MIKE
M-1: World War II vintage American rifle used by many Vietnamese forces
M-14: Wood stock rifle used in early portion of Vietnam conflict; often used as a sniper rifle.
M-16: the standard U.S. military rifle used in Vietnam from 1966 on. Successor to the M-14.
M-60: the standard lightweight machine gun used by U.S. forces in Vietnam
M-79: a U.S. military hand-held grenade launcher
MA: mechanical ambush. Euphemism for an American set booby trap.
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. Based at Tan Son Nhut.
mad minute: a weapons free-fire practice and test session
Main Force Battalion: the primary Viet Cong fighting force within each province of South Vietnam. These units were often large enough and well enough equipped to participate in direct attacks on large Vietnamese and American installations and units.
mama san: pidgin used by American servicemen for any older Vietnamese woman
MARS: Military Affiliate Radio Station. Used by soldiers to call home via Signal Corps and ham radio equipment.
Mas-Cal: mass casualty
MASH: mobile Army surgical unit
MAT: mobile advisory team. Five-man teams of American advisors who were assigned to live and work in the Vietnamese villages.
Mat Tran: the Vietnamese Liberation Front.
marker round: the first round fired by mortars or artillery. Used to adjust the following rounds onto the target.
mech: abbreviation for mechanized infantry
mechanized: a unit operating with tanks and/or armored personnel carriers
Med Cap (or MEDCAP): Medical Civil Action Program in which U.S. medical personnel would go into the villages to minister to the local populace.
medivac: medical evacuation from the field by helicopter
mermite: large insulated foot containers
MFW: multiple frag wounds
MG: machine gun
MIA: missing in action
mighty mite: commercial air-blower used for injecting gas into tunnels
MIKE: military phonetic for the letter 'M'
mike-mike: shorthand for millimeter
million-dollar wound: a non-crippling wound serious enough to warrant return to the U.S.
Minigun: electronically controlled, extremely rapidly firing machine gun. Most often mounted on aircraft to be used against targets on the ground.
Mr. Charles: the Viet Cong; the enemy
MI team: military intelligence team
Monday pills: anti-malarial pills taken once a week
the Monster: a PRC-77
Montagnard: a Vietnamese term for several tribes of mountain people inhabiting the hills and mountains of central and northern Vietnam.
moose: a Vietnamese mistress
mortar: a muzzle-loading cannon with a short tube in relation to its caliber that throws projectiles with low muzzle velocity at high angles.
MOS: military occupational specialty
most ricky-tick: immediately, if not sooner
MP: military police
MPC: military payment currency. The scrip U.S. soldiers were paid in.
MR IV: Viet Cong military region surrounding and including Saigon
mule: small, motorized platform originally designed to carry a 106-millimeter recoilless rifle, but most often used for transporting supplies and personnel.
NOVEMBER
Nam: Vietnam
napalm: a jellied petroleum substance which burns fiercely, and is used as a weapon against personnel.
NCO: noncommissioned officer.
NDP: night defensive position
net: radio frequency setting, from "network."
New Socialist Man: Orwellian concept adopted by the Communists. The ideal collectivized citizen.
Next: the man who said he was the next to rotated home.
nickel: the number five
NLF: National Liberation Front
no sweat: easy, simple
NPD: night perimeter defense
number one: the best
number ten: the worst
number ten thousand: a description of how bad things can be
Nung: tribespeople of Chinese origin, from the highlands of North Vietnam. Some who moved South worked with the U.S. Special Forces.
nuoc-mam: fermented fish sauce used by the Vietnamese as a condiment; much was produced in Phan Thiet, known as the "nuoc mam capital of the world".
NVA: North Vietnamese Army
OSCAR
OCS: officer candidate school
OD: olive drab, a camouflage color
opcon: operational control
open sheaf: a term used in calling artillery, whereby the artillery rounds were spread along an axis rather than concentrated on a single point (as when it was desired to cover a treeline).
OR: operating room
OSCAR: military phonetic for the letter 'O'
OSS: Office of Strategic Services
over the fence: crossing into Cambodia or Laos
PAPA
P: slang for the Vietnamese piaster. One piaster was worth one cent or less.
P-38: a tiny collapsible can opener, also known as a John Wayne.
PAPA: military phonetic for the letter 'P'
papa san: pidgin used by U.S. servicemen for any older Vietnamese man
Papa Sierra: slang for platoon sergeant
Pathet Lao: the Laotian Communists who, from their inception have been under the control of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
PBR: river patrol boat. Navy designation for the fast, heavily armed boats used for safeguarding the major canals and rivers and their tributaries in South Vietnam.
peanuts: wounded in action
perimeter (or greenline): outer limits of a military position. The area beyond the perimeter belongs to the enemy.
