Miscellaneous Military Stuff

- - - Official and Unofficial - - -

Here is much of the "extra stuff" that didn't seem to fit on other pages in this site; but, which were of such interest that they should be included.

General Naval Jargon

Aft -

Toward the stern or "blunt end of the boat"

Anchor Clanker -

Boatswains mates

Air(e)dale -

Naval personnel connected with Naval aviation

Bilge -

to fail or do terribly at something

Bird Farm -

an Aircraft Carrier

Black shoe -

Naval personnel NOT connected with Naval aviation

Blue nose -

a sailor who has crossed the Arctic circle

Blue water Ops -

operations in the open ocean (as opposed to Gulfs, etc.). Denotes the logistics support available to sustain ops away from land bases

Bohica -

Bend over, here it comes again

Bravo Zulu -

Well done (from the NATO code for "well done")

Bug Juice -

Sort of like Kool Aid

Bulkhead -

Wall or other device delineating a compartment

Cannon cocker -

a Gunner's Mate

Captain's Mast -

Informal hearing by the unit, ship or station commander. Usually for relatively minor offenses not a court-martial

Catapult (or cat) -

A device which literally hurls aircraft into the air off an aircraft carrier

Charlie Sierra -

chicken sh*t. Stupid stuff

Chief -

A Chief Petty Officer

Coffee pot -

a nuclear reactor (aka teakettle)

Compartment -

Room or space in barracks or ship

Crow -

the bird on the rating insignia worn by petty officers along with some chevrons

Deck -

The floor or a level on a ship

Deck ape -

Boatswain's Mates (aka Knuckledraggers)

Deep 6 -

to throw something overboard (or away)

Delta Sierra -

Dumb "Sh*t" - stupid

Dixie cups -

a sailors white hat or any sailor under E-7

Dog watch -

a 2-hour versus the usual 4-hour watch

Field Day -

to thoroughly clean from top to bottom

Forward -

Toward the bow or "pointy end of the boat"

FUBAB -

"Fouled" Up Beyond All Belief

FUBAR -

"Fouled" Up Beyond All Repair

Gear adrift -

anything not properly stowed or tied down

Gedunk (or Geedunk) -

store which sells candy, soft drinks, ice cream, etc...

Goat Locker -

Chief's mess and quarters on a ship

Gouge -

The "straight scoop", inside information

GQ -

General Quarters

Gundeck -

to "pencil-whip" a task, sign off as complete without performing it (often done with inspections)

Gut bomb -

Navy chow

Gyrene -

A member of the Marine Corps

Head -

Bathroom

Jack -

a flag at the bow of the ship

Jar head -

Another word for a Gyrene

JG -

A Lieutenant Junior Grade

Knee-knockers -

the phlange around the oval-shaped watertight doors. The lip of the opening is roughly 18" off the deck. Just about shin level!

Knuckledraggers -

Boatswain's Mates (aka deck apes)

Liberty -

Going ashore or into town when off duty

Lid -

the hat or dixie cup

Mail buoy watch -

watch duty assigned as a joke on new crewmembers. There is no such thing as a "mail buoy"

OBA -

Oxygen Breathing Apparatus -

an oxygen generation and recycling unit worn during firefighting

On-station -

the ship is at it's designated place

One MC -

the PA system on the ship

Overhead -

the ceiling

Port -

If facing forward, the left side of the ship. Also, of course, a harbor

Rollers -

hot dogs, frankfurters

Sandcrab -

civilian contractor aboard ship

Sea Bat -

a joke pulled on anyone gullible enough. Usually ends with the jokers whacking the joke with brooms

Scuttlebutt -

Water fountain. Also rumors, etc., generally associated with being spread at the water fountain

Shellback -

anyone who has crossed the Equator and gone thru the initiation. All others are Pollywogs

Sierra Hotel -

Sh*t Hot! The best

Splice the Main Brace -

have an alcoholic drink

Stanchion -

Any pole or pillar used to support the overhead

Starboard -

If facing forward, the right side of the ship

Steel beach -

use of the deck for barbeque, games, etc. A party aboard the ship

Squid -

What Gyrenes call sailor-types

Sliders -

Hamburgers (with lids=cheeseburgers)

Tea kettle -

a nuclear reactor (aka coffee pot)

Titless WAVE -

a male Yeoman

Tits up -

broken, inoperative, dead

UNREP -

UNderway REPlenishment - taking on supplies, ammo, fuel, etc., while still moving thru the water

VERTREP -

VERtical REPlenishment - taking on supplies, ammo, fuel, etc., while underway from the air (ie helicopters)

Watch my six -

watch my back, or "cover" me

Zero -

Any officer...from the "O" in their pay grades

Naval Aviation Jargon

AAA -

Anti-Aircraft Artillery (flak)

ACM -

Air Combat Maneuvering (dog fighting)

Afterburner (AB or 'Burner) -

Feature on high-performance jet engines where raw fuel is dumped directly into the hot exhaust, which nearly triples thrust (but also fuel consumption)

AGI -

the Russian trawlers that trail every carrier task force everywhere they go

Alert 5 -

an aircraft ready to launch in 5 minutes. The crew is/are seated in the aircraft, it is fuelled and armed. It simply needs to be started and launched. There may be aircraft and crews on "Alert 15", etc...

