Grunts, Squids Not Grunting From Same Dictionary

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - You're an Army infantryman. During a training exercise, your platoon sergeant says your squad did a fine job stabbing those dummies.

In unison, your squad enthusiastically responds: "Hoo-ah!" The words are barked sharply, with emphasis hard on the "hoo."

The sergeant nods, then assigns the next task, ending with, "Got it?" You briefly mull this over, then respond: "Hoo-ah."

But this is a different sort of "hoo-ah." It's more one syllable than two, and the tone is slightly more subdued than the first reply. Less an exclamation, more an acknowledgment. Sort of an attentive "um-hmm."

This might strike the typical civilian as odd. But in the Army, the expression "hoo-ah" has, as the Chinese say, a thousand different meanings.

"It's basically the answer for everything," said Sgt. Scott Lachut of the 6th Battalion at Fort Eustis.

A Marine, on the other hand, would NEVER say "hoo-ah."

"That's strictly Army," Sgt. Victor Ervin, 4th Supply Battalion in Newport News, admonished a visitor in the highbrow manner of a college professor at Yale.

"We say, `oo-RAH.' O-O-R-A-H," he said, spelling it out for effect.

"Let that out in a nightclub, and all the Marines in the club will stand up," chimed in Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Phillips.

Not suitable for print

The military, just like the civilian world, has a slang all its own. But considering the variety of jobs, equipment, uniforms and workplaces, the military probably uses more slang than any other group.

"It's a break from the convention of the military," said Army Staff Sgt. Kip Keziah of the 6th Transportation Battalion at Fort Eustis. "Everyone's the same, dress-right-dress." Slang, he said, "is the soldier's way of putting his own spin on everyday things."

Now, this being a family newspaper, any discussion of military slang must be softened substantially; profane expressions and sexual references are off limits. Asked for some examples of military slang, Master Chief Petty Officer John Tersigni of Fighter Squadron 31 at Virginia's Oceana Naval Air Station, a 25-year veteran, replied with a grin, "Nothing that I could tell you."

Long days at sea on Navy ships with all-male crews were once fertile ground for some pretty foul talk. But nowadays, the language throughout the military is for the most part far less salty than in days of yore, a nod both to an increasing female presence in the ranks and troops who are generally better educated.

Still, a civilian without any military experience - a growing segment of American society - would find the military a tough group to understand.

Service-specific terms

Some military slang is common to all the services. Everyone knows what COB (close of business), a legal beagle (lawyer) and a roach coach (snack truck) are. But each service also has its own unique lingo.

The Navy and Marines have an especially rich slang vocabulary, with their insistence on calling doors "hatches" and hallways "passageways." On an aircraft carrier, the flight deck is "the roof." The purple-shirted sailors who refuel aircraft are "grapes."

If a male Army soldier is a sharp-minded troop who also presents a sharp appearance - that is, wears spit-shined boots, a sharply creased uniform and perhaps a "high-and-tight" haircut (a little on the top, none on the side), a fellow soldier might say he's looking "squared away."

Not so in the Air Force - especially if the airman in question is a gung-ho troop. ("Gung-ho" is a World War II-era adaptation of a Chinese term meaning "work together.") This airman is considered to be "all ate up" - consumed with Air Force service. In other words, he's a real "maggot" for it.

But in the Army, an "ate up" soldier is "somebody who just has no clue about what's going on," said Pfc. Pete Graves of the 6th Transportation Battalion. "And every company has about four of 'em."

In the Navy and Marines, a "maggot" is similarly clueless.

Crunchies, knuckle-draggers

Members of each service have colorful but fairly innocuous names for each other - for the most part, they are ground-pounders, squids, zoomies and grunts. More interesting are the services' long lists of slang terms for their jobs:

-- In the Navy, a "one-wire" is an electrician, while a "two-wire" (a bit more advanced, get it?) is an electronics technician.

-- Army cavalry scouts are "crunchies" - a reference to the sound troops think the soldiers would make while being run over by enemy tanks.

-- Air Force crew chiefs are "crew dogs" or "knuckle-draggers."

-- Marines call their Navy medics "Doc" - but only after the medic has earned their respect. Until then, he or she is simply "corpsman."

No slang terms, however, could be found for military police - at least, not for a reporter's ears.

Flexible, enduring

As in civilian life, military expressions come and go. Back in the 1960s, that "squared away" soldier might have been described as "strac" - an acronym for a once-elite organization called the Strategic Army Command, whose members were expected to look exceptionally good all the time. The expression faded a few years after the command was shut down.

That's what Maj. Walt Thorp, public affairs officer for the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley, loves about the English language. "Its flexibility is the key to its ability to endure," Thorp said approvingly.

Some of that military slang, Thorp noted, eventually makes its way into mainstream English. Snafu - originally a military slang acronym for "situation normal, all (fouled) up," became a common slang term worthy of dictionary inclusion. So did the word gizmo - a common expression for a gadget.

---------------------------- A glossary of military slang ----------------------------

ARMY

Beat your face: Do pushups.

Bolo: A failing grade on a task, as in, "He boloed the test."

Bullet-stoppers: Infantrymen.

Hop and pop: Wake everyone up and move out promptly.

Tread heads: Tank crewmen.

Two-digit midget: A soldier who has fewer than 100 days left on active duty.

NAVY

Airedale: Anyone in naval aviation.

Bubble-head: A submariner.

Ground hog: Army soldier.

Hammer-slammer: An airframe technician.

Our concrete brethren: Members of the Air Force.

Poster boy: A sharp-looking and knowledgeable sailor.

Skate: Someone who doesn't work hard or get much accomplished.

AIR FORCE

Buff: A B-52 bomber.

Catbox: The Middle East.

Check six: Watch your back ("6 o'clock" describes the area directly behind an aircraft).

Ground-pounder: An Army soldier.

Passover party: A party for those who were "passed over" for promotion.

Slow smolder: An airman whose career is going nowhere; opposite of "fast-burner."

Wingman: Someone you hang around with while traveling away from home.

Wizzo: The weapons officer in an aircraft.

MARINES

Box kicker: A supply clerk.

Doggie: Army soldier.

Non-hacker: Someone who isn't up to the challenge.

ALL SERVICES

Butterbar: A second lieutenant or ensign, the lowest-ranking officers.

Deep kimchi: Big trouble, from the pickled-cabbage dish served in Korea.

Gedunk: Candy and other junk food.

LT: A lieutenant, as in, "The LT said to get it done."

Pogie bait: Junk food.

Punching out: Ejecting from an aircraft, or simply leaving an activity or area: "I'm punchin' out."

SWA: Pronounced "swah," for Southwest Asia.

Newport News Daily Press