PF: Popular Forces. South Vietnamese National Guard-type local military units
PFC: private first class
Phoenix: intelligence-based campaign to eliminate the Viet Cong infrastructure
PIO: public information officer, or a person who works for that office
piss-tube: a vertical tube buried two-thirds in the ground for urinating into
platoon: a subdivision of a company-sized military unit, normally consisting of two or more squads or sections
PMOS: primary MOS (military occupational speciality); the MOS of the job you were trained for.
pogue: derogatory term for military personnel employed in rear echelon support capacities
point: the forward man or element on a combat patrol
poncho liner: nylon insert to the military rain poncho, used as a blanket
pop smoke: to ignite a smoke grenade to signal an aircraft
pos: slang for position, usually meaning a friendly location
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 reexperiencing the traumatic event, numbing of responsiveness to, or involvement with, the external
world, exaggerated startle response, difficulty in concentrating, memory impairment, guilt feelings, and sleep difficulties.
POW: prisoner of war
PRC-25: Portable Radio Communications, Model 25. A back-packed 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, nonportable antenna which could extend the range to 20-30 kilometers.
PRC-77: a radio similar to the PRC-25, but with a cryptographic scrambling / descrambling unit attached. Very heavy. Transmission frequencies on the PRC-77 were called the secure net.
prick 25: PRC-25
profile: a prohibition from certain types of military duty due to injury or disability
Proo: PRU
province chief: governor of a state-sized administrative territory, usually a high ranking military officer province team: American civilian and military advisors assigned duties at the provincial capital
PRU: Province Reconnaissance Unit. Irregular unit organized within each province for the official purpose of reconnoitering guerrilla sanctuaries and collecting intelligence on guerrilla activities. These units were operated under the auspices of the CIA and were also the operating arm of the Phoenix program.
pseudomonas: a genus of bacteria causing various suppurative infections inhumans. It's presence gives pus a blue-green color.
PSP: perforated steel plate
PsyOps: psychological operations
PT: physical training
PTSD: post-traumatic stress disorder
Puff the Magic Dragon: a large propeller-driven aircraft with a Minigun mounted in the door, capable of firing 6,000 rounds per minute. Also used to refer to gunship helicopters equipped with Miniguns.
pull pitch: term used by helicopter pilots that means they are going to take off
punji stakes: sharpened bamboo sticks used in a primitive but effective pit trap. They were often smeared with excrement to cause infection.
Purple Heart: U.S. military decoration awarded to any member of the Armed Forces wounded by enemy action.
purple out-zone: emergency evacuation
PX: post exchange; military store
PZ: pick up zone
QUEBEC
QUAD-50s: a four-barrelled assembly of .50 caliber machine guns
Quantico: Marine training base in Virginia
QUEBEC: military phonetic for the letter 'Q' (pronounced "kay-beck")
ROMEO
RA: Regular Army, prefix to serial number of enlistees rabbits: white American soldiers, according to black vernacular
rack: bed or cot
rallier: defector from the Viet Cong
R&R: rest and recreation. A three to seven-day vacation from the war for a soldier.
Rangers: elite commandos and infantry specially trained for reconnaissance and combat missions; also, anyone who is a graduate (with tab) of the U.S. Army Ranger School.
RBF: reconnaissance by fire
react: for one unit to come to the aid of another under enemy fire
recon: reconnaissance. Going out into the jungle to observe for the purpose of identifying enemy activity.
Recondo School: a training school in-country for LRRPs. The largest was at Na Trang, where the training action was taken against the 17th NVA Division.
red alert: the most urgent form of warning. Signals an imminent enemy attack.
redball: an enemy high speed trail or road
red bird: a Cobra helicopter
Red Legs: slang for Artillery. In the Civil War, Union Artillery men had red stripes on their pants.
reeducation camps: political prisons and labor camps of varying degrees of severity and size that comprise the Soviet-style gulag system throughout Communist Vietnam
regiment: a military unit usually consisting of a number of battalions
Regional Forces: militia units organized within each district in South Vietnam to engage in offensive operations against local Viet Cong forces. RF units were better paid and equipped than PF units and could be assigned duties anywhere within the home district.
REMF: rear-echelon motherfucker
repo depo: replacement detachment
RF/PF: Regional and Popular Forces. The South Vietnamese National Guard-type units. Regional Forces were company-size and protected district areas. Popular Forces were platoon-size and guarded their home villages.
