Explaining army slang words - what do they mean?

[@raymondjoseph7177]

I can't help it. It's how i communicated on the phone for the last 20 yrs. "Hold one, stand by, ready to copy, i say again, insert phonetic alphabet for name spelling" i find myself talking to my family this way daily. My 8 yr old is starting to repeat my verbal in school.

[@fileminokilicho3159]

😂nice

[@tonymirarchi]

Roger goes back to the telegraph. Once you got the end of message signal, you would reply with the letter R. The phonetic alphabet of WW2 used Roger for the letter R.

[@mattwolfen]

A fun note about the specialist rank is that it can also be called the "full bird private" because in a way you're still a dumb private just with time in. Another phrase that's big now is "it'll buff". Basically means something is wrong, broken, doomed to fail, etc. No one has the means to rectify it right now but EVENTUALLY we'll find a solution.

[@Dillon41689]

Leaving for Fort Leonard Wood in 2 months for 88M. Thank you for your channel content and advice. At 33 it was a huge help and definitely calmed some nerves a little bit

[@Dillon41689]

Appreciate the recognition Chris

[@drusmith3480]

I left for Fort Leonard Wood in '92 for 51B.

[@eltonleao8073]

God I hate that place

[@germanstudent06]

Good luck to ya, I was an 88M as well and the 56th Trans Co will be home for ya soon. Godspeed Ryan!

[@Dillon41689]

@@germanstudent06 thank you, I really appreciate it

[@jasonscott6174]

Freedom Bird - when your time in-country roughly coincides with your release date, it's the flight you take out of country back to the 'world' (USA). This one was very popular in the 60's to mid-70's, especially in Viet Nam. PX's everywhere sold calendars that had blocks leading up into a depiction of a big passenger airplane, and the soldier would cross off each block, day by day, until he made his way up into the plane (his last day in-country). Your flight out was your Freedom Bird.

[@DavidLLambertmobile]

Short, short isn't a mean term or insult. Short is a common slang phrase meaning you are near your end of deployment or class, end of enlistment. If you are OCONUS and have 2 weeks left, 1 week you may say; "hey I'm short". Or "I'm too short to care!" Some combat, SE Asia army soldiers would be leery of "short timers" "short timers disease". In my last few months I was not in my regular platoon, working. MP/95B.

[@markmclaughlin2690]

The most extreme version of short is next. Hey man how short are you? I’m not short I’m next.

[@ArizonaHotSauce]

Rumor has it that "Ate Up" originated from the 8th Infantry Division after WWII after how the 8th ID was viewed as a bunch of disorganized and disheveled individuals. The nickname had a nice ring to it and it stuck in military lexicon.

[@DavidLLambertmobile]

The whole 9 yards is a US Army term, slang for when a gunner used a .50BMG ammunition supply which was in lengths of 9 yards. WW2. The army term became common.

[@golfery5119]

Heard the term "Ate Up" the most at basic training. Also heard "soup sandwich" to go with it.

[@markmclaughlin2690]

Ate up like a soup sandwich. That private is like rock with lips.

[@christophergraham3160]

Ft. Couch. When I was in the Army, we called it the "Backyard BBQ Brigade at Ft. Livingroom."

[@germanstudent06]

Ft Livingroom :D

[@michaelparadigm7836]

Put a smile on my face. Haven’t heard those in a minute. Except we called it fort living room instead of ft couch, same thing I guess. Oh and we used to say 11 up- 3 down instead of ate up. What’s my favorite? There are so many, but ‘down range’ comes to mind. For a while everything was down range.

[@christopherchaos]

Yep, heard fort living room as well.

[@J31990]

A follow up video would be awesome!

[@BryanM362]

Another one is being "Short," meaning you're time left in service, or at that duty station, is short and you're about to leave. You hear used as in "I'm a "short timer," or "I'm so short I could play handball off the curb..."

[@josephwarra5043]

"I'm so "short", I have to look up to see down." -- only a couple of days or weeks till discharge.

[@Warriorrestorationfitness]

I was a POG (42A) who went on over 50 combat missions in Iraq. Loved each mission!

