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Slang used in everyday conversations by GI's |
| ACTING JACK | Sergeant E-5, not officially promoted but allowed to wear the stripes as acting NCO |
| AAF | After-action report |
| AFVN | GI radio station operated by the Department of Defense to provide news & entertainment to the troops |
| AMMO DUMP | Location where live ammunition is stored |
| AO | Area of operations |
| ARTY | Slang for artillery; large cannon capable of delivering rounds up to several miles, either towed or self-propelled. 105mm, 155mm, and 8 inch were the most common sizes in Nam |
| BASE CAMP | A re-supply or stand down base for field units; also know as the rear area |
| BASE CAMP COMMANDO | A soldier station in the rear at a base camp who goes around dressed and acting like RAMBO but will never have to go out into the field |
| BEANS AND MOTHERF**KERS | C-ration lima beans and ham (no one usually wanted these |
| BEETLE NUT | A nut chewed by the locals causing their teeth to turn black. |
| BIRD | Any flying machine. |
| BIRD SERGEANT | SP5, the same pay grade as a buck sergeant, |
| BODY BAG | Plastic bag used to transport dead bodies from the field |
| BODY COUNT | Number of enemy killed. |
| BOONIES | Slang for the field, areas far from the comforts of base camp |
| BOWL | Pipe used for smoking dope |
| BRACKETED | Term used by artillery and/or mortar man to describe the result of at least two rounds of fire (one over - one under the target is a bracket) |
| BS | Bullsh*t, as in chewing the fat, telling tall tales, or telling lies. |
| BULLSH*T FREQ | The highest frequency on the tactical FM radios which units used in Viet Nam. Often at night, GI's would turn their radio to this frequency and chat with friends in other units scattered around the AO. Probably one of the enemy's best sources of intelligence on us, but a party line connection to friends for some soldiers |
| BUNKER GUARD | Fortresses made of wood and sandbags positioned around a base camp or LZ for perimeter defense. Soldiers occupied these structures on a daily basis. Towers were also constructed to aid in early detection of the enemy. |
| BUMMER | Bad luck or a real drag |
| BUMMER BIRD | Airplane one would take to Nam |
| BUSH | Anything outside the perimeter |
| BUTTER BAR | 2nd Lt |
| C-4 | Plastic explosive, dull white in color with the consistency of Play-Doh. Very powerful, but will burn without exploding when lit with a flame. Useful for heating C-Rations, water, warming hands, igniting the diesel fuel used to burn waste from the latrines, and blowing up things. Usually packaged in one pound bricks wrapped in plastic or 1/4 pound sheets about 1/16 thick. Though more powerful than TNT or dynamite, it is very stable. |
| CACHE | Hidden enemy supplies |
| CAV | Cavalry (Airmobile i.e. 1st Cav or Armored i.e. 12th Cav) |
| CHEAP CHARLIE | Anyone, especially a U.S. serviceman, who does not waste his money |
| CHARLIE | Viet Cong - the enemy |
| CHEESE | Slang for the charge used to propel a mortar round. As in: Two and a quarter cheese |
| CHERRY | Slang for youth and/or inexperience |
| CHEU HOI PAMPHLETS | Propaganda leaflets were dropped by high flying U.S. aircraft and were found everywhere around the Vietnamese countryside. They encouraged NVA and VC soldiers to surrender or defect to the US/South Vietnamese side, and offered safe passage to any enemy soldier |
| COMMO | Slang for communications |
| CONTACT | Coming into contact with the enemy |
| CP | Command Post |
| C-RATIONS | Field Rations |
| CRISPY CRITTERS | Burn victims |
| CS | A riot-control gas that burns the eyes and mucus membranes |
| DAP | Handshake and greeting which may last up to ten minutes and is characterized by the use of both hands and often comprised of slaps and snaps of the fingers. Used by black soldiers, highly ritualized and unit specific |
| DEROS | Date of Expected Return from Overseas; back to the big PX or the World |
| DEUCE-AND-A-HALF | Two-and-a-half ton truck |
| DICKED | Having it dicked, meant that you had it made, you were in a real advantageous situation, like being a lifeguard at China Beach. Also related to this phase was a "dick job" which was an easy job. I believe the word was used to indicate the similarity between your dick and what ever the easy job or situation was |