RIF: reconnaissance in force. A heavy reconnaissance patrol. Later, RIF came to mean reduction in force, an administrative mechanism for retiring career soldiers prior to the end of their twenty year term.
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
ROMEO: military phonetic for the letter 'R'
Rome plow: mammoth bulldozer used to flatten dense jungle or clear 100 meter wide paths through it.
RON: remain-overnight operation
rotate: to return to the U.S. at the end of a year's tour in Vietnam
ROTC: Reserve Officer's Training Corps. Program offered in many high schools and colleges, geared to
prepare students to become military officers.
RPD: a 7.62 mm Communist machine gun with a 100-round, belt operated drum that fires the same round as the AK-47
RPG: a rocket-propelled grenade. A Russian-made portable antitank grenade launcher.
RTO: radio telephone operator. The man who carried his unit's radio on his back in the field.
ruck / rucksack: backpack issued to infantry in Vietnam
Ruff Puff: derogatory term used by Americans for RF/PF
Rules of Engagement: the specific regulations for the conduct of air and surface battles by U.S. and allied forces during the Vietnam war
rumor control: the most accurate source of information prior to the actual occurrence of an event
SIERRA
S-1: Personnel
S-2: Intelligence
S-3: Operations
S-4: Supply
S-5: Civil Affairs
saddle up: put on one's pack and get ready to march
salvo: firing a battery in unison
sampan: a Vietnamese peasant's boat
SAF: small arms fire
S&S: Supply & Service; designation of a support unit sapper: a Viet Cong or NVA commando, usually armed with explosives
satchel charges: pack used by the enemy containing explosives that is dropped or thrown and is generally more powerful than a grenade
SeaBees: Navy construction engineers
SEAL: highly trained Navy special warfare team members
search and destroy: an operation in which Americans searched an area and destroyed anything which the enemy might find useful
SEATO: Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
seminar camp: the Laotian Communist version of the reeducation camp for political prisoners
Sereika (Khmer Serei): the non-Communist Cambodian resistance force
Sgt. Rock: a combat-scarred World War II comic book character
SERTS: Screaming Eagle Replacement Training School
set: a party
SF: Special Forces
shake'n'bake (or whip 'n chill): sergeant who attended NCO school and earned rank after only a very short time in uniform
shamming: goofing off or getting by with as little effort as possible
shaped charge: an explosive charge, the energy of which is focused in one direction
shit burning: the sanitization of latrines by kerosene incineration of excrement
short: a term used by everyone in Vietnam to tell all who would listen that his tour was almost over
short-timer: soldier nearing the end of his tour in Vietnam
short-timer's stick: when a soldier had approximately two months remaining on his tour in Vietnam, he might take a long stick and notch it for each of his remaining days in-country. As each day passed he would cut the stick off another notch until on his rotation day he was left with only a small stub.
shrapnel: pieces of metal sent flying by an explosion
SIERRA: military phonetic for the letter 'S'
Silver Star: U.S. military decoration awarded for gallantry in action
sit-rep: situation report
six: any Unit Commander, from the Company Commander on up
six-by: a large flat-bed truck usually with wooden slat sides enclosing the bed and sometimes a canvas top covering it. Used for carrying men or anything else that would fit on it.
skate: a task of accomplishment that required little effort or pain
SKS: Simonov 7.62 mm semi-automatic carbine sky: to leave
sky crane: huge double-engine helicopter used for lifting and transporting heavy equipment
sky out: to flee or leave suddenly
slackman: the second man back on a patrol, directly behind the point
slant: derogatory term for a Vietnamese person
slick: a UH-1 helicopter used for transporting troops in tactical air assault operations. The helicopter did not have protruding armaments and was, therefore, "slick".
slope: derogatory term for an Asian person
SMG: submachine gun
smoke grenade: a grenade that released brightly colored smoke. Used for signaling.
Snake: a Cobra helicopter
SOI: Signal Operating Instructions. The booklet that contained all of the call signals and radio frequencies of the units in Vietnam.
SOP: standard operating procedure
Sopwith Camels: slang term for a light, fixed-wing reconnaissance aircraft
soul brother: a black soldier
Spec-4: Specialist 4th Class. An Army rank immediately above Private First Class. Most enlisted men who had completed their individual training and had been on duty for a few months were Spec-4s. Probably the most common rank in the Vietnam-era Army.
Spec-5: Specialist 5th Class. Equivalent to a sergeant, but usually with a specialist rather than formal leadership role.
spider hole: camouflaged enemy foxhole
splib: term originated by black marines to identify other blacks.
