Army Acronyms and Whatnot Vol. 2

22MAR2021; 1755, MON

As alluded to in my 60th and most recent post to this site, I knew that I'd do at least a part two; if not my 4th trilogy. Prayerfully, I can get this rough draft hammered out, edited, and submitted before I have to drag myself to clock in.

With that being the case, I believe that I'm gonna go ahead and cannonball into this son of a gun and whatnot. Without further ado:

I figured that the easiest and wisest way to kick this off would be to start with more acronyms that I didn't include in the first volume, like LN's (Local Nationals) and BF (Blue Falcon/Buddy F****r). If there's still time and space, then I'll include other forms of jargon and what have you.

Seeing as I spent so much time in a Recon platoon of a mechanized unit, it'd be criminal to omit the LRAS (Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System) and/or APC (Armored Personnel Carrier). Thankfully, I never had to ride in, nor command an MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected [vehicle])!

Conversely tho, I wasn't fortunate enough to be issued the OCP (Operational Camouflage Pattern) that I just learned is colloquially called the "Scorpion" pattern. I was relieved that I didn't have to shine the black boots of the classic BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform), aka the woodland pattern; but I most def hated the ACUs (Army Combat Uniform), aka the "digies" (digital pattern), with a passion.

Also, I'm extremely grateful that I never really needed to get JAG (Judge Advocate General), CID (Criminal Investigation Command), nor the IG (Inspector General) involved in any of my shenanigans! Another sigh of relief: I was nowhere near any of the times nor places (as far as I know) when Uncle Sam decided to dropped a MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs).

Pretty much the last and debatably one of the most important Army acronyms: METT-TC (Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops, Time, and Civilians). Tellingly, I'm pretty sure that the Civilians aspect wasn't a component of this vital ops (operations) planning mnemonic way back when I was "embracing the suck", as a DICK (Dedicated Infantry Combat Killer).

Almost exactly halfway to my baseline in regards to the word count seems like as decent a time as any to transition from acronyms into terms and phrases. With that being said, let's rock and roll:

If a soldier says to you, "Let's roll", then they likely want to fight you and/or practice "combatives" (usually Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) with you. If they say that they intend to "smoke" you, then you need to "standby to standby" and mentally prepare yourself for some "corrective training" (aka disciplining).

The trick to avoiding those circumstances, and/or surviving spec ops (special operations) training, is to be "The Grey Man". That's to say that you want to be hardly noticed; almost never finishing tasks/objectives first or last.

If you hope to have a prayer of making it to Bat (a Ranger battalion) and/or Group (Green Berets), you simply must be "the quiet professional". In addition, I can't imagine that infractions like being a "fallout" of "fun runs" and/or "ruck marches" (combat/training treks) will help at all!

In any event, I'm pretty sure that it's infinitely more difficult to get into spec ops while being a "cherry", aka neophyte or "green" soldier. Some say that you're a cherry until you deploy and get your combat patch—that we receive after 90 days "Over There"—and others still say that you have to actually experience combat as well as get a combat badge pinned to your chest by another soldier who was initiated in a previous instance.

Speaking of which tho, it only makes sense to be "in regs" (regulations) when you are "Down Range; In Theatre; and/or in The Sandbox" and make sure that you're rocking a reliable timekeeper (watch). Even if you're a fobbit who never goes outside "the wire", just cop a Casio or something like that.

Doubling back to the noobs (newbies) in "High Speed" (top notch) units—you may or may not have to "Koalafy"! I'm pretty sure that it's mando (mandatory) that you allow your new fam to see how long you can hang upside down (like a koala) from a treelike structure and that you can handle a bit of shenanigans from the more seasoned "Heroes/Killers/High Speeds".

Fair warning: You most certainly want to avoid the mistake of "[going to] ask the platoon sergeant for a 'Pricky 7'" immediately before or after the Koala-fication. That mission is "a No-go"!

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Ironically, I just heard the living legend MLH (Ms. Lauryn Hill)'s classic "Ready or Not" ('96) and just as well, I can't afford to be late yet again for the gig that I more or less dread clocking into. With any luck, someone somewhere gets something from this post; and if that somebody is you, please don't hesitate to Like/Tip/Share.

Peaceful Tidings.