Iraq's battlefield slang

LA Times ^ | Jan 28, 2007 | Austin Bay

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

PRIESTS, PROSTITUTES, psychologists, cops, jazz musicians, poker players. Every trade has its jargon and "insider lingo." ...

..."Embrace the suck" isn't merely a wisecrack; it's an encyclopedic experience rendered as an epigram, gritty shorthand for "Face it, soldier. I've been there. War ain't easy. Now deal with the difficulty and let's get on with the mission."...

...Dynamic truth: Basically means "this is the plan when my supervisor gave it to me, but change is already in the works."

[magslinger]

Been there. Done that. The T-shirt was not authorized apparel at my duty station.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Equivalence alert...

[angkor]

"I know the guy who coined the phrase "Catfish Air"."

I'll bite :) Why Catfish?

Thanks for the article link. The KBR people were doing an excellent job when I was there.

My team shuttled a lot of people to and from Catfish because we had a truck and it was a nice break to get out of the office for an hour.

Funny, the article you linked mentioned Catfish being a Space A operation. Which is funny, because if you used the phrase Space A over on the Anaconda side, you were were talking about the facility that handled fixed-wing flights to Germany, Spain, Kuwait, etc. As in "I'm on single digits and need a ride over to Space A to get a flight to Weisbaden."

Now at that "Space A" chances were good you were going to be there for 2 or 3 days and get multiple false alarms about your flight being "soon". My last flight out was insane: Space A to Ali al Saleem, bus to Doha, bus to KIA, flight to Bahrain, 3 days layover in Frankfurt, to JFK NY, bus to La Guardia, finally a flight to Texas.

[Little Bill]

I believe the original term was Bumf, for bum fodder.

[IronJack]

I believe the original term was Bumf, for bum fodder.

I don't think so. I think the original term was "LA Times."

[Little Bill]

Boston Globe, Glob, Pravda on Morrisey Bvd, in my area.

[IronJack]

Boston Globe ... in my area.

You poor thing ...

[Hacksaw]

Here's some more (from the late 80's Army)

Idiot Pill : Hostess twinkie ("Men, don't suck the idiot pills")

Ate Up : Stupid (As in "He ate up a case of dumbass this morning)

Re-up : Re-enlist ("Re-up? You're crazy!")

Bolo : To get a disqualifying score on the rifle range.

[TADSLOS]

Catfish became the colloquial term for that unit due to it's association with Mississippi. Yes, Space-A has a different meaning in this case. Strictly point A to point B in-country flights, and nothing has changed with regard to Space-A in general. It's hurry up and wait, but the price is right.

[wku man]

Sorry, but everyone knows that "treadheads" are tankers. We scouts take umbrage at being called treadheads, a term reserved specifically for DATs (Dumb-A** Tankers, for M60 types) and CDATs(Computerized Dumb-A** Tankers, for M1 types). Of course, the tankers called us and the mortar maggots in the unit "crunchies", 'cause that's the sound (dismounted) scouts and grunts make when run over by DATs and CDATs.

Boy, I forgot how much fun Army trash talking was!

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[wku man]

How 'bout this one..."that boy's ate up like a soup sandwich". Or "football bat", as in "that boy's fu**ed up like a football bat".

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[wku man]

In the Army, we called it "shamming out" when you got caught goofing off. And who could forget the classic "cheese eater", the Army equivalent of a brown noser?

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"Knocked up" WWII aussie for tired
"Knocked up" WWII american for pregnant

[mad_as_he$$]

So short, Shorty, Short. So little time left in Nam you had to dig a hole to kick someone's a$$.

[mad_as_he$$]

Longer time to get back than you were in country - right?

Hey and if I haven't said it before, thanks for your service! If you ever hit Reno drinks are on me!.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"crunchies",

I would have thought "Squishies".

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"cheese eater",

As in cut the?

[wku man]

Well, with the limited vocabulary of the average DAT (or CDAT), I guess it was the best they could come up with. They always had their heads up their (here comes another one) "fourth point of contact". /facetiousness off

Seriously, some of the best people I've ever known were DATs/CDATs. They're just...misguided.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[IronJack]

"Knock up" -- British slang for "call on" or "visit."

"I got a call from me old college girlfriend who was living with her sis in a flat in Chelsea, so I went over and knocked her up."