Huh, what service/when was this? In the Army I only ever heard slick sleeve refer to someone who hasn’t deployed.
Army, 1990s, Ft. Jackson, and the Aberdeen Proving Ground. “slick sleeve” was someone with no rank. It was almost impossible to get through AIT without earning mosquito wings. Although “slick collar” would be more appropriate. It probably started out as an expression for regular Army people in training who hadn’t been assigned to a unit while in training, and had no sleeve insignia, but when I was in, Guard and reserve already had sleeve insignia from their units, because you are assigned to a Guard/reserve unit before you begin training. We were told to wear it on our dress uniforms from the get-go, and on our BDUs at AIT.
When a Marine makes Lance Corporal, they get crossed rifles under the chevron. We referred to those as “landing gear.”
Telephone colonel: the O5 that answers the phone, “Colonel So-and-so.”
More recent: never deployed = light on the right. An E nothing private = fuzzy or fuzzy chest. Because ACUs have velco rank and there isn’t a velco patch for E1.
I had to think about that, but you are right. The E0 does exist, but people rise out of it pretty quickly. I imagine it’s probably there because Guard and reserve start drilling with their units before they go to basic, and they need a rank for people who have no training whatsoever-- no college, no tech school, that might get you a PFC, or even an Eagle Scout rank that gets you in as an E1.
Everyone I trained with who went in with no rank was an E2 by the end of AIT, and that includes people who went in as E0.
We actually had a lot of spec-4s and PFCs in my basic unit. Out of 60 women, there were only about 15 with no rank at all. I think men are more likely to join right out of high school, and women were more likely to join either for student loan pay-off, or the GI bill, after they had completed part of their college education, and then had a financial crisis and couldn’t finish. We had one nurse in my unit in the stripes-for-skills program, who became a buck sergeant as soon as basic was over, and went to Walter Reed, where she she did actual work and AIT at the same time.
USAF dependent. Brats pick up a lot of this slang.
When we were in the UK, when folks were about to PCS (permanent-change-of-station), they would post their orders in the window with “FIGMO” (Fuck It, Got My Orders) written across the front.
“shit sandwich” as in, “This situation’s a shit sandwich, and we’re all going to have to take a bite.”
A major mistake was a SNAFU.
My dad would write “Sierra Hotel” on my 100 papers. (Shit Hot, pilot slang.)
When I was in JROTC, we called the garrison caps “cunt caps.”
Coffee was known as “Lifer Juice”
“Lifer Stripes”. On USCG Dress Blue (Long) uniforms, enlisted personnel wore red (or gold for a CPO) diagonal stripes on their left sleeve near the cuff. One stripe for every 4 years in the CG. There was the rare "Slick Sleeved 1st Class), who would be a 1st Class Petty Officer (e-6) who made it in less than 4 years and didn’t qualify for a lifer stripe.
“Chiefs’ Position”. Walking around “supervising” work details with your left hand in your left pocket and your right hand holding your coffee mug.
“Watchstanders’ Position”. This might have been a local one. At the LORAN station I served at, the only communications we had with the rest of the world was via radio. We had no teletype, so someone was on watch 24/7. There was a bell to get our attention when we had an incoming message or we could use when we wanted to communicate with one of the stations on our comm net. The operating controls were built into a desk. “Watchstanders’ Position” was with the watchstander sitting in the chair in front of the desk with his feet on the desk, the chair tilted back, and his head against the wall. Being awake wasn’t necessary. Usually this position was used by the 1800-0000 and the 0000-0600 watches.
What’s with all the people claiming FIGMO means Fuck It, Got My Orders?
It was always Finally I Got My Orders.
The only places I saw people posting FIGMO on their barracks room doors was at places you wanted to get the hell out of, like Northern tier SAC Bases or remote radar stations.
Those short timer calendars always made time pass slower too, even when you became a “single digit midget.”
I’ve always heard it as Fuck It vice Finally, I… Usually because your GAFF (Give a Fuck factor)falls through the floor once you realise you are posted out of whatever shithole you’re stuck in.
