Military Slang

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Targan

There must be fascinating stories waiting to be told (perhaps at another time in a thread of their own) about how these two gentlemen have come to know the taste of ass, to compare it to other flavours. I await those stories with baited breath (oops, perhaps not the best turn of phrase to use just there).

TMI....just TMI!!!!

[Mahatatain]

Has anyone heard the term "Matelot" (pronounced Matlow I think) before? I believe that it is an abusive slang term for the Royal Navy in the British Army but I'm not certain.

Thanks for any help.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Mahatatain

Has anyone heard the term "Matelot" (pronounced Matlow I think) before? I believe that it is an abusive slang term for the Royal Navy in the British Army but I'm not certain.

Thanks for any help.

I'm pretty sure that's the French word for sailor. Note: I never studied French, so maybe it's just something I picked up on the playground.

[Mahatatain]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

I'm pretty sure that's the French word for sailor. Note: I never studied French, so maybe it's just something I picked up on the playground.

I believe that you're correct that that is the original source of the word but I think that it has taken on a slightly different meaning as a piece of British Army slang. I'm not sure though.

[LT. Ox]

Butter Bar: Gold (not brass) insignia of a 2nd LT. I were one err I was one hmmm I wore one.
Real bar: 1st lt. you understand the difference if you served. Got that one
Railroad tracks: Captains paired silver bars. Yep had them too.
Bird Colonel: Full Colonel. Nope never made it.
WP: White phosphorus delivered in any form.
Willy Pete: Same as above.
Didi Mow : Move it ( I am not sure of spelling or language)
Number one: nam use for the best.
Number 10: the other end of the list.
Crapper: well it is a location to do as described.
I will have more.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Following on from perardua I think it was, about the word gen. Here in Australia we used a variation of the word to mean bad information/not true, the phrase was "duff gen" and if you wanted to convey some truth or urgency to a matter you would say "no duff" e.g. during a training ex where you might be simulating casualties for the medics, if someone actually got injured you'd called for a "no duff casevac"

LT. Ox, that's your time in Vietnam showing! Didi mau is Vietnamese slang and from what my father told me (he did a tour in the last few years of the Aussie deployment), if you pronounced it Di, di mau it meant, "piss off/get out of here, right now!"
I also remember him talking about "Number 12" - if Number 10 was "the worst", then Number 12 was even lower/worse than that - and also Dinky dau, meaning to be crazy, screwed up. If you were boocoo dinky dau, you were majorly screwed up/insane (taken from French and Vietnamese, beaucoup & dinky dau).

Edit: Some more Aussie slang
Pisserphone - any tube, typically the cardboard tube used to pack individual mortar, recoilless rifle or Charlie G rounds, stuck in the ground standing up, to be used as a urinal.

[swaghauler]

Here are some artillery slang terms. LT. Ox might have heard of some of these. A few have appeared in previous posts.

Gun Bunny= Crew member of an SP gun.
Piglet= Crew member of a towed gun. Originated with the M114 (155mm), which was known as "The Hog."
Jo, Projo= a cannon projectile.
Smoke= a gun platoon consisting of from 4 to 8 guns (depending on the gun and unit/army)
Chief of Smoke= Platoon Sergeant
"Whiskey Papa"= The "politically correct" designation for White Phosphorous (formerly called "Willy Peter").
"Hotel Echo"= FDC designation for HE rounds during fire missions.
Give me "Snake"= a slang term for an ICM/ICM-DP round. I don't know where this came from.
"Hipshoot"= conducting an emergency fire mission from an improvised location (usually while moving the battery) using a distant aiming point instead of the normal sighting system.
"Wolf Pussy"= The hot foul gasses that are emitted from the breach after firing. New crew are "indoctrinated" into the crew by making them "sniff a little wolf pussy" during their first fire mission.
Ate Up= a slang term for a "screw up" or person who doesn't know their job. example, "That new guy is ate up!"
"Sending"= Term used by FDC to a forward observer to indicate the fire mission is in the hands of a gun crew.
"Rounds out"= The gun crew has shot the fire mission.
TOT (pronounced Tee-Oh-Tee)= "Time on Target." The flight time of artillery rounds or missiles/aircraft that a forward observer or forward air controller is requesting on a target.
"Attaboy"= A direct hit on the target during a fire mission.
"an Eagle"= A direct hit with the target destroyed.

other terms I have been exposed to include:

Crunchy= a sometimes derogatory term for mechanized infantry. It originates from the sound of running over an armored infantryman in the dark with a track. Someone said they "crunch" when you run them over.
Leg= a term (often respectful) for a foot mobile infantryman. "He's one hell of a leg!"
"Rolling HOT!"= Radio slang for driving while providing fire support (usually with Mgs).
Skinny= a slang term we used for the Somalians.
STANO = Short for "Standard NATO." A personal issue for me because when I was in; EVERYTHING was called STANO. "That's a STANO mag." "That's STANO practice?" The youngsters in forums today think I'm making that up because they say "STANAG," (for standard NATO agreement) not "STANO." But then again; I STILL call this... #... a pound sign...NOT a hashtag!

[LT. Ox]

Swaghauler and Stanlessstealcynic.
dinky dau... and Beaucoup anything and everthing!
Damn HIPSHOOT is how Friendly fire was invented, did not have a lot of use for it in Viet Nam. But we sure trained the hell out of troops in Sill.

How About SPLASH, do they still holler (radio)that just before rounds are due in so the FO can be ready to spot?
In the delta we "adjusted" our fire by using two of the Six guns in a 105 or 155 battery to fire the spotter rounds.
They were most two tubes farthest apart depending on the direction to target from battery.
We would have to use air burst wp to be able to "see" where they "landed" as the canopy was too thick.
In 67' FDC would radio "away" when the rounds were fired and "splash" three to five seconds before reaching target.
The FO ( me) would then correct and call for adional "spotting " rounds or call for "fire for effect" which would have the entire battery fire x-number of rounds of type and fuse called for by the forward observer.
He could then give "end of Mission" or repeat.
Hmm this is turning into a training film. Sorry

[swaghauler]

Now "Splash" is actually used by the FO to indicate he has seen the rounds. It became quite common to count right to zero (saying "impact" for zero). The goal was to get an exact count of flight time. This was a point of great pride for the FDC and a "constant count" was cause for praise in the Division. This evolved from the use of the digital Fire Control in the M109 Paladin HIP. The goal was to be able to deliver fire as fast a possible and KNOW how fast that would be before the rounds went out. This led to certain units beginning to play with "predictive fire missions." This is when a concealed FO tries to call fire on where an enemy WILL be in say 2 minutes from now. We got pretty good at predictive fire.

[Sanjuro]

PONTI- Person of No Tactical Importance (usually some kind of VIP visitor)

[CDAT]

I saw DAT on here, and even one guy said CDAT, but I did not see them give the meaning of it.

CDAT as explained to me at OSUT (One Station Unit Training) is that M-60 tankers are DAT's, M-1 are CDAT's as we be computerized.

Now for some highly technical ones from the second half of my time in the Army.
EOD = Explosive Ordnance Disposal
PUAC = Pick Up and Carry
BIP = Blow I place (way to dangerous to do anything with)
DDT = Do NOT Drop on Toe
NG Fuze = Shipping plug fired in artillery round.