| DINK | Derogatory term for an Asian |
| DMZ DUSTOFF | Call sign of the helicopter medical evacuation unit that served our AO. When someone was hurt, rather than dialing 911, we would have 30 Yankee call DMZ |
| DMZ | Demilitarized zone; the dividing line between North and South Vietnam as established at the Geneva Convention in 1954 |
| DOC | Medic |
| DONUT DOLLY | Red Cross women who would occasionally (rarely) visit us while we were in base camp. They brought snacks and organized games and entertainment to provide a bit of relief from the typical routine of being on duty 24/7 in a combat zone |
| DUST-OFF | Medical evacuation by helicopter |
| DX | Direct exchange. Also, to discard or dispose of, or to kill someone |
| EARLY-OUTS | A soldier with 150 days or less remaining on his active duty commitment when he would DEROS from Vietnam would receive a reduction in time and receive an early discharge. Most Troopers were smart enough to find a job in the rear but then some of us were not cut out for the rear |
| EVAC'D | Evacuated. |
| FART SACK | Sleeping bag |
| FIRE BASE | Temporary artillery encampment used for fire support of ground troops |
| FIREFIGHT | Exchange of small arms fire with the enemy; a battle |
| FIVE | Radio call sign for the (XO) executive officer of a unit |
| FLAKY | State of mental disarray; spaciness. |
| FNG | F*cking New Guy |
| FO | Forward observer; person attached to a field unit to coordinate placement of direct and/or indirect fire from ground, air, and naval units |
| FRAGGING | Intentionally killing or wounding of your own soldiers by a grenade |
| FREE FIRE ZONE | Area where everyone was deemed hostile and a legitimate target by U.S. forces |
| FREEDOM BIRD | Plane that took soldiers from Vietnam back to the World |
| FRIENDLY FIRE | Accidental attacks on U.S. or allied soldiers by other U.S. or allied soldiers |
| FSA | Forward support area; one stop service base established by logistical units near an operation or forward base camp |
| FUBAR | F__ck Up Beyond All Reason or Repair |
| F*CK | Most commonly used word in the GI vocabulary (f*cked - f*ckin - f*ckin A) |
| F*CKED UP | Wounded or killed. Also to get stoned, drunk, or do something stupid |
| F*CKING A CHICKEN | The GI sleeping bags we were issued in Viet Nam were stuffed with goose down. They were really pretty good sleeping bags, and rather functional on the cool, wet nights that we had during much of the year. Even when it was hot they provided padding from the hard ground. Occasionally they would tear, however, and if the inside of one ripped open during the night, and a trooper did a little tossing and turning in his sleep, he would emerge from the sleeping bag covered with feathers. When that happened, he would usually be greeted with the question "what have you been doing, fucking a chicken? |
| GETTING OVER | Meant that the person really had a very easy time of it, but the job he was doing looked hard. |
| GOOK | A generic term for Vietnamese. Also interchangeable with "Slope" and "Dink." |
| GREENIE | A new trooper (NEWBIE or FNG same meaning). |
| GREEN WEENIE, THE BIG | What the Army slipped to you when you least expected it. You have less than a week left in country but you're still out in the field or on the road |
| GRIDS | Map broken into numbered thousand-meter squares. |
| GRUNT | Infantryman |
| GUNG HO | Enthusiastic about military matters |
| HAMLET | Small rural village |
| HAMMER AND ANVIL | Tactic of surrounding an enemy base area, then sending in units to drive the enemy out of hiding. |
| HEADS | Those who smoked marijuana. "Juicers" used alcohol. There were those that did both, there were those that did none. |
| HERRINGBONE | A defensive procedure by which armored vehicles going down a road or trail would turn out in alternating left & right directions at a 45 degree angle. Effective in dealing with ambushes from both sides of a road, or in setting up a hasty defense during short pauses in a road march. |
| HO CHI MINH SLIPPERS | Sandals made from tires, the soles are made from the tread and the straps from inner tubes |
| HO CHI MINH TRAIL | Jungle paths through Laos and Cambodia which serves as the principle Viet Cong and NVA supply route |