[@alancranford3398]

I'm a long-term veteran and I have studied historical military and naval slang--but there's more I don't know. Thank you for the check on my slang knowledge. Today, Jody (a boy) can be stealing a soldier's man as well. It's not just a female soldier's man, either. "Blue Falcon" has the same initials as buddy fucker. Sometimes this is also referred to as Bravo Foxtrot. 'Pogey Bait' in the old days was much like putting an apple on Teacher's desk to get a more favorable grade. If you really needed your leave paperwork typed up right away and with no errors, a chocolate bar was thought to be insurance.

[@dalewoods7308]

National guard/reserves also use this term fort couch after ait

[@Losfhc]

“High Speed” was a good one 😂 “PX Ranger” was a good one too, some guy in my unit made up a good one “Stud Missile” 😂

[@drusmith3480]

BDUs that were too faded to be serviceable were called "Cook Whites".

[@lelandgaunt9985]

51!

[@oldreliable40]

yeah I was a cook and I had " 11b grunts in alaska tell me they would never want my job!!! 1/60 inf and 4/23 inf!!!!!! 80's

[@victorwaddell6530]

When I was on my first navy ship I became the Operations Intelligence Division Damage Control Petty Officer as an E4 , Petty Officer Third Class , somewhat like an Army Specialist . I had to stand Port and Starboard watches underway in the radar center . But Inport I was mostly left alone to perform maintenance on Damage Control and firefighting equipment . The US Navy takes Damage Control so seriously that if you work in that field most others leave you alone no matter your pay grade . When I arrived on my second ship as an E5 I continued to be a Damage Control Petty Officer for the Operations Intelligence Division . I would often ask for an assistant and trainee . I had my pick of E4s and below to choose from , and I got my choice sailors out of a lot of less desirable duties . I had a schedule of maintenance to perform that required me to work outside of normal working hours . One day a Chief Petty Officer ( E7 ) thought he caught me goofing off , smoking a cigarette and drinking a coke in the berthing lounge during work hours . I told him that I was observing the stretch and contraction of a rubber gasket in the watertight hatch that sealed the berthing compartment from flooding .

[@ragnvald420]

Woobie! I was hoping you'd mention Woobie. Love the channel. I'm a veteran, 31R, Ft. "Relaxin" Jackson basic, Camp Red Cloud 2 years & Ft. Gordon AIT plus final duty station. 99-03

[@JamesDavis-jo9tk]

Can’t forget the infamous “Dear John letter” where a girlfriend or wife back home writes that they’ve found someone else and they’re breaking up with you. And also “PFC” For private f..ng civilian.

[@jestertx]

Great Video. Another is Single or Double Digit Midget. Hooah was originally HUA which stands for Heard, Understand, Acknowledge. There’s also Birth Control Glasses, Mandatory Fun, Break Contact, Pop Smoke, Soup Sandwich, High Speed, Full Battle Rattle, Zero Dark 30, Hurry up and Wait, and Shit Hot. Oh, and Voluntold.

[@christophergraham3160]

"In the land of Middle Earth, at a realm called The Shire, in the town of Hobbiton, in a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit. This was not like a cellar, dank and musty. Nor was it like a cave, cold and dark. This was a Hobbit Hole, and that meant comfort." J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Hobbit" Best way to attribute Fobbits to something most of us have read or seen on blu ray

[@lelandgaunt9985]

Dirty little throbbitsis.

[@thetrailninja3791]

We called the barracks lawyer the craphouse lawyer

[@dougtheeliminator1077]

Jailhouse lawyer too.

[@nicka404]

Shithouse lawyer I’ve heard

[@warrenm1741]

I remember the term rag bag. Boots not shined, wrinkled uniform, etc.

[@markmclaughlin2690]

Rag bag, dirt bag, wtf Private is the little black bird extinct ? What bird Sergeant ? The little black kiwi bird you look like you shined your boots with a Hershey bar.

[@trevorsmith5856]

If you stay ready you don’t gotta get ready

[@freddywyche2827]

you can tell 11b gave him a really hard time lmao

[@darwinandoe1003]

I have a friend that constantly talks about his AO. When we leave our AO, or we need to make sure the POG's follow the regs when they are in the A0.