Spooky: a large propeller-driven aircraft with a Minigun mounted in the door. Capable of firing 6,000 rounds per minute. Also used to refer to gunship helicopters with Miniguns.
SP pack: cellophane packet containing toiletries and cigarettes which was sometimes given along with C-rations to soldiers in the field.
squad: a small military unit consisting of less than ten men
SSI: standing signal instructions.
staff sergeant: a E-6, the second lowest noncommissioned officer rank
stand-down: an infantry unit's return from the boonies to the base camp for refitting and training. Later, a unit being withdrawn from Vietnam and redeployed to the U.S.
Starlifter: a C-141 helicopter
starlight scope: an image intensifier using reflected light to identify targets at night
steel pot: the standard U.S. Army helmet. The steel pot was the outer metal cover.
strac: smart, sharp, well prepared (from STRategic Air)
strategic hamlet program: a controversial pacification and village self-defense program implemented by the Diem government that attempted to turn all sixteen thousand South Vietnamese hamlets into fortified compounds.
strobe: hand held strobe light for marking landing zones at night; we taped the core from a toilet paper role to the strobe to make it directional and not give away our positions so much at night.
syrette: collapsible tube of morphine attached to a hypodermic needle. The contents of the tube were injected by squeezing it like a toothpaste tube.
TANGO
TA-50: individual soldier's standard issue of combat clothing and equipment
TAC: tactical air strikes; fighter bombers
Tail-end Charlie: last unit in a long column on the move
T&T: through and through wound. One in which a bullet or fragment has entered and exited the body.
tanglefoot: single-strand barbed wire strung in a meshwork pattern at about ankle height. A barrier designed to make it difficult to cross the obstructed area by foot. Usually placed around permanent defensive positions.
TANGO: military phonetic for the letter 'T'
Tango boat: U.S. Navy designation for an armored landing craft mounted with 50-caliber machine guns and a 40-caliber anti-aircraft gun used for direct fire.
TC: tactical commander
Tet: Buddhist lunar New Year. Buddha's birthday.
Tet Offensive: a major uprising of the Viet Cong, VC sympathizers and NVA characterized by a series of coordinated attacks against military installations and provincial capitals throughout Vietnam. It occurred during the lunar New Year at the end of January, 1968.
tee-tee: pidgin for very small
TFES: territorial forces evaluation system. The companion report of the HES. A computerized military evaluation system devised by American authorities in Saigon and used by them to assess the readiness of the militia forces. Each month advisors at the district level had to fill out the long computer print-out sheets and report on many different aspects of quantity and quality in the militia forces. Like all computer programs, the quality of this one's output was dependent upon the quality of the input.
thermite: a mixture of powdered aluminum and metal oxide which produces great heat for use in welding and incendiary bombs
Three: radio call signal for the operations officer
three-quarter: a three-quarter ton truck
tiger suits: camouflage fatigue uniforms
tight: good friends are close to ("tight" with) each other
TO: tactical officer
TO&E: Table of Organization and Equipment
TOC: tactical operations center
Top: a top sergeant
TOT: time on target. Prearranged mortar or artillery barrage, set to occur at a specific time in order to coordinate with an infantry assault
trach: a tracheotomy. Making an opening into the windpipe to facilitate breathing.
tracer: a round of ammunition chemically treated to glow
or give off smoke so that its flight can be followed.
tracks: any vehicles which move on tracks rather than wheels
triage: the procedure for deciding the order in which to treat casualties
trip flare: a ground flare triggered by a trip wire used to signal and illuminate the approach of an enemy at night.
Tropic Lighting: the U.S. 25th Infantry Division
turtles: new replacements. They were called turtles because it took so long for them to arrive.
Two: radio call signal of the intelligence officer.
two-niner-two: the RC-292 ground plane antenna which was used to extend the range of the MAT and the district team's PRC-25.
UNIFORM
unbloused: pants not tucked into boot tops
UH-1H: a Huey helicopter
UNIFORM: military phonetic for the letter 'U'
US: prefix to serial number of Army draftees
USAF: United States Air Force
USARV: U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam. Command of operations unit for all U.S. military forces in Vietnam, based in Long Binh.
USO: United Service Organization. Provided entertainment to the troops, and was intended to raise morale.
USOM: U.S. Operations Mission. Funded U.S. programs during the early American involvement in Vietnam.
VICTOR
V: a type of ambush set-up, shaped like the letter.
