Army Acronyms and Whatnot Vol. 7

7OCT2021; 2259, THU

Almost exactly an hour before another R.E.D. Friday, and approx. 11 min til all the superstitious night owls begin making wishes for 11:11 PM. Since one of my main motivations is to see the random weekly holiday become mainstream, I figured why not finally bounce back to this series dedicated to my debriefing from the military?

For the uninitiated: That acronym is Remember Everyone Deployed; and the gist of it is to rock something red every FRI, "Til they all come home". I'm of the opinion that the day is even more important than usual; what with the debacle that is Afghanistan, and all the hard-work essentially wasted frivolously.

It's quite likely that those who feel let down by the leaders of the US military could take heart in knowing that the regular civvies see us, and honor our sacrifices; as well as that of those who are among the dearly departed. Me personally, I'll take a sea of red tees and such on any given FRI over the occasional, empty "Thx for your service," every damn time.

I digress. One single acronym in almost 180 words simply won't due.

Especially considering that it's largely a recycled one. In any event, here's another cannonball:

The US military under Biden's leadership is "FUBAR", or Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. There's a slightly more colorful word that can easily replace "Foul"; tho, I'll leave that to the imagination.

A term I remember next to nothing about, tho one I feel compelled to mention: "Sick bay". If you were in a combat unit, but always in that place, up under the medics for a myriad of minor matters, then you'd earn the pejorative title "tool-bag".

Best believe that we did not say "Loud & Clear" while on "the net", or radios, rather. It was almost always "Lima Charlie", "Acknowledged", and/or "Good copy".

That reminds me: We would hardly, if ever go on a mission without doing a "Comms check". In short, we would check our communication devices to make sure that if we needed to call for help or what have you, we wouldn't be met with "radio silence".

Arguably the most ironic one of this entire series would be "Opsec", aka Operations (or Operational) security. This is the reason why Hollywood is obligated to include various erroneous misconceptions in all modern military shows/movies.

So, Idk how or why, but our everyday uniform was sometimes referred to as a "monkey suit". Good job, 'Mericuh.

I know that I mentioned this next one in my recap of the brief period when I was an American sniper. However, a soldier who can meet the strenuous demands consistently, and earn their stripes under that title is undoubtedly a "Force multiplier", or an "X-Factor".

In layman's terms: That's an individual/group of soldiers with the potential to magnify and exemplify excellence on the battlefield or whatnot. For the sports stans reading this, imagine MJ (Michael Jordan) back in the '90s.

Speaking of which tho, almost every American soldier that's a designated marksman, or an even more accurate "deadeye", is usually what's known as a "dismount". You don't really imagine them driving the other members of their units/attachments to and fro while on missions.

Random: "Chow" is just military speak for food. We get down on it to stay "fueled for the fight."

Also random: A "cordon" is essentially a dragnet to catch individuals attempting to escape a raid and such. It's almost like the "hooks" you hear MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) stans referring to from time to time.

Last but certainly not least: The skill sets of a "sapper" are pretty much a hodgepodge of operation essentials. If there ever was a Jack of all trades trained by Uncle Sam...

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Prayerfully, someone somewhere gets something pertinent (re: useful) from this post. If that somebody's you, then please think about considering a Like/Tip/Share, and/or checking out some of my other posts.

TIA (Thx In Advance). Peaceful Tidings.

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