And then there is the unpleasantness of the ever-present rank structure. In fact, it mostly sucks.įor every five seconds of hanging out of a helicopter, there are countless eternities of safety briefs and mundane tasks (picking up cigarette butts, buffing floors, toilets). When personnel or materiel are obtained through unofficial channels. A double-digit midget could refer to someone who is close to rotating out of a combat area. "Double digit midgets" are service members with fewer than 100 but more than nine days until their enlistment ends. So, if a service member is getting ready for bed on a Sunday and flying out on a Friday, he'll say "four days and a wake-up." "Check your six" is also used in bars or other crowded areas to discretely tell a friend to check out someone behind them.Īny off-duty military clothes a normal civilian would wear on the street.Ī "wake-up" refers to the last day you will be some place (generally while deployed). Refers to the kid show "Barney and Friends." When something is broken down Barney style, it's being explained as if to a child.Īn Air Force term for "watch out behind you" based on looking for enemy aircraft or missiles to the rear at the 6 0'clock position. Two personnel who frequently leave base together while dressed in their blues as known as "blues buddies."Ī Blue Falcon is someone who blatantly throws another Marine/soldier/sailor/airman under the bus. "Birth-control glasses" are considered ugly enough to function as contraceptives.īlues are the name for the dress uniform for the Marine Corps, the Air Force, and occasionally the Navy dress and Winter Blue uniforms. Military-issued eyeglasses known for their lack of aesthetic appeal. Often used in reference to meeting old friends while on leave, as in a military member is "back on the block," or acting like a civilian. ("Nasty" in the military generally means "unkempt.") This refers to the time before service, when a service member was a "nasty" civilian. Only in the service is it acceptable to refer to one of your coworkers or (more frequently) a person working for you as "a good piece of gear." "A good piece of gear" (in reference to people) The captain wants everyone to meet at 0600, so the master sergeant wants folks to arrive at 0545, and when it finally hits the corporal, people are told to show up at midnight. The phrase "15 minutes prior to 15 minutes prior" comes from the expectation that you arrive 15 minutes earlier than the person in the next rank. Military people learn to show up to everything (especially an official formation) at least 15 minutes early. Our service members already set themselves apart by speaking in acronyms like "I was on the FOB when the IDF hit, so I radioed the TOC."Īside from acronyms, members of the military have special phrases that caught our attention. , but they have nothing on the complex lexicon shared by people in the military. Every region of the US has its unique phrases
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