 |
|  |
|
|
|
|
| ABOUT NEWS HELP CENTER PRESS PRODUCTS |
    |
| This email was sent to stevenmagallanes520.nims@blogger.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Department of Defense 1400 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1400 |
As the years go by, each military service adds new slang and terms as others fall out of use as practices change. Below are some of those terms no longer in use.
Vehicles
- The Gamma Goat was a semi-amphibious tactical vehicle used during the latter years of the Cold War. It could move across calm lakes or rivers using its six wheels for propulsion.
- The deuce-and-a-half, a 2.5-ton tactical vehicle, was extensively used from 1949 until 2000. A few are still in use in some National Guard units. It was also called a six-by because it was a six-wheel drive.
- Jeeps, aka puddle jumpers, were used from World War II until the 1980s, when Humvees replaced them.
Rations
Troops in the field during World War II ate C- or K-rations. C-rations, which were canned meals in cardboard boxes, continued in use until the 1980s, when the easier-to-transport meals ready to eat became the replacement. C-rations, more commonly referred to as C-rats, also contained a variety of cigarette brands troops used to trade for desserts if they didn't smoke.
Uniforms
- All service members wore sateen utility uniforms from 1952 until 1989. They were greenish in color and variously called sateens, utilities or fatigues. They could be starched or worn fluff dry.
- The battle dress uniform replaced them. Also called cammies because of the camouflage pattern, they were styled in a forest pattern and a dessert pattern.
- Over time, the camouflage pattern was altered by each service. The only military service that doesn't use a camouflage pattern is the Coast Guard, which uses plain blue fabric called the operational dress uniform.
- Spit shine refers to polishing black leather boots or shoes to a mirror finish by rubbing the leather with a rag, shoe polish and water or spit. Tan suede boots that did not require polish began replacing them in the mid-1990s.
- Non-leather Corfam shoes that didn't need polish began appearing in the 1980s, although some troops preferred to keep their leather-polished ones because some believed the leather reduced perspiration.
- Brass buckles and insignia had to be polished with Brasso or Duraglit until anodized ones were produced in the 1980s, which had a protective coating.
- Chrome domes were silver-colored helmets worn by themselves or under steel helmets, called a steel pots. Chrome domes were phased out in the 1980s. Troops used to cook food in their steel pots, which were also phased out in the 1980s, replaced by a non-metallic helmet.
Rifles, Pistols, Grenades
- The M-1911 pistol, used from 1911 until 1985, was used by millions of troops. Because Colt produced most of them, the pistols were called Colt 45s, the .45 being the caliber. During World War II, production increased and several companies, including Singer, famous for sewing machines, produced them.
- The M-9 Berretta replaced the Colt 45, which fired smaller 9mm rounds, doubling the magazine capacity. The M-9 was in turn replaced by the M-17 and M-18 Sig Sauer.
- The M-16A1, 5.56mm caliber rifle was first used during the Vietnam War, replacing the heavier and larger 7.62mm caliber M-14 rifles, although some snipers still used it because of its long-range accuracy.
- Troops derided the M16, calling it Mattel after the toy company, because many of its parts were polymer instead of wood.
- The M-16 came with black front and rear sights, referred to as iron sights, that sometimes wore down to the shiny metal and required blackening to reduce glare and improve aim. Soot from smudge pots was used until the 1990s, when scopes replaced the iron sights.
- Smudge pots, which looked like cannon balls, were filled with kerosene or diesel fuel and a wick. Troops held the sights just above the flame so black carbon would stick to the sights.
- Today, the most common rifle is the M-4 carbine that is shorter than the M-16, making it more maneuverable in close quarters.
- The Mk-2 grenade, used from World War II until 1969, was called a pineapple because it resembled one. A pineapple tosser was the person who threw the grenade. A round M-67 fragmentation grenade replaced the Mk-2.
Also, the rank of the Marine Corps master gunnery sergeant depicts a bursting bomb in the center that resembles a pineapple, so it is jokingly referred to as a pineapple patch.
Names for Troops
- During World War I, enlisted Marine women were called Marinettes. After World War II, they were called women Marines, but more commonly referred to as WMs. In the mid-1970s, the gender designation was dropped and all Marines are called Marines.
- During World War II, female soldiers were called WACs for Women's Army Corps or WAACs, same pronunciation, for Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service or WAVES, referred to the women's branch of the Navy Reserve.
- Minutemen were troops engaged in selling war bonds during World War I.
- Mole rat referred to a sapper. Mud crusher or mud eater referred to an infantryman, known today as a grunt. A mud splasher was an artilleryman, which Marines call a cannon cocker today.
- A mule skinner was the person who drove mules when they were used as pack animals.
- A prize master is the officer given charge of a captured enemy vessel to take into port during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Also during that period, a sailmaker was a Navy warrant officer in charge of repairing sails, awnings and other items made of fabric on sailing ships.
