For The Army, The ABCAs Of Jargon

Washington Post ^ | January 7, 2005 | Christopher Lee

[Former Military Chick]

Military jargon is, famously, an alphabet soup of abbreviations. Now the Department of the Army (DA) has issued guidance telling its soldiers and civilian employees how to mix the ingredients.

Army Regulation 25-52 (AR 25-52), a 12-page document published Tuesday, provides a primer on how to create, use, manage and maintain "standardized abbreviations, brevity codes and acronyms (ABCAs)" that are to be used in communications throughout the department. The existence of the document was reported yesterday by Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, in his e-mail newsletter Secrecy News.

For those who don't know the drill, the Army document explains that an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as "appt" for " appointment." A brevity code is an abridged form, normally in uppercase letters, of commonly used phrases (for example, "REFRAD means release from active duty"). And an acronym is a word manufactured from the initial letter or letters of a name or a series of words ("ASAP means as soon as possible").

The document advises the reader not to try to create any of these when the word or phrase in question has seven or fewer letters. Also, one should limit the length of abbreviations, brevity codes and acronyms "to avoid clumsiness and confusion."

And, orthographically speaking, it is generally a bad idea to adopt acronyms that form existing words or are identical to an acronym for something else.

Other helpful hints:

*Acronyms and brevity codes are normally in capital letters, whereas abbreviated words are capitalized only if the original word or phrase is.

*Acronyms should be pronounceable ("for example RSOP -- reconnaissance, selection, and occupation of position"), and their meanings should be spelled out the first time they appear in Army written communications.

[Former Military Chick]

I do not know why but I find this article entertaining.

[2banana]

This whole article is FUBAR and SNAFU...

[kinsman redeemer]

One needs a GOA to keep up.

[MikefromOhio]

all REMFs are completely FUBAR :)

[ArmyTeach]

Yup. I'm well aware of the meanings of these acronyms and in certain military situations I'm sure their use is esential if one is to maintain sanity...

[bikepacker67]

Always remember to pack your:
BOGS (Box Of Grid Squares) and COS (Cans Of Squelch)

[HiJinx]

Hey, Star, the Army finally caught up to you...now you have to go back and repost the 'A's in order to explain ABCA.

Which is bad, because the real breakout of ABCA is American, British, Canadian, and Australian and is used extensively ICW NATO and ASEAN operational applications such as FSO, RISTA, AirOps, and MarOps.

[ArmyTeach]

Yup. I'm well aware of the meanings of these acronyms and in certain military situations I'm sure their use is esential if one is to maintain sanity...

[Not A Snowbird]

Useful stuff, actually. I can't count the number of arguments I had to break up in the admin office because my clerks couldn't decide whether "Released from Active Duty" was "Relad" or "Relacdu". What's worse, some of our acronyms stood for different things. Now THAT was confusing at times.

I'm series.

[StarCMC]

Um...yeah...what you said! LOL!

[Doctor Stochastic]

Rather abcdarian.

[dts32041]

but if your COS becomes squeaky, you must get SG (Squelch Grease,

[B4Ranch]

Here ya go.

DOD Dictionary and the Joint Acronyms and Abbreviations

[military cop]

I know why you found it entertaining.

BOHICA is probably the most used over in the sandbox, right now. Particularly when the discussion turns to redeployment dates.

RLTW

[boxerblues]

Latest and greatest listing

https://www2.arims.army.mil/abbreviation/mainpage.asp

[wrastu]

Don't forget your Lanyard Grease, and Military Bearings.

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

Always remember to pack your:

BOGS (Box Of Grid Squares) and COS (Cans Of Squelch)

Hey! Don't forget the Frequency Grease and the Left Handed Smoke Shifter !

[JimRed]

I'm in the mood for some REFRAD beans!

[B4Ranch]

CLASSIFICATION:UNCLASSIFIED
>
>
> Not a pretty picture...
> Subject: FW: Great Air Force Communications
>
> Can't believe this could happen - on second thought; Yes I can - but
> HOW???
> Crash of a MC-130H Talon-2 in Iraq...this was not a hard landing as
> described by the media, but a gross error on the part of the airfield
> manager and construction crews.
> Last week one of our C-23 Sherpas flew into a US operated airfield in Iraq
> during the day and saw there was construction equipment on the runway. Yet
> there was no NOTAM (notice to airmen). A trench was being dug in the
> runway,
> and it was not marked. Its a long runway and they just landed beyond the
> construction. They filed a safety hazard report that was immediately
> forwarded to our higher headquarters and to the Air Force wing based here.
> Well, it seems the construction continued and still was not marked or
> NOTAMed or anything. A MC-130H landed on the runway the night of the 29th
> and didn't see the construction. It wound up going through what is now a
> large pit on the runway.
> The MC-130H was totaled. There were several
> injuries to the crew and the few passengers that were on board but luckily
> nobody was killed. Quite the set of failures somewhere in the system
> regarding this improper construction and no notifications about it.
>

[military cop]

Reminds me of the 6 foot trigger puller that my platoon sergeant sent an FNG looking for out at NTC.


RLTW