military slang and sayings (Some may be mildly offensive)

[Xerxeskingofking]

some classic army snipe hunts:

Tire Pressure Gauges for armoured vehicles (which have solid rubber tires)

A Long Stand (explained as being a type of table, the automatic response is "yhea, i know where one is, I'll go find it, just wait here...." and then walk off, never to return)

Tartan Paint

A few stories:

at one armoured unit, in the late 80s when we had more than one tank in service, just before exercise, they would send the Sprog off to "get the blank firing adaptor* for the tank", and off the new guy would trot to the QMs dept, who would produce a big, 20 kilo plus lump of metal, that looked a lot like the rifle BFA's the recruit used in basic training. After lugging the thing back to the garages, the older soliders then berate the new guy, saying "you numpty! That's a BFA for a Chieften! Go back and get a ChallyBFA"

 

[baktegon]

A few stories:

at one armoured unit, in the late 80s when we had more than one tank in service, just before exercise, they would send the Sprog off to "get the blank firing adaptor* for the tank", and off the new guy would trot to the QMs dept, who would produce a big, 20 kilo plus lump of metal, that looked a lot like the rifle BFA's the recruit used in basic training. After lugging the thing back to the garages, the older soliders then berate the new guy, saying "you numpty! That's a BFA for a Chieften! Go back and get a ChallyBFA"

As someone who stares at digital tanks all day for work (World of Tanks video game) this is an excellent story.

 

[JimMarn]

Hmmm, they actually do make left-handed scissors though. My Dad got my Mom one, and she was so used to using the right-hand scissors upside down, she never did like them. She did give my Dad a big hug though for finding them.

Should tell them to find a left-hand potato peeler.

But there weren't any left handed scissors in the smll town I grew up in. I learned years later the school could have ordered some but decided not to.

Just like our desks were for right handers. Not a rectangle, but a loop of wood to support the right arm and a larger part to hold the paper.

 

[Enoki]

Left handed monkey wrench

Blinker fluid for the car

Telling the new sailor in engineering to go get a bucket of steam... Kind of backfired on Chief when he did that and the guy disappeared until just before turnover of the watch carrying a bucket of steam. Seems the guy had gone to the N2 O2 LOX plant for the planes on the carrier and gotten a bucket of liquid nitrogen...

Plopped it on the desk in front of the Chief and said "Here's your bucket of steam Chief!" o: :rofl:

 

[Timerover51]

Telling the new sailor in engineering to go get a bucket of steam... Kind of backfired on Chief when he did that and the guy disappeared until just before turnover of the watch carrying a bucket of steam. Seems the guy had gone to the N2 O2 LOX plant for the planes on the carrier and gotten a bucket of liquid nitrogen...

Plopped it on the desk in front of the Chief and said "Here's your bucket of steam Chief!" o: :rofl:

A case of "be careful what you ask for, as you just might get it."

 

[BlackBat242]

Just like our desks were for right handers. Not a rectangle, but a loop of wood to support the right arm and a larger part to hold the paper.

In every school I attended while growing up (Nevada & Utah) there were a certain number of such desks for left-handers... usually in a storage room unless asked for by a student. This was especially true at the college/university level, except that every classroom had at least 3 such desks.

Most desks, however, were bi-handed - with no elbow rest.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

“Mail-Buoy Watch”

Station a non-rate amidships. Issue him/her with a pair of binoculars and a long gaffer-hook.

“You will see a large container floating in the water. As the ship passes alongside, snag the lanyard with the hook and haul it aboard. The container holds the Captain’s personal mail, so don’t mess it up!”

I don’t know why so many non-rates fell for this ... maybe they didn’t. Maybe they were just relieved at not having to run a buffer, man a swab, or serve coffee in the goat locker.

So, in Traveller terms, you secure a spacehand in a vacc suit, just inside the airlock, with a gaffer-gun, and with orders to haul in the “postal satellite” as the ship drifts past.

Hours of fun!

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

... "you numpty! That's a BFA for a Chieften! Go back and get a Chally BFA"

“And bring back an Abrams retread while you’re at it!”

 

[Timerover51]

“Mail-Buoy Watch”

Station a non-rate amidships. Issue him/her with a pair of binoculars and a long gaffer-hook.

“You will see a large container floating in the water. As the ship passes alongside, snag the lanyard with the hook and haul it aboard. The container holds the Captain’s personal mail, so don’t mess it up!”

I don’t know why so many non-rates fell for this ... maybe they didn’t. Maybe they were just relieved at not having to run a buffer, man a swab, or serve coffee in the goat locker.

