Military Slang (2024)

Other Terms[]

... and a wake-up — The day you leave an ongoing duty assignment; usually in conjunction with leaving a combat zone or leaving the service. Used as a means of counting down to the transition. For example, if today is Monday and you leave the service on Friday, if someone were to ask when you get out, the answer would be, "Three days and a wake-up." (Tuesday to Thursday, with Friday being the "wakeup.")
AFSC — Air Force Specialty Code (USAF)
Alphabet — A term used by drill sergeants and other senior NCOs to refer to an enlisted man with a long or otherwise unpronounceable last name
Anal, cranial loopback — to have ones head up their ass
Army Brat — The son or daughter of a career soldier
Air Force Brat — The son or daughter of a career airman
Ate Up — Something that's messed up or not up to the standard
BA-1100-N — A snipe hunt for new soldiers, especially communication soldiers. BA refers to battery types; however, BA-1100-N spells "balloon." Can also be modified to require an "attaching strap"; in this case, a balloon on a string
Beat your face — To do push-ups
Beer Vouchers — Money
Bennie — A benefit, a good surprise
Big Chicken Dinner — Bad Conduct Discharge
Blast — A parachute jump; the first parachute jump after Parachutist (Jump) School; i.e., the sixth parachute jump is a "cherry blast." A person qualified to wear the Master Parachutist Badge is a "Master Blaster." "Hollywood blast" is a parachute jump, usually done simply for pay purposes, without all the encumbering equipment necessary in real or simulated airborne assaults
Blanket Party — The act of beating someone senseless in their bunk after lights out by throwing a blanket over their head so they can not identify the perpetrators
Blood Wings/Blood Pin — originally, to force the pin backing of Airborne wings directly into a soldier's chest. Now, blood-pinning refers to pinning anything into a soldier's chest, as well as the shoulders in the case of rank
BMT — Basic Military Training (USAF)
Bo-Koo — A lot (from the French word beaucoup)
Bolo — To fail a test or qualification
Boogie Dark- Expression used in Afghanistan to quantify the complete darkness found at night there. A blackness that seems to swallow light. Used widely in Bagram AFB
Brasso Promotion — The act of a Second Lieutenant shining their "butter bars" so much that they appear to be the silver bars of a First Lieutenant.
Bugout — A hasty retreat
Chaff-ass- Refers to the chafing that occurs from the inner thighs. Caused by skin rubbing together and becoming irritated and slightly raw. Can advance into Monkey butt (see below)
Chicken sh*t -This term started during the second world war. It is used to either describe the abuse an officer gives his enlisted subordinates or to describe the officer himself. examples "That was really chicken sh*t what he did." "That LT is chicken sh*t, through and through".
Chow — Food, or "breakfast/lunch/dinner," as in, "Is it time for chow yet?"
Cluster f*ck (also Clusterf*ck, Charlie-Foxtrot) — Apocrypha has it that this term originated from situations where groups of United States Marines were too large or disorganized to be able to successfully defend themselves from enemy fire, but in modern meaning it has evolved to mean any set of circ*mstances in which massive disorganization has the potential to cause serious damage. This term has passed into civilian usage as well, most notably The Daily Show.
Class 1 Download — Defecation
Class 6 — Refers to the base liquor store. Also refers to female entertainment and companionship.
co*ck Holster — Term used to refer to someone's mouth, as in, "Shut your co*ck holster."
Combat — Used in lieu of a soldier's name to get their attention; i.e., "Hey Combat, get over here."
Cover — A hat, flight cap or helmet
Cranial Rectitus, Cranial-Rectii Syndrome — term for soldiers who have their head up their rectum
DA Form ID-10T — A snipe hunt for new soldiers. New soldiers are told to get a DA Form ID-10T from an NCO. Invariably, the soldier says he/she doesn't know what that is, and is told to just write it down, and show an NCO. The new soldier usually doesn't realize he has written "IDIOT" and proceeds to show it to an NCO and asks where he can find one
Di-Dee/Di-Dee Mao — Retreat, run away; originally from Vietnamese forces
Dickskinner/Dickbeater — hands
Dirty Bird — Used to describe soldiers with personal hygiene issues; i.e., soldiers that don't shower after PT, soldiers that don't wash their clothes, soldiers with messy or dirty barracks rooms
Down-range — Physically in a combat zone; also used to describe any destination a group of soldiers are headed to. Generally, the term refers to Iraq itself; i.e., moving from a base in Kuwait to Iraq is moving "down-range."
Eleven Up, Three Down — Adds up to "eight up," i.e. "ate up," a term for a bad soldier
EOD — Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Fobbit — A soldier who rarely leaves the perimeter of his Forward Operating Base; Portmanteau of "FOB" (see above) and hobbit.
