FIGMO - Fuck-it. I got my orders.
Those men are true heroes.
You forgot the step between SNAFU and FUBAR, TARFU.
When someone in your section asks why we were given a particular assignment, how long we’re supposed to do this assignment, or what the point of this assignment is - raise a fist, hold it in front of your face, make a thrusting gesture toward and away from yourself.
They will recognize the sign for “Fuck Nose”, as in “Who the fuck knows?”
-longtime reservist, signals
OK, that explains something to me. A friend, brought up in an army base in Germany, and his step-mom would call each other “Suck Nose.” When I asked what it meant, they just said it was a pet name. They must have got it from this.
Butter Bars - a 2nd Lieutenant
Full Bird - an O6 Colonel versus a Lieutenant Colonel.
Mustang: An officer who served previously as enlisted. In general, they automatically gain more respect from their troops. Deservedly, IMO.
N ever
A gain
V olunteer
Y ourself
M uscles
A re
R equired,
I ntelligence
N ot
E ssential
M y
A ss
R ides
I n
N avy
E quipment
And Everyone’s favorite:
U ncle
S am’s
M isguided
C hildren
A in’t
R eady
to be a
M arine
Y et
ex-RCAF;
Dilligaf is used a lot, as well as Bohica (Bend Over, Here It Comes Again).
Snag for an aircraft unserviceability, also any exercise or TD (we drop the Y because we don’t say Y’all) that was FUBAR would be called Op BFC- Operation Belt fed Cock.
My personal favorite is the term for a pilot- Seat Stick Actuator or Seat Stick Interface.
My husband was in a “no salute” area in Iraq, meaning that you didn’t salute officers when you passed them, because if an insurgent happened to be watching, he’d know who all the officers were. However, every now and then, a butterbar would show up, and not get the word (or the why) on the “no salute,” and demand that the enlisted people salute him. This was referred to as a “sniper check.”
Now, it means something that is out of compliance, or just messed up. Payroll screwed up, and our pay is delayed until Monday? That’s ate up. Your bootstrings are hanging out? that’s ate up. You’re late because you got lost on the way back from sick call? either that excuse is really ate up, or you are.
Here’s a couple more:
Fort Living Room: this is where people in the reserve and guard are posted after training.
Oil level gauge rod: I was a mechanic, and this is just one example of many wordy terms the Army came up with for something that already had a simple name. An “oil level gauge rod” is a dip stick.
A lot of things are known by initials: basic training is IET (initial entry training); the uniform I wore at basic, the old-fashioned camouflage of the 1990s, was called BDUs, or Battle Dress Uniform, but always with the plural “s” on the end. “My BDUs are back from the laundry.” We’d do PT (physical training) every morning, we called our rifles “M-16s,” short for M-16A2. When we were in full gear, with helmets, rucks, and ammo pouches, it was “TA-50.” I don’t even know what that stands for.
Oh, and young male soldiers are “Joes,” and women are “Mollies.”
Oh and in addition to Fuck nose, accompanied by the ok symbol on your nose was also fuck hairs (as in Who the fuck cares), same sign on your head.
Followed, occaisionally, with its inverse “OMGIF” – “Oh My God, I’m Fucked!” if the orders turned out to be unexpectedly unpleasant.
Oh, raise your hand if you remember “birth control glasses.”
And when the Buddy Holly frames became stylish again, they quickly got rid of them.
LDO (Navy Limited Duty Officer): Loud, Dumb and Obnoxious
Marine: A Seabee with a light duty chit
Air Force (or Naval Air): Zoomies
Guam: Give Up And Masturbate
Fleet Sailors: Boat people or anchor clankers
LGB: Large Gray Boat (Seabees had no idea what the hell they were actually called)
Hooches: what we lived in in Vietnam. Formally called sea huts. No idea where the word came from.
Six, six and a kick: Court martial punishment of six months forfeiture of pay, six months confinement at hard labor, and a dishonorable discharge
Rocks and shoals: the predecessor of the UCMJ. I’ve heard Marines refer to the shaved sidewalls they call haircuts as rocks and shoals.
EO: in the Seabees, this rating stands for Equipment Operator. We used to say that the only thing lower than an E-1 was an EO. They weren’t known for their smarts.
Oh yeah-- someone who entered basic with no rank was an E-nothing, or “slick sleeve.” When they finally got their first rank, the single chevron, they were called “mosquito wings.”
TA50 is short for Common Table of Allowances (CTA) 50-900 Clothing and individual Equipment or CTA-909 Field and Garrison Furnishings and Equipment. Generally it was the individual items issued based on your duty assignment beyond basic uniforms. An example is more cold weather gear in Colorado.
Female Coasties were referred to as “Split Tails”. CG aviation ratings were known as “Airdales”.
While the infantry had soldiers in squads, platoons, companies, and battalions, we in the Cavalry had Troopers in Squads, Platoons, Troops, and Squadrons.
“YORC” = You’re Absolutely Right, Commander.
“Prick 77” = AN/PRC-77 radio. It was a backpack radio that mysteriously gained weight the longer you wore it.
“Crow” = nickname for embroidered/stenciled, or iron on rating insignia for a Petty Officer.
I forgot the prick 77. They always seemed to pick the smallest guy to carry the damn thing. On one field exercise (FEX), I came upon this poor schmuck lying on his back on the side of the road. His officer had marched on without him. He looked like a stranded turtle and asked me weakly if I’d help him up. I did, and gave him some water. The guy looked done for. Fucking young officers had no sense of leadership or responsibility to their men sometimes.