[@KrakenNate]

Surprisingly i already knew a lot of these as a civilian not in the army yet

[@bishyaler]

Heard Understand Acknowledged

[@Happy2BNRoundRock]

Are there any other, 11C's (mortar maggots) here ? We had our own, slang. When calling for, High Explosives to be, 'Fired For Effect' (all guns firing multiple rounds), the Forward Observer would call for, Ham and Eggs (HE), Scrambled Over The Target Area. One of the guys, referred to the, mortar as a, 'piss tube'. He was referring to it looking like, tubes, stuck in the ground to, urinate in. We referred to mortars as, 'High Angel Hell' , too.

[@KrakenNate]

Chris is my favorite KZbinr

[@oldreliable40]

I'm glad ur bac inda world!!!

[@robertwooxward5858]

Sick Call Ranger

[@dusty265]

short timer here! Single digit Miget 3 days and a wakeup and I will be on that "freedom bird" to the "World" headed to "Fort Living Room" To Ride the couch

[@markmclaughlin2690]

I’m not short I’m next, tomorrow I get on the big iron bird back to the land of the big PX

[@Happy2BNRoundRock]

We used the term, Two Digit Midget , for someone with, less that, 100 days in, the military.

[@larnewman3009]

We (UK forces) call the kind of poor information given out around the troops "Scoffhouse Gen". "Gen" is "Genuine information" and the "Scoffhouse" is where we eat. Hence, Scoffhouse Gen.

[@Nboss57]

In AIT we used it alot for the nasty gals and discount nasty gals

[@davidoolsen]

Do one on all the acronys

[@datonegamer218]

They also use Fort Couch for Reserve and NG

[@Mr.Meerkat95]

I’ve also heard blue flacon be used to describe a trainee coming into basic who thinks they’re hot shit and a super soldier

[@timothysmith7436]

That’s the “Golden Boy”!

[@johnsgamingandmore1237]

That's pretty neat...never knew where pogie bait came from lol my favorite sham job when I was in the army was ammo detail lol good times

[@d-townmusicgroupnewmusic3589]

13Bravo, my deployment in the Army in the 70s out in the field when we were (Short) meaning our deployment is about up, we use to say we couldn’t wait to get back to the world (Stateside)

[@markmclaughlin2690]

Land of the big PX

[@batfink6]

When I was in, 108th M.I. Battalion, Germany in the early 80’s, we said “ skate “ rather than “ sham”

[@jasonscott6174]

We used 'skate' in US Army, Berlin in the late 70's to early 80's. Never heard 'sham'.

[@theromanorder]

So my father who was in the army band was a pog? Interesting

[@nco_gets_it]

and a REMF...LOL

[@orionexplorer]

I got out in 1998. To this day I still use pogey bait when I'm going camping, my poor wife just can't understand what I' getting at.

[@germanstudent06]

If you where a "bladerunner" or they said you were "bladerunning" that means you were borderline about to fail a class. I also heard of being a "true blue" if you were a first time go on all of the Expert Infantryman Badge qualifications. Cheers guys!

[@nco_gets_it]

we used to tell Privates that hooah was first used on Omaha beach...when a COL told some rangers to go take out a gun position, their command said "who, us?" and it was misheard as "who ah"...LOL

[@azariahisrael5632]

Fobit? Back in my day early 90's we called them REMFs = Rear Echelon Mother Fers...lol.....Rag bag, ate up, tore up, FNG, police call, fart bag, 0h dark thirty.

[@Happy2BNRoundRock]

I was, Regular Army, 11C (mortar maggot) 74-77. We did't use, POG as someone that wasn't a, Grunt. We used the term, REMF, (Rear Echelon M F), they were, clerks, supply, etc.

[@dalegilbert4128]

POG is like the equivalent of the guys joining the marines acting like every other branch is soft

[@GenX_US_Marine]

Theres marine slang words as well. These are some of my favorites that I still use today. Theres more but I can't remember them all. Soup Sandwich SITFU - Suck It The F@$% Up Shit Bird

[@chriskethan5952]

In the Navy, we used "Sea Lawyer" instead of "Barracks Lawyer". Same thing.

[@lawrenceobrien5122]

Barracks rat - soldier that sits in the barracks during time off does nothing but drink beer and watch movies 24/7. Chairborne - ADMIN/Clerical MOS.