| HOOCH | Dwelling (military or civilian) |
| HOT | Area under fire |
| HQ | Headquarters |
| IN-COMING! | Always yelled to alert troopers to incoming enemy rockets, mortars, and etc. |
| IN-COUNTRY | Vietnam |
| INJUN COUNTRY | Anything outside of a base camp |
| IT DON'T MEAN NOTHING | Was a phrase you said when you were really disappointed, and that something really meant something to you. It was a thing to say to keep you from going crazy. |
| H & I | Harassment and interdiction; random fire used to deny the enemy terrain which they might find beneficial |
| JOHN WAYNE | To describe the actions of someone who exposes himself to danger |
| JOHN WAYNE BARS | Round, flat, chocolate bars with crushed nuts that came in some C-ration meals. Really a pretty good snack or desert to finish off the usually C-ration main course. |
| KIA | Killed In Action |
| KILL ZONE | Area around an explosive device within which it is predicted that occupants will be killed |
| KIT CARSON SCOUT | Former Viet Cong or NVA soldiers who act as guides for U.S. military units |
| KLICK | Kilometer (1,000 meters) |
| KP | Kitchen Police; mess hall duty. |
| LAAGGER | A circular formation, like the old pioneer's circling the wagons. |
| LBJ | Long Binh Jail, military stockade at Long Binh |
| LRRP | Long Range Recon Patrol, infantry type who operated in the field for days/weeks at a time with little support, scouting the terrain for enemy activity |
| LIFERS | Were enlisted men who usually had rank. They intended to stay in the army until they retired. The hippies who found themselves in the army used the term with derision. The gap between the unranked enlisted and the lifer was wide indeed and only a few lifers, who earned the respect of their men because of their leadership ability, could bridge it. |
| LIMA CHARLIE | Slang for loud and clear |
| LIT-UP | Fired upon |
| LP | Listening Post. Two or three man position set up at night outside the perimeter away from the main body of troopers, which acted as an early warning system against attack |
| LT | Lieutenant |
| LZ | Landing Zone. Usually a small clearing for the landing of re-supplies helicopters. Some become more permanent and eventually base camps |
| LUKE THE GOOK | Slang term for Vietnamese, especially VC or NVA |
| MACV | Military Assistance Command / Vietnam. The main American military command unit that had responsibility for and authority over all U.S. military activities in Vietnam |
| MAD MINUTE | Weapons free-fire practice and test session |
| MAMA SAN | Any older Vietnamese woman |
| MARVIN THE ARVN | Was a South Vietnamese soldier. ARVN being an acronym for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. It was a perfect name for an imperfect soldier |
| MERMITE CANS | Large insulated food containers |
| MIA | Missing in action |
| MPC | Military payment currency; the scrip U.S. soldiers were paid in |
| NAM | Vietnam |
| NDP | Night defensive position |
| NET | Radio frequency setting, from "network" |
| NO SWEAT | Easy, simple |
| NVA | North Vietnamese Army |
| P'S | Piastres, basic Vietnamese monetary unit; $1 equaled about 118 Piastres |
| PERIMETER | Outer most edge of a military position |
| PLASTIC | Type of explosive favored by sappers |
| POINT | Forward man or element on a combat patrol |
| POP SMOKE | Set off a smoke grenade, mark your position |
| PRC-25: (PRICK 25) | Portable radio communications, Mode l25, a backpacked FM receiver-transmitter used for short-distance communications. The range of the radio was 5-10 kilometers, depending on the weather, unless attached to a special, non-portable antenna, which could extend the range to 20-30 kilometers. |
| PTSD | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, development of characteristic symptoms after the experiencing of a psychologically traumatic event or events outside the range of human experience usually considered to be normal. The characteristic symptoms involve re-experiencing the traumatic event, numbing of responsiveness to, or involvement with, the external world, exaggerated startled response, difficulty in concentrating, memory impairment, guilt feelings, and sleep difficulties |
| PX | Post exchange/military store |
| PUCKER FACTOR | The higher the number the greater the fear factor |
| R & R |