Fort Living Room — Civilian life; usually referred to as a fictitious duty assignment when leaving the service; as in, "My contract runs out in two months, then I'm being transferred to Fort Living Room."
Fourth Point-of-Contact — As in, "You guys had better get off of your fourth points-of-contact." A reference to the buttocks, which impact the ground following the feet, calf, and thigh when properly executing a Parachute Landing Fall (see PLF, above); term comes from Airborne units, but is understood by all
Front-Leaning Rest — The push-up position
Freeballing — Not wearing underwear in the field or on a long march to prevent chafing or "monkey butt" (see below).
Gaggle or Gagglef*ck a group of soldiers standing about in an unorganized fasion. Also, to move as a group in an unorganized way. (See also "Clusterf*ck")
Galloping-Trots, Trots, Quick-Step, The sh*ts — Army slang throughout the ages for dysentery.
Garritroopers — 1) Soldiers who enhance or lie about their combat experience; or 2) Rear-echelon troops who try to dress and act like combat grunts
...getting a range named after you — Usually used sarcastically to describe someone who tries to be a hero; this is because rifle ranges are often named after soldiers who get killed in combat or Medal of Honor-winners; i.e., "Don't you go trying to get a range named after you."
Gold Brick — Someone who habitually avoids work details
Golden Boys — A commander's favorite subordinates or subordinate unit
Good-Ol' Boys — A group of senior soldiers that are on friendly terms with each other and tend to look after each other, whether or not it benefits their unit; can be used derogatively by soldiers that are not on friendly terms with one or more members of the group
GI Party — After-hours barracks cleaning detail
Grab-ass — A term for general horseplay.
Gut Truck — Food vendor on wheels, esp. in training areas
Gut Bomb — Heavy food, like eating a greasy hamburger after a long road march, where a soldier can sense that (s)he'll be sick later from eating it.
Grub — Slang for food, chow.
Hooah — Pronounced "Hoo-ah" or "Hua", a common exclamation with seemingly endless uses. See link to separate article.
High-Speed — A highly-motivated and skilled soldier; often used sarcastically when a soldier is motivated but doesn't really know what he's doing, as in, "Slow down, High-Speed." Often used in conjunction with "low-drag," essentially meaning the same thing
Hoofing-it — Walking road march with full packs.
Humping — To march a long distance carrying heavy gear
Hurry Up and Wait — Describes the hurry to get ready and the early wake up times that lead to sitting around for hours with nothing to do. Many times the waiting is caused by "the word" not coming down from command; see also, The Word
Klicks — kilometers; .6214 mile each
Jesus Cruisers — Flip-flops; (see Shower Shoes below)
Jody — 1) Slang term for a civilian; 2) Individual who steals a soldier's wife or girlfriend while he is deployed; 3) A cadence which is chanted or sung while on marches or runs in formation
John Wayne — 1) The act of improperly wearing a helmet with the chinstrap unfastened; 2) A can opener, especially the old C-Ration P-38 can opener; 3) Someone who tries to be a hero; 4) Shooting a rifle from the hip; 5)the toilet paper from the MRE because "it's rough, it's tough, and it don't take sh*t from nobody."
Kill Zone — An area that can be fired upon, but commonly used to describe an area that lower enlisted troops are not supposed to be; i.e., on a floor that is highly-waxed and not supposed to be walked on
Land of the Big PX — refers to the United States of America; the main motivation/reason foreign-national women marry military men -- the women wait for a PCS to the USA, receive a "green card," then divorce the husband
Leather personnel carrier — slang for a road march or dismounted maneuvers rather than reaching a destination in an armored personnel carrier or truck
Maggot — A derogatory term used for enthusiastic personnel (see High-Speed)
Mess — Meal
Mess Hall — Dining facility
Mike — Minutes, "See you in a few Mikes"
Monkey Butt — Raw skin on the butt or inner thighs caused by long runs or road marches
MOS — Military Occupation Code
Orderly Room — Administrative center of the unit; controlled by the Chief Clerk, the First Sergeant/CO's offices are normally close by
Navy Brat — The son or daughter of a career sailor
PEN-15 Report — A snipe hunt for new soldiers. Military reporting forms are alphanumerically coded; however, PEN-15 spells "penis." As in, "go get the PEN-15 Report from the Sergeant Major."
Peter Pilot — The co-pilot on an aircraft
PRC-E7 — A snipe hunt for new soldiers. The prefix PR*refers to radios and is pronounced "prick" and E-7 is the paygrade for a Sergeant First Class. The soldier is literally trying to find a surly senior sergeant (and typically finds one). E7 is sometimes replaced by any other appropriate paygrades.