So, in Traveller terms, you secure a spacehand in a vacc suit, just inside the airlock, with a gaffer-gun, and with orders to haul in the “postal satellite” as the ship drifts past.

Hours of fun!

Hmm, that would be a legitimate order for a Lake Boat going past Detroit, as there is a mail boat stationed there to deliver mail to ships passing through the St. Clair River. The boat sends the mail up in a large bucket, and gets outgoing mail the same way. There also used to be boats selling convenience store stuff at some of the points on the Great Lakes. The Traveller equivalent would be a something like a ship's boat or modular cutter bring stuff up to unstreamlined ships for the crew to purchase.

 

[BlackBat242]

Or the locals in their rickety boats in various Asian ports - at least that was something common before the 1960s/70s.

 

[aramis]

Reple-deple and Repo-Depo: Replacement Depot. The staging center for replacement troops.

 

[Major B]

I don't recall if we've already covered "butter bar" in this thread. If not, it is a derogatory term for a Second Lieutenant, whose rank insignia is a gold bar.

If it has already been mentioned, I have some value added - a little bit of cadence to add flavor:

Twinkle twinkle little star,
Where'd you get that butter bar?
Don't tell me now let me guess,
Two box tops and OCS.

In a similar vein, an officer's promotion to Captain can be called "1st Lieutenant, second award" if he or she is deemed undeserving. Again, this is derived from the rank insignia - a 1st LT wears a silver bar and a Captain wears two. A Captain's rank is also called "railroad tracks."

 

[aramis]

I don't recall if we've already covered "butter bar" in this thread. If not, it is a derogatory term for a Second Lieutenant, whose rank insignia is a gold bar.

If it has already been mentioned, I have some value added - a little bit of cadence to add flavor:

Twinkle twinkle little star,
Where'd you get that butter bar?
Don't tell me now let me guess,
Two box tops and OCS.

In a similar vein, an officer's promotion to Captain can be called "1st Lieutenant, second award" if he or she is deemed undeserving. Again, this is derived from the rank insignia - a 1st LT wears a silver bar and a Captain wears two. A Captain's rank is also called "railroad tracks."

I've heard "Gold Brick" and "Silver Brick" for lieutenants who are lazy; I've mostly heard it from officers, but also a couple SGM's and CSMs. As in "Lieutenant Murphy's still silverbricking until he's done his required time." (A CSM referring to a useless officer. Murphy was let go as soon as his required 4 active were up, still a 1LT.)

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

Security is not a dirty word: Quote Form the (excellent) Blackadder comedy series, but taken in seriously, as a watchphrase and reposte to anyone saying your taking it a bit too far. Crevice is a dirty word, but security isn't.

No friends in crypto: another, somewhat more serious phrase, a reminder that when your dealing with cryptographic material, the weight of the law will fall on the person who signed for it last, and "i gave it to my friend...." just wont cut it in a court martial.

its a rank slide, not a gum shield: a threat, and a reminder to someone who is "hiding behind their rank" that the rank slide that denotes their authority provides legal rather than physical protection, and if i punch you like you so clearly deserve, i might spend a night in the cells, but you would spend the night in hospital.

HAT: insult used by the paras to describe non-paras. Apparently, it means Helicopter Assault Trooper, but that might be a backronym, and a backhanded insult to the Paras (whose last combat drop was Suez in 1956). Calling a Para a "hat" to his face is normally considered fighting words.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

I don't recall if we've already covered "butter bar" in this thread. If not, it is a derogatory term for a Second Lieutenant, whose rank insignia is a gold bar.

If it has already been mentioned, I have some value added - a little bit of cadence to add flavor:

Twinkle twinkle little star,
Where'd you get that butter bar?
Don't tell me now let me guess,
Two box tops and OCS.

In a similar vein, an officer's promotion to Captain can be called "1st Lieutenant, second award" if he or she is deemed undeserving. Again, this is derived from the rank insignia - a 1st LT wears a silver bar and a Captain wears two. A Captain's rank is also called "railroad tracks."

the brit rank insignia for officers is a series of diamonds, normally called "pips". hence, 2nd LT, 1st LT, and Capt are called "1-pip", "2-pip" and "3-pip".

 

[Condottiere]

Full bird - Colonel, or just bird

Light bird - Lieutenant Colonel

Lady Bird - Oscar contender

 

[Major B]

HAT: insult used by the paras to describe non-paras. Apparently, it means Helicopter Assault Trooper, but that might be a backronym, and a backhanded insult to the Paras (whose last combat drop was Suez in 1956). Calling a Para a "hat" to his face is normally considered fighting words.

