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."

[wku man]

No, as in "so and so is eating cheese for the platoon sergeant", or the First Sergeant, or the CSM, etc. Cheese eaters are notorious suck-ups. Consequently, they earned other terms of endearment, like "Cheesy Boy", "Mayor McCheese", and the ubiquitous "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!"

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"fourth point of contact".

I like that! A nice way to put it. It has a pleasant tone of erudition which hangs on an infantryman like the bracing scent of diesel exhaust...

"On the most exalted throne in the world, we still sit on our arses" From "In Harms Way" I think.

[elcid1970]

"Lifer juice"

Haven't heard that in decades since the draft was abolished. To unwilling draftees, anyone who reenlisted was a `lifer'. Ergo, career NCOs were the ultimate `lifers'. NCOs drink coffee and drill sergeants drink a lot of coffee. So basic trainees referred to coffee as `lifer juice'.

That's as I heerd it!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Brown nose, cheese eater. I had the same image in mind.

regards!

[wku man]

Yeah, that's a good one...I was a boneheaded newbie 'cruit (brand new in country) scout in Germany the first time I heard it...directed at me! We were always hounded, for safety reasons, to maintain three points of contact (two feet, one hand) whenever we were doing maintenance atop our tracks, Bradleys, and the tankers on their tanks. Whenever someone got caught sitting around (shamming out), his sergeant yelled at him to get off his fourth point of contact and get to work. Yeah, I'd been shamming.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[conservativeharleyguy]

"Space A" is a euphemism for "Space Available" seating on a military aircraft. It is a status one can assume when traveling in order to be seated on an unallocated seat on any flight (usually for free or a very nominal charge).

I flew home twice from Germany on "Space A" out of Rhein Main in the 70's, but first I had to show my commander that I had return tickets in order for him to grant me out-of-country leave, mostly because one could wait for days for a "Space A" seat, and thus end up late for return to duty or AWOL. I was lucky and never had to wait more than overnight. It saved me hundreds of dollars (big deal on a Spec. 4's pay in '78).

[Star Traveler]

Very interesting...

I just ordered the booklet from the web site that published it. I hope to find some interesting slang there...

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Ecliptic]

"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."

Sounds just like my trip home from Vietnam and my father's trip home after WWII......

[Non-Sequitur]

Haven't heard that in decades since the draft was abolished. To unwilling draftees, anyone who reenlisted was a `lifer'. Ergo, career NCOs were the ultimate `lifers'. NCOs drink coffee and drill sergeants drink a lot of coffee. So basic trainees referred to coffee as `lifer juice'

And even without seeing them drink anything it was said you could tell a lifer from the thick callous built up on their fore-finger from holding their coffee cup.

[elcid1970]

"The thick callous built up on their forefinger"

And that was in the days when messhall coffee was drawn into heavy porcelain mugs. I had to sign an incident report wherein a trainee took a swing at a drill sergeant, who then whaled the crap out of said trainee by using a coffee mug as a bludgeon, wielding it solely with his forefinger.

[ops33]

I wonder if they use FNG?

[BIGLOOK]

While at Pendleton for weapons training, the instructor laid out the Rules of Engagement......which changed on a daily and situational basis. In his professional way, we caught his drift. When push comes to shove, shoot the SoBs and write up the AAR using the original guidelines.

Poetic justice.

[wayne_b24]

virginian pravda in our area (our hacks like "the 7 cities") but we call it tidewater, hampton roads, greater norfolk (hated by 6 outta 7, etc...
i like to delude myself into thinkin i named it (the paper)...

[IronJack]

I've got a brother in Williamsburg, sister-in-law teaches in Newport News. Beautiful country around there. Pity to see it infected by liberal necrosis.

[wayne_b24]

not that bad (yet) except for macaca-bait jim webb...

[IronJack]

There's a lot of ex-military around there. I suspect they'll hold the wall.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Educate us. I can think of about 5 or 6 meanings for FNG. (Sounds like FUBAR or SNAFU).

[american_ranger]

f---ing new guy

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

He forgot:

Austin Bay

An egotistical nut with the ability to use the words I and my in a speech more than any other user of the English language.

[american_ranger]

Rumsfld's Restraint: You can only kill an Iraqi if he has first killed you.