Army Acronyms and Whatnot Vol. 3

23MAR2021; 1135, TUE

So, there's a lot that can be featured in this final installment of the current trilogy and not a lot of time or space. Without further ado:

A few major acronyms that I somehow completely forgot to include thus far are LDRSHIP (pronounced "Leadership"), UA's (aka wiz tests), and GI (of the "GI Bill" and "G.I. Joe" fame). In consecutive order: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal courage; Urine Analysis; and reportedly, General/Gov't Issue.

That first one is the seven basic values of the United States Army, and the second is the reason why Hunter Biden is no longer serving (he "popped hot", or failed rather, due to his "nose candy" addiction). The last acronym is a bit more dubious and/or mysterious.

Speaking of which tho, I'm pretty sure that "Ranger candy" is the colloquial term for 800 (mg)'s of Ibiprofen. Those "horse pills" are certainly some kind of Godsend.

I believe that the next two will be a couple of the last acronyms of this series. The grenade that Pacino fired from his M16 in the classic gangsta flick, Scarface (1983), was most likely of the HE (High Explosive) variety.

The other feasibility is that it was an HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) round. According to wiki, the latter is considered an anti-tank/fragmenting warhead.

In a similar vein, when a breech is required for a mission but neither "Spartan kicks" (based on King Leónidas's legendary scene in the '06 classic film 300), "The Universal Key" (aka Halligan tool), nor "the pump (action [shotgun])" can get the objective accomplished, there's always the "demo(lition) guy"! That reminds me of one more vital acronym: EOF (Escalation Of Force).

When you open fire on a random vehicle that could've maybe used a warning shot and/or verbal cue prior to that deadly attack, you may or may not find yourself going straight to "Leavenworth" (aka in a world of trouble). "Do not pass Go!"- Monopoly.

If you do accidentally hit a "civvie" (civilian) with anything but a "less than lethal", or nonlethal, it might not be a bad idea to have your doc (aka medic) patch him/her up, "like yesterday!" Of course, you may have to make the judgment call that your mission is more important; and you decide to save the time, energy, and resources.

Speaking of being short on supplies, my stint being the supply clerk's assistant taught me that the supply sergeant has to do something daily(?) called "blasting". I believe that it's when he/she gets on the laptop to take inventory and/or request new supplies.

I mistakenly believed that I already touched on the matter, but I had a couple of pretty hilarious "callsigns" when I was actually allowed to be on "the (radio) net". The running joke is that drivers (as I was for a decent portion of my enlistment) aren't permitted to transmit; and they have to give their "Sitreps", aka situation reports, in some other shape, form, or fashion.

At any rate, when I was with the Recon (Reconnaissance) platoon, I was known as "Shadow Dick", since everyone called me Dick when I wasn't on the net. When I was with Attack (Alpha) company's 1st platoon, The Fighting Cocks, my options were Cock-6 Romeo or Cock Dick.

In relation to the radios, we all had to be moderately trained on them and be able to call for a medivac and/or reinforcements. For the former, one must be able to aptly provide a "nine line", or brief but in-depth Sitrep.

After becoming a casualty, and potentially being awarded the Purple Heart (combat injury medal), you will more likely than not get what's known as a "profile". When I blew my knee out in Basic (Training), aka boot camp, I was on a "no running/ruck marching" profile for at least a week.

Somehow, I managed to recover with just 800s of "Ranger Candy" and a little rest. I was certain that my military career had ended before it even began.

Just to touch on a few more pertinent points: Every soldier worth his/her weight in salt knows their three General Orders, and that they may or may not "come down on orders" for an assignment that goes against everything they believe in. Rumor has it that one of the highly respected and deeply missed dearly departed from my unit actually signed a "dec order", or declination of orders statement because of that very scenario.

Basically, he was about to be sent back to his hometown to be a recruiter when all he wanted to do was fight beside the young men who he had trained for the past couple years (women weren't allowed to be Grunts back then). He would get to deploy with us, but would've been ineligible for "re-upping", or re-enlisting upon completion of our tour.

May he and all the fallen from my unit continue to rest in glory and honor.

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In any event, I'm a bit past my usual baseline as far as word counts go; and I still have to "get my hair did", rest up for another night of grave shift, and proofread this 62nd piece of mine before submission to the (Un)Common Knowledge challenge (fingers crossed!). This trilogy most def wasn't all inclusive, or even remotely close; so there might could be more to follow.

Either way, I'm relatively confident that someone somewhere is going to get something from this post; and if that somebody is you, please don't hesitate to Like/Tip/Share. Thx in advance (TIA).

Peaceful Tidings.