnel Carrier.

ASAP: As soon as possible.

Ate up like a soup sandwich: Sloppy; poorly planned and/or executed. Usually referring to an operation, mission, or event. "That whole Somalian fiasco was ate-up like a soup sandwhich."

Ate up like a football bat: Usually refers to an individual who is hopelessly stupid or confused in a given situation, and has everything bass-ackwards. "Did you see Dumb and Dumber? That Jim Carey is ate-up like a football bat!"

AWOL: Absent Without Official Leave.

The complete glossary is viewable here.

US Military Jargon Part 1

Thought I might share some of the info off my website in between reviews and other blogs. I know I missed a lot in this glossary because I occasionally remember a term I should have included...but then I forget before my next chance to edit the pages.

Folowing is a list of GI jargon, spread over several pages. It is certainly not exhaustive, and perhaps not even contemporary for 2010, but much of it is used by characters in Hell and Gone. Some fairly common terms are included. I mean no insult to anyone's intelligence, but it turns out some fairly intelligent readers are unfamiliar with what I had assumed to be household words.

100mph tape: Similar to duct tape, but O.D. green, and strong enough to patch bulletholes in helicopter rotorblades, which spin at about 100mph.
201 File: A serviceman's dossier, reviewed when considering promotions or disciplinary actions.
4th Point of Contact (or 4th Point, for short): The backside, which is the 4th body part to hit the ground during a properly executed PLF.
5.56 NATO: 5.56mm ammunition. Same as caliber .223 Remington, which the M16 and many other assault rifles are chambered for.
550 cord: High-strength nylon parachute cord.
7.62 NATO: 7.62mm ammunition. Same as caliber .308 Winchester, which many medium machineguns and some main battle rifles are still chambered for.
782 gear: Or "deuce gear." USMC equivalent to US Army's "TA-50"--the helmet, canteens/carriers, ammo pouches, load-bearing equipment, etc., issued upon a marine's assignment to a company.
80pax: A "cattle truck"--theoretically capable of hauling 80 men plus their weapons and gear.