[@scalebreaka7596]

"Shit bag" is goated

[@dougtheeliminator1077]

ETS = Camp Couch, Fort Living Room, etc

[@drusmith3480]

Chairborne Rangers

[@lazurzabound]

ETS = Echo Tango Suitcase

[@DavidLLambertmobile]

A Black Ace ♠️ is a pilot who wrecked or crashed at least 3 military aircraft 🛩🚁🪂. My 2nd MP duty post: Fort Lee, the E-8 1SG was a "Black Ace". Army WO chopper pilot. He explained himself he wrecked 3 helicopters. He was told either resign or be a E-6, SSG re-class. He retired E-8, MP 95B. 1990s.

[@abelsgarage]

Lol fort couch is definitely still around. I be been in 4 years now and hear it all the time

[@maeJoyBwithU-ux3fn]

thankYou! these are awesome...

[@kelleymcmahan6457]

Ate up as a soup sandwich or ate up as a football bat

[@markmclaughlin2690]

That private is effed up as a football bat..

[@quinshawlittle]

good thing i’m watching this bc i go to my duty station tomorrow from AIT

[@jameshenryarchbold5061]

Eight up was the handle of the 8th INF Division. One look at the unit insignia will explain why.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

"Licky Chewy"=snacks... I heard Grand thumb here on KZbin ex Army speical forces used once... And it stands out to me a Chivvy, Air force fan, online creative who grew up around veterans and active milltary so I've heard a few in my time but that one stands out becuase it's kinda useless but is fun to say.

[@briansimmons6760]

AS a 11 bravo. There are many expressions of hooah too. A long hoooooooah means he excited and ready to go or it might mean yes. The short version means he not excited. A question type of hooah means he might want to investigate the situation like talk to some hot girls. It's like a cave man type a language. You almost have to be a 11 bravo to know. We can talk hooah all day and know what we are saying the whole time.

[@golfery5119]

8:30 why is Chris walking that back? Who's really going to say with a straight face that *PEACETIME* 11 B is actually a good MOS?

[@nolesen5699]

Camp Backyard!

[@nicka404]

Blue falcon from my knowledge is a solider being a snitch

[@terrancewilhite9260]

soup sandwich, blivet, same shit different day

[@areyouastarseedtommy2toes192]

Great content love the channel as always thank you for your service two towering E4 Mafia shamshield keep it crispy big brother and watch your six in front of them all sir

[@evianapronounceaseh-vee-ah9502]

Nice Chris! I heard a lot of these though never heard of fobit though. Lol. Have you ever heard a "football bat"?

[@christopherchaos]

Never herd that one.

[@evianapronounceaseh-vee-ah9502]

@@christopherchaos My boy who is a combat veteran said he would say football bat a lot with his boys when he was in. I don't know if I like that terminology more or soup sandwich lol

[@lelandgaunt9985]

C o v I d

[@Joseph-uj7tg]

I can tell he's really upset about the POG thing

[@AgentP9000]

When national guard graduate from AIT is another way Fort Couch is used.

[@emperorcesarcantu7840]

E4 mafia

[@2averagenoobs108]

Also POG is literally "person other than grunt" the only requirement to not be a pog is be infantry lol. It's mainly only used now a days to troll people

[@chefmads3144]

Jody is just the male version of Joline which is a country song

[@dogsareme100]

yes please more

[@thouxanbanmar3423]

instead of pogey bait we say lickeys and chewys now lol

[@nicolebutterflies1117]

As female Army Veteran I often use Jody for women who would take my man. It's a unisex name. So it works.

[@golfery5119]

how many women have done so or tried to do so? LOL

[@nicolebutterflies1117]

@@golfery5119 relationship dependent I had a gf cheat on me in BCT with another chick. I've had a few men cheat on me prior to my service and my BD after I was out. Jody can very much be a chick. Although it tends to only happen when I am dating a Civilian counterpart. Never been cheated on by a fellow service member or veteran. Which is ironic bc barracks bunnies multiply 🤔 🤣 😏

[@golfery5119]

@@nicolebutterflies1117 "my BD" What does "BD" stand for again? And yes, I've seen one instance of fraternization in basic. It was one of the older girls who was married and I saw her in the hall of a building my company and other companies would do classes in, and she was french kissing a dude in her platoon. Me and a guy I was with (who was of that same platoon by the way) just decided not to say anything because we didn't want to make an enemy of the dude (he was crazy and was a holdover from another cycle) and we didn't want to take a chance on getting all the entire company's trainees in trouble if the drill sergeants found out. By the way this happened a few weeks toward the end of basic and we were having a GI party on a Sunday where the drill sergeants just had the company clean up and left us alone for a while.

