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Remember that old saying: do what you love and the money will follow? Still working on the second half ...
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War Slang
Sandbox Iraq. In-country. The A/O
Pogues / POGS People Other Than Grunts. Military support troops. Also see: REMF. derog.
DFAC Dining FACility. (pronounced dee-Fak). usually modern tent facilities run by contractors. Also Chow Hall, or little used vietnam era Mess Hall.
Mortaritaville, Bombaconda LSA Anaconda a major base near Balad, so-called for the frequency of insurgent mortar / rocket attacks
REMF rear-echelon motherf**. old Vietnam-era slang revived.
VBIED Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devise. i.e.. Car Bomb.
IED Improvised Explosive Device. i.e. homemade bomb
Battle rattle Personal infantry gear, including weapon, ammunition clips, kevlar, helmet
TLAs Three Letter Acronyms. The army's favorite abbreviations. click through Militraywords.com to get a random definition of one of the 100,000 or so acronyms.
FOB Forward Operating Base.
Haji Any Iraqis, Arabs, or Muslims; use derogatorily for the enemy (like Charlie in Vietnam). Derived from the Arabic term for pilgrims to Mecca.
Muj (pronn: Mooj). short for Mujahadeen. Insurgents. Often used half-jokingly with Iraqis: "you mooj?"
KBR Kellogg, Brown & Root. Halliburton subsidiary, Pentagon contractor.
PSD Personal Security Detail. Private security contractors / bodyguards. Effectively the second largest armed coalition force in Iraq, largely unregulated.
Haji armor improvised armor, like steel plates, installed on vehicles, usually humvees. Also see: hillbilly armor.
IPs Iraqi Police
ICDC Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (army)
TCNs Third Country Nationals. Includes the Nepalese ghurkas providing PSD, or the Bangladeshi and Pakistani cooks, maids, barbers providing contracted services.
Rhino A heavily armored bus, or minibus, usually transporting contractors from BIAP to the GZ
BIAP Baghdad International Airport. There are two sections, the main terminal for civilian flight and a military fterminal.
OGAs Other Government Agencies. i.e. CIA, FBI, various spooks and special forces.
Green Zone Heavily guarded area of closed-off streets in central Baghdad where US, coalition and iraqi authorities live and work. Houses many of Saddam Hussien's former palaces. Other area of Iraq are "red zone". Also known as the International Zone (IZ).
Wiskey Tango Foxtrot WTF. What the f**k?
Hooch Military living quarters in the a/o, from bare floors to barracks
Chow Food.
MREs Meals Ready to Eat. High-calorie, high-nutrient, packaged field rations, heated by a chemical pouch. A neverending source of military conversation and constipation.
BCGs Basic Combat Glasses, better known as Birth Control Glasses/Goggles. The standard military issue thick lensed and framed eyeglasses. Damn ugly. or Geek Chic.
A/O Area of operations. Where the war is.
OPSEC Operational Security. Stuff you're not supposed to talk about. Which, depending who you're talking to, can include the acknowledgment of your very existence.
Fobbits (n, pl) now replacing the slur REMFs. 2) orig: The REMFs who travel Iraq by hopping from one Forward Operating Base (FOB) to another. (via Back to Iraq).
SASO Security and Stability Operations. Mounted or dismounted "presence" patrols; sometimes considered "bait" to draw out insurgents. Also SASO World (see link "SASO World is 10 times scarier than any offensive,"
MOS Military Occupational Specialty. Your job, expressed by the appropriate military desigation: e.g., 11B Infantryman
AAFES The Army and Air Force Exchange Service. The old PX (Post exchange), where you can buy all sort of useful (goggles), and useless (patio furniture), stuff in the A/O, with your combat pay.