You’ll like these: Squawk Word | Snopes.com
Reminds me of the SK2 at my 11 man LORAN station who wanted to order 100 rolls of toilet paper through the FSN system. He didn’t notice the QUP (quantity issue) was not EA (each) but HD (100). So we got 100 boxes of toilet paper with 100 rolls in each box. Me, at first in ordering ET parts, I put down priority 2 (fastest) instead of 5 or 12. After about 5 orders I got a nasty call from district wondering why we needed 10 bolts of cheesecloth (for the screens in the LORAN antenna coupler room to prevent dust from getting in…AN/FPN-44 or 45 don’t like dust).
I don’t really have stories of convoluted military jargon in military reports…probably since I avoided those as much as possible. But while doing PMs on a 95 footer once, the LT j.g. in charge had a hissy fit when I called it a boat. I said it was a WPB, not a WPS. Would you believe he said I had an attitude problem???
It’s the eyes…
As jargon goes, I seem to recall that the Air Force refers to an airplane crash as a “mishap.”
I feel like I ought to point out one misleading thing from the article.
They say “lost a $115 million aircraft”. Probably not quite so much… it’s not like it crashed and sank to the bottom of the Gulf. I’d bet that a lot of the price is weaponry and fire-control systems, and a lot of the rest of the plane can almost certainly be salvaged, even if the airframe is no longer airworthy. Engines, props, and a host of smaller components are probably in fine working order and can be reused on other aircraft.
So not quite the loss that they make it out to be. Not great by any stretch, but not even in the same league as a crash and the loss of the aircrew (by far the most expensive part of the system!).
They taught me it was a boat until it was longer than 100 feet. Of course, the LTJG was an academy graduate. I bet he was a relatively new skipper who the XO or XPO hadn’t finished breaking in yet.
For the non-former Coasties: An early command looks good on a CG officer’s record. An 83 or a 95 was the smallest patrol boat that would have a permanent crew. Command of one of those would go to LT JGs as a first command and their second unit, their first being an Ensign on a larger cutter. So, a new CO would have 2-3 years experience out of the Academy. The second in command of one of those patrol boats would either be a warrant officer (Executive Officer = XO) with at least, what, 14 years experience or some flavor of Chief Petty Officer (Chief PO, Senior Chief PO, or Master Chief PO and for the SCPO and MCPO at LEAST 20 years in) as Executive Petty Officer (XPO).
The crews rotate. At the time any crewmember is transferred off, he’s the one who’s been on/at the unit the longest. They usually stagger the CO and XO/XPO so the XO/XPO will get a new CO about halfway through his tour there. During a new COs first 3-6 months, he’s mostly being trained by the 2nd in command on how things work at the unit and how to do it. Fair is fair, half way through the COs tour, he gets a new XO/XPO that he gets to train.
Except that U.S. Navy submarines, regardless of size, are commonly referred to as “boats.”
I thought a boat can be carried on a ship, but a ship can’t be carried on a boat?* 
*With the exception of submarines, of course.
True, but the Coast Guard didn’t have any submarines in my time.
This mother makes a lot of things boats by that definition.
since it can carry up to 75,000 tons, although you might run into length and draft problems on some ships lighter than that.
Yes, it can be confusing. Though, when doing a Fisheries Mission and you’re in a 42’, 83, or 95’ patrol boat hailing a 600’ Russian or Japanese fishing trawler and factory ship to “Heave to and prepare to be boarded!”, you can’t help thinking that if they wanted to, they could scoop you up in their nets and hoist you onto their deck.
Back in my military days, I recall doing an inventory on office supplies and one thing listed was “ash receptacle, tobacco type”. This lead to much joking about how many different kinds of ashtrays the military had specified.
Whatever you do, do not misplace the Off og. (And never say it came apart under gravitation stress!)
Ho-lee crap!!! :eek: