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'EMBEDS' LEARN GRUNT LANGUAGE
Byline: JONATHAN FOREMAN in Iraq
March 30, 2003
My first briefing as an "embed" in the 130th Engineer Brigade was a relentless blizzard of acronyms interspersed with catchphrases and strange slang - my introduction to Military English, a dialect all its own.
Some of it is familiar from the movies, such as the "roger"-ing on the radio.
Most of it is not - particularly the endless acronyms. In an officer's briefing, you'll hear constant talk of "Fragos" - "fragmentary orders" which are modifications of a basic plan.
Soldiers wear "LBVs" - load-bearing vests - which is what they use to hang their ammunition pouches and canteens.
Your helmet is referred to as your "Kevlar," the composite material from which it's made.
When you're wearing all your gear, including your clanking canteen and weapons, you are in your "battle rattle."
If you're wearing "Nods" you're sporting night-vision goggles - a necessity for finding your way around a totally blacked-out camp.
A "track" is any armored vehicle on tracks, from an M1 tank to an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier to an "AVLB" - Armored Vehicle Launch Bridge.
"Crunchies," say the "tankers" (tank personnel), are the light infantrymen who walk instead of riding on tracks.
"DATs" - "Dumb-Ass Tankers" - is the light infantry term for people who ride in tracks.
"Hooh-Ah" is a general purpose expression that can mean "yes" or "all right" or if, used sarcastically, "Get lost, sir."
"That's outside my lane" is what soldiers say when you ask them a question about a branch of expertise not their own, or about politics.
"Snuffy" or "Joe Snuffy" is a nickname used by officers for the generic accident-prone privates.
One senior NCO in the 54th Engineers sometimes affectionately refers to such hapless men as "tent pegs," because "sometimes you just want to stomp 'em into the ground."
Finally, to show you're truly proficient in Military English,
use the F-word at least twice in every sentence.