VA: Veterans Administration
VC: Viet Cong
VCI: Viet Cong infrastructure. It was the aim of the Viet Cong to have a complete government in place when their victory was finally won. Thus, where manpower allowed, Communist cadres were secretly assigned positions as village chiefs, police officers, postment, District-level officers, Province- level officers, and National-level officers. The VCI were the "shadow government" of the National Liberation Front and were awaiting the day they could step forward and claim their offices.
VFW: Veterans of Foreign Wars. An American service organization.
VICTOR: military phonetic for the letter 'V'
Victor Charlie: the Viet Cong; the enemy.
Viet Cong: the Communist-led forces fighting the South Vietnamese government. The political wing was known as the National Liberation Front, and the military was called the People's Liberation Armed Forces. Both the NLF and the PLAF were directed by the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), the southern branch of the Vietnamese Communist Party, which received direction from Hanoi through COSVN, which was located in III Corps on the Cambodian border. After 1968, as negotiations began in Paris, the NLF established the Provisional Revolutionary Government.
Viet Minh: Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, or the Vietnamese Allied Independence League. A political and resistance organization established by Ho Chi Minh before the end of World War II, dominated by the Communist Party. Though at first smaller and less famous than the non-Communist nationalist movements, the Viet Minh siezed power through superior organization skill, ruthless tactics, and popular support.
Vietnamese Popular Forces: South Vietnamese local military forces.
Vietnamization: U.S. policy initiated by President Richard Nixon late in the war to turn over the fighting to the South Vietnamese Army during the phased withdrawal of American troops.
ville: Vietnamese hamlet or village
VNAF: South Vietnamese Air Force
VNQDD: Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, or Nationalist Party of Vietnam. A non-Communist movement formed in 1926, based on the doctrines of Sun Yat-sen. The VNQDD conducted the Yen Bai uprising in 1930, which began the modern struggle for Vietnamese independence. During World War II the VNQDD staged in southern China and were instrumental in gaining Ho Chi Minh's release from a Chinese prison to help with the resistance fight against the Japanese. Ho later broke with the VNQDD. By 1950, having lost their bases in southern China when Mao came to power, the VNQDD ceased to exist as an effective organization.
VSI: very seriously ill. Army designation for those troopers who may die without immediate and definitive medical care.
VVA: Vietnam Veterans of America. Veterans organization not affiliated with the Veterans Administration.
VVAW: Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Organization formed by Vietnam veterans who gathered to protest American involvement in Vietnam.
WHISKEY
wake-up: as in "13 and a wake-up" -- the last day of a soldier's Vietnam tour.
walking wounded: wounded who are still able to walk without assistance. Also called "ambulatory".
Walter Wonderful: Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.
wasted: killed
Water Taxi: small engine-powered boat with a sheltered passenger compartment. These native craft plied the major canals and rivers of Vietnam and provided a means of transportation from one village to the next.
web gear: canvas belt and shoulder straps for packing equipment and ammunition on infantry operations. Also called "load bearing equipment" or "LBE"
weed: marijuana
WHISKEY: military phonetic for the letter 'W'
white bird: a LOH
white mice: South Vietnamese police. The nickname came from their uniform white helmets and gloves.
white phosphorus: a type of explosive round from artillery, mortars, or rockets. Also a type of aerial bomb. The rounds exploded with a huge puff of white smoke from the hotly burning phosphorus, and were used as marking rounds or incendiary rounds. When white phosphorus hit the skin of a living creature it continued to burn until it had burned through the body. Water would not extinguish it.
WIA: wounded in action
widow maker: a MA
Willy Peter: white phosphorus
wood line: a row of trees at the edge of a field or rice paddy
the World,: the United States
WP: white phosphorus
X-RAY
X: a type of ambush set up, shaped like the letter
xin loi: a Vietnamese idiom meaning "sorry about that"
XO: executive officer; the second in command of a military unit
X-RAY: military phonetic for the letter 'X'
YANKEE
YANKEE: military phonetic for the letter 'Y'
YD: the grid 100,000 meters by 100,000 meters square from the Universal Transmercator (UTM) Grid Zone 48Q. The UTM map of the world dispenses with latitude and longitude in favor of a system of metric coordinates (usually six digits) which enable the user of the map to specify a location within 100 meters.
ZULU
Zippo (or Zippo track). Term used for flame throwers (or flame thrower mounted on M113 chassis).
Zippo raids: military operations which involved burning down Vietnamese villages. Often Zippo cigarette lighters were used to ignite the huts.
zapped: killed
zip: derogatory term for Vietnamese people
ZULU: military phonetic for the letter'Z'
zulu: a casualty report
Page 2 ~ Vietnam War-era Terminology (M-Z)