Military Slang
Military slang decoded — hooah, FUBAR, oscar mike and armed-forces jargon across branches with real meanings and origins. Properly sourced.
508 words
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Brevity code: the fuel state needed to return and land safely.
The Expert Infantryman or marksmanship badge, jokingly.
Brevity code: time an aircraft can remain on station.
Mature content — open to view.
An artilleryman.
A helicopter pilot.
Laundry — wash day, forces style.
Gossip, rumour, the unofficial word going round.
The military dining facility — where troops eat.
The senior enlisted leader of an artillery firing battery.
A sailor who's crossed the equator and survived the line-crossing ceremony.
The M79 grenade launcher.
Mature content — open to view.
GI slang for any gadget whose name you don't know — the thingamajig of the WWII era.
A service member who never leaves the Forward Operating Base.
Brevity code: friendly aircraft.
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Brevity code: I see the target/enemy/position.
Physical Training — organized military exercise.
To dock or penalize for a uniform or inspection fault.
The eagle on a Navy petty officer's rank insignia.
Casualty Evacuation on any available transport.
The dark early-morning hours.
Soldier on the sick list or light duties — a skiver.
Mature content — open to view.
The essentials: food, ammo, and medical supplies.
Digital camouflage pattern uniforms.
Tactical Operations Center — a unit's command post.
Anti-aircraft fire, or the guns that throw it up.
The trigger finger.
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Highly motivated and squared-away (sometimes sarcastic).
A Marine's individual field load-bearing equipment.
Brevity code: sensor detection at a stated position.
Killed, missing, or otherwise done for.
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A formal written request for anything official in the military.
Royal Signals radio operator — the army's comms tech.
A desk-bound soldier, mocked as the opposite of airborne.