[@golfery5119]

@@nicolebutterflies1117 Ive really only seen a small number o barracks bunnies myself. haven't seen any.

[@nicolebutterflies1117]

@@golfery5119 BD stands for Baby Daddy. 👶 I personally have never seen a barracks bunny myself but I have heard the stories.

[@OBJECTIVEVIEW-m4c]

I thought JODY is the cadence songs to help you march.

[@christophergraham3160]

"HOOAH" to a chaplain means "Amen".

[@sithninjacowboyranger9803]

When I was Reserves. We had this direct commission Chaplin that learned quick that Hoooah meant Amen.

[@theprof73]

Let's DX this AO ASAP

[@happyherpDerps7395]

loving these vids, and I have never served, but it's not Jody. It's 'Joe D.'

[@waltbury]

In the Navy during the 70's and the draft was still a real thing. The term eat up mean they gun hoe to be a lifer in the Navy. All militray and it was the best life to live

[@juniorreaves9050]

Fort Living Room.

[@Jason-fg4jr]

Brother I'm guessing 33 35 years old if your old school 5hit then I'm a fossil 😆

[@christopherchaos]

Thanks for the complement. lol. I joined the Army in 1999.

[@scottdikum9147]

Soup sandwich or in the turtle ditch

[@markmclaughlin2690]

Turtle 🐢 a common phrase for anyone in 2ID not mean in a complimentary term. Do anything stupid the reply is Turtle.

[@Panic12]

I was waiting for Leg or E-4 Mafia

[@nco_gets_it]

a leg is a nasty creature that smells like a goat's azz...LOL. Or so the boys in silk always said. Not sure why they went around sniffing goat's asses, but whatever.

[@Joe_SharkSkin]

Here’s one from the Marine corps: Skater

[@xymos7807]

I would think "Jolene" would be the term for female homewreckers stealing men while women are serving...I've heard that term at least once and it comes from the Dolly Parton song. And Ft Couch has been used as a term for the Reservists and National Guard because of the part time duties. It's still pretty popular today. I'm surprised you drop the word "Leg" which means anyone who isn't Airborne or "high speed" which generally means someone who gets a head of the process or looks like they're in a hurry.

[@jeraldbottcher1588]

e-4 Mafia

[@nathanrobinson1595]

When 88 mikes (driver 99%female) trained with us,,,, was the only time it was ever ok to be a bravo foxtrot! Some looked like they could have been in a fm-69! (Field manual 69)

[@johntejeda6482]

My favorite word was FIGMO.

[@tonymirarchi]

HUA is Heard Understood Acknowledged

[@Schaneification]

SNAFU EyeCandy The Big Picture mommy P---- Babysitter pill pusher

[@slingo30]

LEG not airborne

[@jmoliere1207]

valin told

[@katea9037]

Can u make a video about the 12’s MOS, I’m thinking about being a 12w but no one talks about it :)

[@lelandgaunt9985]

He has videos on the 12 series….

[@jurban611]

Notification platoon.

[@outdoorlife5396]

Echo, Tango, Suitcase, how about Ft Living Room.

[@markmclaughlin2690]

That’s my language I’m goin to Echo Tango Suitcase back to Ft Living Room

[@outdoorlife5396]

@@markmclaughlin2690 yea and the first time I heard WTF over was in service. On the radio, lol

[@tonymirarchi]

Only seen POG written down. I thought it rhymed with frog.

[@2098elk]

I'm short. I'm so short I can sit on a sheet of tiolet paper and my feet don't touch the ground! Getting out soon.

[@brandoballer8336]

You missed "No Bear" phrase.

[@nco_gets_it]

pogey bait has nothing to do with pogs...pogey is a slang word for--well, you know. Pogey bait was what one used to lure the pogey in...LOL. Not much in that these days but back in the green army days before BDUs, things were different in the field.