Rest and recreation; a three
to seven day vacation. (Sometimes know as I & I). Rest and Relaxation. All the troopers were authorized a one week R & R trip to a location out of Viet Nam during their tour. Sometimes referred to as I & I for intoxication & intercourse, most Cav Troopers took advantage of their R & R to visit historic, cultural, and educational facilities in the orient, such as bars & brothels. Some guys enjoyed the experience so much they forgot to return to Viet Nam. |
| REAL LIFE | Slang for civilian life |
| REAR | This was the "rear echelon" or behind the lines. Support units were in the rear. Hot showers and hot food were in the rear. It was safer in the rear. Movies and clubs were in the rear. However, during some actions, the rear could be in the middle of the NDP, or 10 feet behind the guy in front, in a defilade. Almost everyone in the field wanted to be in the "rear." |
| RECON BY FIRE | A tactic consisting of placing a few bursts of machinegun or M-79 fire into an area before getting within range of an ambush. Basically, you could shoot at anything that the enemy could hide behind in order to flush them out, or make them reveal themselves while we were still some distance away |
| RECON IN FORCE | The politically correct way of saying Search and Destroy as not to offend the American public |
| REDBALL | System to expedite delivery of critical supplies and repair parts in Nam |
| REMF's | Were Rear Echelon Mother F*ckers and reviled by the field troopers. REMF's had a safe life in the rear. The war was such that almost every major LZ or base was very safe, while the field was very dangerous. Lots of times, very little distance separated the rear from the field. Every field soldier secretly wished he were a REMF |
| RHIP | Rank Has Its Privileges, remark made when the troops felt they were being screwed by higher ups |
| RINGKNOCKER | Graduate of a military academy, refers to the ring worn by graduates |
| ROCK'N'ROLL | Firing a weapon on full automatic |
| ROK | Soldier from the Republic of Korea Pronounced "rock", the ROK's were rumored to be cruel & ruthless towards the Vietnamese |
| ROME PLOW | Mammoth bulldozer used to flatten dense jungle or clear 100-meter wide paths through it |
| ROTATE | For military personnel who still had time remaining in the service; to return to the U.S. at the end of a year's tour in Vietnam |
| ROUNDEYE | Slang for Caucasian women in Nam. |
| RTO | Radio telephone operator; man who carried his unit's radio on his back in the field |
| RF's and PF's or "Ruff & Puffs" | Were Regional Forces and Provisional Forces. These were irregular South Vietnamese militia that were advised by Special Forces A teams. They lived in hamlets and/or villages. They pulled security for their government-sanctioned hamlets or villages. As soon as the North Vietnamese came rumbling down Highway 1 in 1975, the Ruff & Puffs crumbled like coffee cake. |
| RVN | (Are-vin) any member of the Vietnamese Armed Forces; Republic of Vietnam. |
| SADDLE UP | Prepare to move out |
| SALVO | Firing an artillery (for example) battery in unison |
| SAPPER | A "sapper" is a NVA or Viet Cong soldier who is specially trained to infiltrate American defensive perimeters. Usually dressed only in shorts or naked and carrying a single weapon, be it a satchel charge (large explosive in a sack, usually having a handle for easy throwing) or a single RPG, he is able to slip under, around, and through perimeter defenses to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting US soldiers who are half-asleep in their bunker. They often precede all-out ground attacks by taking out a bunker or other defensive position at the point of attack.. They'll do things like turn claymore mines around to face the American soldier, then crawl away, make a noise and see what happens. They are unstoppable, almost magical in their abilities. There is a Vietnam movie called "Hamburger Hill" that shows a defector-sapper penetrating the wire while the new guys watch, amazed |
| SEARCH AND DESTROY | An operation in which American Forces searched an area and destroyed anything, which the enemy might find useful |
| SHAKE-N-BAKE | Sergeant who attended NCO School and earned rank after only a very short time in uniform. During the Vietnam Era the Army need a quick supply of NCOs' in the combat arms MOS. |