Arresting Gear -

the wires and associated machinery which stop the aircraft on the flight deck

Ball -

the image created by the Fresnel lens. Denotes glideslope information for a landing pilot

Bandit -

positively ID'd bad guy

Barricade -

a mesh net designed to stop an aircraft that has missed the arresting wires

Bingo -

fuel state so low that a pilot must either hit a tanker or RTB

Bird Farm -

an aircraft carrier

Blue shirt -

an Aviation Boatswains Mate. Positioning and chaining down of aircraft (aka knuckledragger)

Bogey -

an unidentified contact

Bolter -

missing the arresting wires on a carrier landing (IF the landing gear contacts the deck)

Brown shirt -

a plane captain

Colorful actions -

dangerous flight actions

Driver -

a pilot

Aluminum cloud -

An F-14 (They're HUGE aircraft)

Arresting Gear -

Heavy steel cables stretched across the flight deck to catch incoming aircraft. The cables are connected to braking devices

B.E.S. -

Blinding Electronic Speed

Blower -

Afterburner

Borex -

BORing EXcercise

Buster -

Full military power -- go fast

CAP -

Combat Air Patrol

Centurion -

A pilot who has made 100 arrested landings on a carrier. (there are double centurions, etc)

Drop lights -

red lights arranged below the round down at the aft end of the carrier for night landing lineup

FAG -

Fighter-Attack Guy. A Hornet driver

F.M. -

Fu**ing Magic

FOD -

Foreign Object Damage. A very small object sucked into a jet engine can damage the turbine blades

FOD Walkdown -

anybody who can be spared is incorporated into a line which walks the flight deck from end to end and picks up even the most minute pieces of trash

Foul Deck -

a flight deck which is not ready for landings due to any reason (previous landed aircraft not taxied clear, arresting gear not ready, etc.)

Fox one -

A Sparrow air-to-air missile

Fox two -

A Sidewinder air-to-air missile

Fox three -

A Phoenix air-to-air missile

Fur Ball -

big dogfight

Grapes -

the purple-shirted fuel crew on a carrier

Hangar Queen -

An aircraft which has chronic "down" problems. Often cannibalized for spare parts

Huffer -

cart used to provide compressed air to jet engines during startup

JP-4, JP-5 -

Jet fuel (or coffee)

Judy -

an aircraft has radar contact with the target and needs no further assistance to prosecute

Knuckledragger -

Aviations Boatswains Mate - positioning and chaining down of aircraft. (aka blue shirt)

Lights out -

radar off

Low pass -

landing attempt when the landing gear does not contact the flight deck at all

LOX -

Liquid Oxygen

LSO -

Landing Signals Officer. Aids pilots in landing aboard the carrier (aka "Paddles")

MAD -

1: Magnetic Anomaly Detection (finds submarines); or, 2: Marine Aviation Detachment

Nugget -

Rookie pilot

Nylon letdown -

Ejection and subsequent parachute ride

Oh-dark thirty -

Any time between midnight and sunrise

Ordie -

an ordnanceman, one who handles ammunition, bombs, missiles, etc...

Paddles -

Landing Signals Officer - aids pilots in landing aboard a carrier

Padeye -

a tiedown point usually sunk below flight deck or flight line level

Paint -

to illuminate an aerial target with radar

Passing gas -

aerial tanking

Pinkie -

a trap (carrier landing) at dawn or dusk which is generally counted as a night landing (night landings are graded and recorded separately from day traps.)

Plastic bug -

an F/A-18 Hornet, so called because of the amount of plastics and composites used in it's construction

Plumber -

A bad pilot

Prang -

crash, bend or break an aircraft

Pucker factor -

the amount of tension or stress in any situation

R2D2 -

Radio-Intercept Officer (F-14) or Bombardier/Navigator (A-6)

Ramp strike -

to hit the round down of the carrier

Round-down -

the very back end of the flight deck; it is slightly rounded off

RTB -

Return To Base

SA -

Situational Awareness, most often used in aviation to describe a pilot's alertness to the situation surrounding him/her

Shooter -

catapult officer. The one who directs the actual firing of the catapult

Six (or Six O'clock) -

the area immediately to the rear of your aircraft

Skosh -

usually used by aviators to describe a nearly 0 fuel state

Splash -

an air-to-air kill (esp. over water)

Squawk -

to use an IFF device to identify yourself using a special code

Sweatex -

any busy, tense exercise

Tailhook -

A hook on carrier borne aircraft which catch the Arresting Gear Wires

Trap -

an arrested carrier landing

Vulture's Row -

Catwalks and galleries where crewmembers not on duty can observe flight ops

Wave off -

signal from the LSO to abort the present landing attempt and go around again. Could be bad approach, foul deck

Zone five -

Maximum afterburners

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