Military slang, A–Z

Slang, acronyms, everyday expressions, and a few official reference terms. Branch badges describe common usage, not exclusive ownership.

0

1

A

A-school AAR AFSC Aft Air assault Airborne Airman All hands All the way Ate up Aye aye

B

Barracks Battle buddy BCGs Belay Bird Bivouac Blue falcon Boats BOHICA Boot Breacher Bulkhead Butter bar

C

Chair Force Charlie Mike Chief Chow Chow hall CO Coastie Colors COMSEC CONUS Corpsman Cover CQ Crayon eater Crew chief Cutter

D

DD-214 Death before dishonor Death card Deck Delta Devil Dog Doc Dog and pony show Dog watch Dope on a rope Drink water and change your socks

E

Embrace the suck ETS

F

Field day Flight line FOB Fobbit Formation Forward FUBAR

G

Galley Gear adrift Geardo Gig line Go-fasters Good to go Grunt Guardian Gun truck Gunny

H

Head High speed low drag Hooah Hooch Hooyah Hurry up and wait

J

K

Kill zone Klick

L

Ladderwell Latrine Leave Leg Liberty Lima Charlie

M

Maintainer Mess deck Midwatch Mike Moonbeam MOS Moto Motrin and water MRE Mustang

N

NCO Ninja punch Non-rate

O

OCONUS Oorah OPSEC Oscar Mike

P

Pass Passageway PCS Pencil whip PERSEC Pinks and greens POG Pollywog Poncho liner Port PT PT belt

R

Rack Range day Reenlistment Reveille Ricky Recruit Roger RTO Ruck

S

Salty Scuttlebutt Semper Fi Semper Paratus Semper Supra Shammer Shellback Sick call ranger Sitrep Skivvies Small boat station Smoke session SNAFU Sortie Soup sandwich Squared away Squid Starboard

T

TAD Tango Uniform Taps TDY Terminal leave Top Tun Tavern

U

Un-sat USCG USSF

V

W

X

Z

Zero dark thirty