Pogey Bait — 1) Candy bar; 2) Snack food; 3) Someone frequently singled out for unwanted attention
PowerPoint Ranger — A term usually referring to a staff officer who spends their whole day giving presentations to the boss using MS PowerPoint.
Pull a Jody — To have sex with another soldier's wife or girlfriend
Quarters — 1) Military family housing; or 2) Doctor's direction to stay home from work; i.e., "He went to sick call and got quarters."
Re-up — To re-enlist
Real World — Return to civilian life; return to USA from overseas
Raoch Coach — The Mobile Field Kitchen Trailer brought on Extensive Field Traning Mission (Another name for the Gut Truck)
Roach Wagon — (see Roach Coach)
Roger — "I understand," used for radio communication, but also used in ordinary conversation
Sandbox or Box — Training area
Sandbagger — Someone who lets others do his/her work for him/her; see also shamming, below
Shammer — (See Sandbagger), (See also Shamming below)
Shamming/Sham Out — Goofing off, feigning illness, performing a task slowly, so as to have others do most of the work; i.e., "We are going to sham out for awhile."
sh*tbag — Highly pejorative term for a soldier that is not performing as expected
sh*t tickets — Toilet paper
sh*t in your own mess kit — A WW2 expression for a soldier that does something to cause his own troubles
sh*t on a shingle or SOS — Slang for the old Army meal in the field of creamed chipped beef on toast. Although the menu item is rare today, SOS can mean breakfast in general
Side-Straddle Hop — Jumping-jacks
Single-Digit-Midget — Refers to the soldier that has less than 10 days left at his present duty station. Some times accompanied by "I'm so short Y" jokes.
Single Man's Paradise — An establishment filled with the wives and girlfriends of deployed soldiers
Slicky Boy — A civilian who may be attempting to steal US military equipment to sell on the black market, especially during field training exercises in Korea.
Soup Sandwich — When something is messed up or not to standard; as in, "This formation looks like a soup sandwich."
Spotlight Ranger — Soldier who seeks attention and self-promotion, and generally does not support others; a non-team player who enjoys the "spotlight" and puts personal interest ahead of the unit's. This behavior is often observed during competitive training against peers, such as ROTC camps.
Square Away — To get something organized, cleaned up, functioning or looking strictly to military standards. Also used as an adjective for anything which is in such a form.
Stir-fried sh*t — When something is very unclean or unorganized
Stir the sh*t — Burning feces in a burnout latrine
Sucking Wind — Literally, breathing heavily. Usually meant to describe an inabilty to keep up with a difficult physical task.
Summer wrinkles — Refers to a very wrinkled uniform, one that looks like it was pulled directly from a duffel bag. Some are here and some are there wrinkles
Swass and Swalls — Combination of "sweaty ass and sweaty balls,"; as in, "It smells like Swass and Swalls in here."
The "B's" — The barracks, or apartment-type rooms for single soldiers
The Good News- i.e., "giving or receiving the good news" — The art of beating or getting beaten senseless
The sh*t — A soldier who is in or has been to combat. Can also mean that someone knows their job well or is the real deal, "he's the sh*t, he knows his sh*t." sh*t can also be a reference to a soldier's equipment & personal things, "grab your sh*t & get out of here."
The Word — 1) Used to describe commands from higher, sometimes in a derogatory way; 2) The official end of the duty day, signifying when soldiers can go home and relax; as in, "I am waiting on the word." (See also Hurry Up and Wait)
Time hack — A rough schedule of the day's events, e.g. "before you go back to get that gear, let me figure out what our time hack is"
Tube Steak — Penis, or (less common) hotdog
Turtle-f*ck — To strike someone's Kevlar helmet with yours
Un-Ass the AO — To quickly leave the immediate area
Un-f*ck — To fix something or someone
Wall-to-Wall Counseling — To physically beat a subordinate in order to impress upon them a mistake they have made; thought to have been derived from slamming a soldier into opposite walls, repeatedly. It is currently forbidden by regulation; however anecdotes suggest it is still in practice.
Wood-Line Counseling — Same as Wall-to-Wall Counseling (see above) with the exception of surroundings, i.e., Wall-to-Wall Counseling while in Garrison, Wood-Line Counseling while out in the Field. To take a soldier to the trees (off site and out of sight) and deliver physical correction.
Willie Pete — White phosphorus
Wub/Wubbie — A poncho liner, often used as a blanket
Yard Bird — Originally referred to a chicken; now, a soldier without direction or motivation
Zero dark thirty, zero beer thirty — Slang terms for having to wake up very early in the morning and quitting time, respectively.
Zero dark stupid — Same as Zero dark thirty, but MUCH earlier