I remember “too easy,” in basic, when something really was simple, the DS would say to us “Too easy, right?” and we’d say “Too easy, drill sergeant, too easy.” I heard “too easy” other places, but something they said to us at AIT, that I don’t remember anywhere else was “You can smoke that.” When we were given instructions on something that wasn’t going to be too difficult (or, shouldn’t be-- there was usually one screw-up), the instructors, or DSs would tell us “You can smoke that.”
After we’d made a quick, or good job of something, we’d tell other people we “smoked it.” Sometimes some people would add that they “Smoked it for breakfast.” I have a feeling the expression was supposed to be “smoked it before breakfast,” but it got changed.
Posting your orders on the door was common in US Army Germany in the 70’s. When you had about 30 days left, you’d also clip onto your left uniform pocket some short timer’s wheels (only picture I could find on-line) which were curtain hangers. At the 9 days to go mark (when you were a 1 digit midget) you would take a strip of masking tape, cut it down to the wheels width, and write 9 - 8 - 7 - 6…to 1, and everyday tear away a number. Plus, at every formation, any time you entered or left a room, or if someone talked to you, you would yell “SHORT”.
I thought that one started with post-WW2 demobilization as FUJIGMO - Fuck You, Jack, I Got My Orders.
It was “Finally I Got My Orders” when explaining it to someone you had to self-censor for. But in truth, the emotional content was always 100% “Fuck it”.
Always.
My citation is my 21-year USAF enlisted career.
A few I recall from Basic Military Training:
Pushing Texas (all Air Force basic training is done in Texas, so if you screwed up badly enough to be doing pushups all the times, you’d be Pushing Texas. If you really screwed up, you’d be Pushing Texas 'Till It Moves.)
Space Cadet: That one guy who’s not necessarily stupid or bad, he’s just never on the same page as everyone else in the room.
MEPS Honor Grad: That one guy who really is stupid. MEPS is the name for the big administrative processing stations that all US military recruits have to go through for one last round of screening and paperwork before getting shipped off to Basic.
MEPS Waiver: Nobody knows how this guy got as far as Basic.
The Desperate Lust Institute: The Defense Language Institute (DLI) at the Presidio of Monterey, California, AKA The Marriage Capital of the Air Force. Very long training program, scenic part of California, relatively lax discipline. Lots of folks get into intense romances that last about long enough for them to get to…
The Divorce Capital of the Air Force: Goodfellow Air Force Base, located in scenic western Texas. Shorter training program, far less academically stressful, lots of folks about hit this point before they realize their long term relationships they formed in California may not be long term after all.
Sucking Rubber: Spending an extended period of time in chemical warfare gear, which of course includes heavy rubber gloves, a charcoal lined suit, and a rubber gas mask.
EDIT: Air Force doesn’t use Air Force Gloves (probably because we’re not allowed to put our hands in our pockets either), but we do like to use “Army Proof” for when something is made as simple as possible, usually color-coded and with pictures.
Raguleader, we weren’t allowed to put hands in pockets either, hence the derogatory Air Force gloves.
Guess all services have terms like that for each other as in your Army Proof.
When we were writing quizzes and tests for our students at LORAN School, we’d pass them around the office for “Idiot Proofing”, because if there was the tiniest way a student could misunderstand a question or find a loophole, they certainly would. It didn’t help that quite often students outranked the instructors.
Another one I just thought of:
Mama Blue: The Air Force in so far as it keeps you from having fun or getting in trouble (overlap between those two categories varies from troop to troop). This is the part of the Air Force that requires you to wear a reflective belt over camo fatigues in order to avoid getting hit by cars in Kandahar.
The Army ragged on the Marines. Among other things was another term I just remembered was “good to go.” If something was ready, or “squared away,” or you had passed a test of some sort, it, or you were “good to go.”
Sometimes, if you screwed something up, the DS would tell you in no uncertain terms that you were “ate up,” but then, sometimes they’d add “Good to go in the Marines.”
Another term I just remembered was “GI party.” That meant we were going to spend a couple of hours giving the barracks a thorough cleaning.