The definitive glossary of modern US military slang by Ben Brody.
From the post:
It’s painful for US soldiers to hear discussions and watch movies about modern wars when the dialogue is full of obsolete slang, like “chopper” and “GI.”
Slang changes with the times, and the military’s is no different. Soldiers fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have developed an expansive new military vocabulary, taking elements from popular culture as well as the doublespeak of the military industrial complex.
The US military drawdown in Afghanistan — which is underway but still awaiting the outcome of a proposed bilateral security agreement — is often referred to by soldiers as “the retrograde,” which is an old military euphemism for retreat. Of course the US military never “retreats” — rather it conducts a “tactical retrograde.”
This list is by no means exhaustive, and some of the terms originated prior to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But these terms are critical to speaking the current language of soldiers, and understanding it when they speak to others. Please leave anything you think should be included in the comments.
Useful for documents that contain U.S. military slang, such as the Afghanistan War Diary.
As Ben notes at the outset, language changes over time so validate any vocabulary against your document/data set.
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