| SHAMMING | Goofing off or getting by with as little effort as possible |
| SH*T | Was something you knew. As in, "Listen to that PFC, he knows his sh*t." |
| SH*T BURNER | In the firebases, it was common practice to build wooden "outhouse" latrines, with a 55 Gal. drum under the seat for feces and toilet paper to go into. Once or twice a day, the fecal waste would be disposed of by burning. Someone would get the duty of pulling the 55 Gal. drums out of the outhouse, pouring a couple of gallons of diesel fuel into them, and burning the sh*t. In a good unit where everyone was performing to the best of their abilities, the sh*t burning duty was rotated on a random basis. If a trooper had been goofing off, or getting into trouble, a few days of duty as the sh*t burner would often motivate him to be more of a team player and optimal performer in his regular duties |
| SH*T BURNING | Sanitization of latrines by burning of excrement |
| SHORT | Term used by everyone in Vietnam to tell all who would listen just how soon he would be going home. (I am so short I cannot see over the tops of my boots and etc. One had to top another short timer when it came to the question "just how short are you?") |
| SHORT-TIMER | A trooper with not much time left in country (in Vietnam) |
| SHRAPNEL | Pieces of metal sent flying by an explosion |
| SIT-REP | Situation report Situation Report. Status report called into higher headquarters by radio. Usually at night if operating separately the unit's would each call in a SIT-REP to the rear once an hour, just to let them know that we were still in radio contact and had not been horribly killed by the unseen communist hoards |
| SIX | Unit Commander |
| SKATE | Task of accomplishment that required little effort |
| SLOPE | Slang term for an Asian person |
| S.O.S. | Abbreviation for "Sh*t on a Shingle", slang for an Army food consisting of meat in a gravy put on plain white bread. Recipe |
| SPIDER HOLE | Camouflaged enemy foxhole |
| SPOT REPORT | Radio report of enemy action or movement, or any other important event |
| STAND DOWN | unit's return from the boonies to the base camp for refitting |
| STEAM & CREAM | Slang name for the military operated steam bath and massage parlors at some of the larger bases. |
| TAIL-END CHARLIE | Last unit in a long column on the move |
| TC | Was a track commander |
| THE BIG ASS | Was truly big. "He's happy for the big ass," meant the guy was happy indeed. Which was different from "having a case of the ass" which meant you were pissed off |
| THERE IT IS | Was a phrase we used as a comment whenever someone said something profound or something true. Like if someone said, "this place really sucks." |
| TIGER PISS | Slang for Vietnamese beer, real name was 33 or Baum Di Bau (or something on that order) |
| TIGHT | Good friends are close to ("tight" with) each other |
| TOC | Tactical Operations Center |
| TOP | Top Sergeant of a unit |
| TROPICAL BARS | Hard chocolate candy, specially designed to be heat resistant so it wouldn't melt under the sun of Viet Nam. They came in SPs (See above). So hard that you could barely bite through them. Not especially good tasting. Not popular with the troops |
| USELESS | Pun on USIS, United States Information Service |
| USO | United Service Organization; provided entertainment to the troops and was intended to raise morale |
| VC | Viet Cong (Victor Charlie) the enemy |
| VILLE | Vietnamese hamlet or village |
| WAKEUP | The troopers final day in country. "I have 3 days and a Wake Up left." |
| WASTED/WAXED | Killed. |
| WEED | Marijuana |
| WHAT THEY GOING TO DO? SEND ME TO 'NAM? | This phrase was said when you did something slightly wrong or you expressed a politically incorrect thought. It was said to point out that the authorities couldn't do anything worse to you than send you to 'Nam, because you were here already there |
| WHITE MICE | South Vietnamese police. The nickname came from their uniform white helmets and gloves |
| WIA | Wounded in action |
| WORLD | United States |
| WW | Walking Wounded, hurt but still able to fight |
| YARD | Short for Montagnard, any one of a number of semi-nomadic people |
| Z | Short for DMZ |
| ZAPPED | Killed |