"Leg" is the US Army equivalent to "hat" - or "dirty, nasty leg" as used by instructors at the airborne school at Fort Benning.

The 82nd and 101st Divisions have a strong rivalry and while the 101st still retains the airborne tab above their unit patch the unit is no longer on jump status and has converted to an air assault (helicopter-borne) structure. Paratroopers in the 82nd will commonly call the 101st troopers disparaging names like "dope on a rope" or "almost airborne" and I've heard the second phrase used to describe other (non-82nd) airborne units on Ft. Bragg such as units in the 18th Corps and Corps Support Command.

US Army airborne wings (awarded after completing 5 jumps in the airborne school) feature a parachute centered with stylized wings behind it. Air Assault wings (awarded after completing the air assault course at Ft. Campbell, home of the 101st) use the same wing structure but replace the parachute in the center with a front view of a UH-1 helicopter. This gives the badge a superficial resemblance to the cartoon character so it is often called the "Bullwinkle Badge."

The army's pathfinder school is located at Ft. Benning as part of the airborne school. Because the Pathfinder badge is the most conspicuous one on the uniform, I've heard the Pathfinder School referred to as the "Badgefinder School."

The US Army has a number of tabs that can be worn above the unit patch if you qualify, usually by completing the appropriate course. The Sapper tab for completing the Sapper Leader Course at Ft. Leonard Wood for example. However, in the Special Operations community only two tabs are thought to matter - the Ranger Tab and the Special Forces Tab. In conversation they are referred to (respectively) as the "short tab" and the "long tab" and a Green Beret (Special Forces) Soldier can be called a "long-tabber."

On a related note, completing the Ranger School and being awarded the Ranger Tab does not make one a "Ranger." I proudly wear the Ranger tab but when someone unknowingly calls me a Ranger I correct them because I have never served in the Ranger Regiment. Ranger units wear a unique patch in the shape of a scroll and it is serving in one of the Ranger battalions that allows you to be called a Ranger. The Ranger unit patch's unique shape lends itself to a tactical procedure used on patrols to quickly cross a linear danger area. When you don't have time to establish detailed security and recon the other side you can "scroll the road" by setting up hasty security teams and sprint everyone across as fast as possible. The hasty security teams face left or right with their left shoulders (where the scroll patch is worn) toward the danger area until everyone else in the patrol passes then they pick up and follow.

One more note about airborne school. If you have completed Ranger school and are not already airborne qualified, you are called a "leg Ranger." Actually, completing Ranger school first is an advantage because you run less risk of injury compared to those who have to jump in each phase of Ranger School. However, showing up to airborne school as a "leg ranger" means you immediately attract extra attention to yourself which is not a good thing. Showing up to airborne school wearing your "Bullwinkle badge" also gets you extra attention. A friend and I did exactly that and spent much of the first week in the "gig pit" with the one "leg ranger" in our jump school class. There we got to "push Ft. Benning" until the instructor got tired. Good times.

And another note on the Ranger tab: Completing Ranger School in the winter is considered harder than the summer and in the old green Class-A uniform, "winter rangers" would sometimes sew their tab on with white thread. Also, whenever you are talking about an Army school with a more recent graduate, it is required that you point out that it was harder when you did it.

 

[Ullarsskald1957]

the brit rank insignia for officers is a series of diamonds, normally called "pips". hence, 2nd LT, 1st LT, and Capt are called "1-pip", "2-pip" and "3-pip".

When I was at Norwich (the military college in Vermont) we still used round silver pips for company grade officers; 1 - 2nd Lt, 2 - 1st Lt, 3 - Captain. When you saw your name on the list junior year that you were getting rank senior year; "Hip, hip, hip, I got my pip!"

Cadet battalion and regimental officers got diamonds; Major - 1, Lt Colonel - 2, Colonel - 3.

I was a Cadet 2nd Lt, lost my rank due to going on academic probation at the end of 1st semester, got a promotion to 1st Lt halfway through 2nd semester when the University President announced an amnesty.

 

[Ullarsskald1957]

"Leg" is the US Army equivalent to "hat" - or "dirty, nasty leg" as used by instructors at the airborne school at Fort Benning.

I am a confirmed Straight Leg, but if you were jumping from fixed wing aircraft, you didn't fly without me...built and maintained runways.

 

[Sir Brad]

B3, Burn, Bash & Bury, Burn the Document to ash, "Bash" (pluvrize the ashes) it normally soaking it first urine works better than water, then Bury the slush in soil, preferably down a latrine.