Soldier Slang
Came across this while looking for something else. WATM states “only soldiers” are likely to be familiar with the terms, but I found them mostly common, or common enough, to what was tossed around in Navy squadrons.
18 terms only soldiers will understand
Logan Nye
Soldier lingo has a tendency to reference things that only exist in the Army. Here are some terms outsiders probably don’t know.
1. Private News Network: The rumor mill or soldier gossip.
We had Rumor Control, or RUMINT. The article is photograph heavy, so it’s just as easy to go to We Are The Mighty and see for yourselves.
My dad used to say I was what they called a “ground gripper”.
He was a B-17 gunner. Not sure of the exact meaning but I’ll
wear it anyway.
[…] Soldier Slang – This Ain’t Hell […]
Would have to agree that many/most of them are fairly common terms used not only by military other than Army but other orgs. Maybe some slight variations depending upon who is using the terms?
Click bait.
Slow weekend.
Everybody’s a critic. Lots of other good articles in that We Are The Mighty Linky. Particularly liked the article about The Green Mountain Boys gonna take the fort whether Ben Arnold helped or not. And they were taking it for the beer.
Brings to mind a story about the Fifty FIRST (51st) PA Inf Rgmt IX Corps (?) Army of the Potomac. Fredericksburg Vicinity, the Gnrl Commanding stated that any Regiment that took and held a bridge would get a barrel of whiskey as a reward. Well, them tooks took the bridge and higher decided to waffle on the whiskey reward. The boys got mad, got drunk on some hard cider and were confined to a stockade area near the hospital supply tent. They disassembled a couple of Springfields, took the breech plug out, and used the rifle barrels to siphon whiskey from the Surgeons Whiskey Barrels. Yep, they were drunker when the order came down to release them than they were when FIRST confined.
That was “Burnside’s Bridge” at Antietam.
“Beat your boots”
U.S Army Airborne in the 70’s, we actually could beat our boots because actually wore boots. Fatigues and boots were the PT uniform. You train like you fight. Shin splints and blisters?
Take 2 salt tablets and drive on!
They’re fulla crap about the term Leg–it’s short for Straight-leg, and was based on the fact that Airborne troops ALWAYS wore jump boots and bloused their trousers into them, even their Class A dress uniforms, while non-Airborne personnel after WWII weren’t authorized to wear bloused boots with anything but utility uniforms. For everything else they wore low-quarter shoes and “straight-legged” trousers, thus the term.
There was an exception for tanker personnel for a while but I’m unfamiliar with the particulars. I do know it was still a point of contention between the Armor and Airborne in the late 1950’s.
WRT “Leg”, the version I heard is that “leg” is indeed short for “straight-leg” but it comes from the fact that paratroopers are always taught to NOT keep their legs straight when landing, rather they have to keep their knees bent to keep from breaking bones when hitting the ground.
This is my understanding as well.
There is a scene to that effect in Band of Brothers when Sobol accuses one of the troops of blousing his boots like a paratrooper before earning his wings
Also, “beat your boots” is the corrective training tool of choice at BaC because unlike push-ups you can do it while wearing a parachute (added bonus of making it extremely uncomfortable)
This article is a pretty pathetic effort at portraying soldier lingo. I can think of many dozens of terms only used by soldiers that aren’t in this article.
I concur, that list is so short that it’s “Ate-up”!
Soup Sandwich.
I knew a Soldier once named PVT Gay O’Rielly. No shit.
He was ate up.
And the shit he took never stopped. Kinda felt bad for him.
People used sing that O’Reilly’s auto part song but substitute his name “Gay, Gay, O’Reilly, Dildo parts”.
3/4 Cav, Conn Barracks, Schweinfurt GE went to get breakfast one morning and a new cook was there. Korean girl, name tag said Ho… I feel bad for the amount of giggling I did,,,
FUBAR comes to mind. WW2 Army slang.
Along with SNAFU and TARFU!
JANFU, SAMFUTU, SANFU, and a few others were taught to me as a preteen, although as ‘fouled up’.
FIGMO and FIDO – Cold War acronyms.
Yeah, but now those are crappy movies so everyone knows the term!
I was thinking more about “being smoked”= tired from exercise, its just a few “clicks” ahead = a few kilometers (because the military is so progressive and uses the metric system), O-dark thirty (a European time reference) = early in the morning, or specifically 00:30 hours (though that is now a movie as well), Mission Statement (second paragraph of an Operations Order) = what are you told to do, OP ORD = Operations Order (the plan for what you are doing and why, structured in five specific paragraphs and a bunch of non-specific), FARGO = change to the plan, Spot-On = Right where I wanted to be (sniper reference for hitting where I spotted)…
FRAGO (Fragmentary Order)…sorry about the typo = A change to plan of an Operations Order with only the changes sent.
“Acquired” gear.
Naval Service (USN/USMC) translation:
“Gear adrift is a gift!”
Two-hole Ranger.
Good thing I wasn’t eating or drinking when I read this.
Fuckin’ GT!!!
Oh and excuse me for stealing this from Book of Faces from someone who I believe is a poster here but I don’t use his civilian name (Or know which is associated with what here.) anyway, you know who you are and it furthers the discussion of military slang and jargon…
https://imgur.com/a/QxEYnUo
I also provided the following….what I believe was the politically correct nomenclature for other more offensive slang…
” 5 gal Jerry Can Fuel Funnel/Spout.”
Now particular to my career field in the opposite vein:
MAC = “Many Alcoholics Combined”
and
AMC = “Alcoholics Moving Cargo”
“5 gal Jerry Can Fuel Funnel/Spout.” the stock number is 7240-00-177-6154.
Now, if you were to ask me nicely (H/T to COL Jessup), I can add these items to your next hand receipt:
8965-01-578-1410
6505-00-619-8716
”5 gal Jerry Can Fuel Funnel/Spout” has been corrected to read “mule apparatus” in place of that other, more vulgar equine term…
Maybe drop some Navy lingo into the mix?
Buddy is only half the word…..
And it’s synonym, “blue falcon.”
FUBIJAR
F You Buddy I’m Just A Reservist