| | #16 (permalink) |
| Fearless Mouse Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Silver Spring, Maryland
Posts: 1,159
| Hey, military folks I'm trying to follow the conversation, but need help with acro-speak. ODs? CoS? Some of us don't understand all the TLAs and FLAs. (Two/Three Letter Acronyms and Four Letter Acronyms ) |
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| | #18 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Somewhere in the Arizona desert
Posts: 51
| Acronyms are pretty much a fixture in the military (and the contractors that deal with the military). Some of the cooler ones: PATRIOT (Phased Array Tracking to Intercept of Target) HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) MULE (Modular Universal Laser Equipment) DROPS (Demountable Rack Offload Pallet System) HELLFIRE (Helicopter Launched Fire and Forget) HOT (High Subsonic, Optically Tracked, Tube-Launched) SCAD (Subsonic Cruise Armed Decoy) CYCLOPS (Clustered Antiarmor Sensor Fuzed Submunition) BOSS (Ballistic Offensive Suppression System) |
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| | #19 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: In the wilds of Puget Sound. Near Seth and Cascade, WA.
Posts: 2,433
| And some others - a bit more colorful ... FEBA: Forward Edge of the Battle Area. What used to be called the 'front line' until artillery and things like SCUDs make that hard to keep track of. C&C: Command & Control - the location of the folks in charge. PAO: Public Affairs Officer - the military to civillian liaison for press info, etc SAC: Stratigic Air Command - [now know as U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)] - the Air Force folks with the bombers, etc. that provide defense of the US NORAD: North American Air Defense Command - our friends who really do live 'under the mountain; - a multinational radar and sattalite watch of all air and space areas that could provide an early warning of an attack on North America And some of the more humerous ones: [Please substitute 'F**ked' for 'Fouled' as necessary] FUBAR :Fouled up Beyond All Recognition SNAFU: Situation Normal - All Fouled Up JANFU: Joint Army-Navy Foul Up [used at my MedCen [Medical Center] where we had a few Navy Docs through every now and again] FTA: Honest, it started out as a recruiting slogan - "Fun, Travel, Adventure". I don't think it lasted more than 45 sec before it became "F**k The Army" Sorry... Fouled just doesn't cut it on this one. FRED: This honestly came from the Air Force long before Stargate. Have a friend who was working the electronics 'test bed' when they were playing with new RADAR packages for C-130's. Fouled up Redundent Electronic Device. 'CF' ["Charlie Foxtrot"]: Cluster 'insert F work here ...' A situation *and* a state of mind. Here's a great site for various acronyms: Military Acronyms Enjoy! Rowan [E-8 - MSG/1SG, USA, [ret], HSC, [91A, 91B, 91C70Z, 91D, 91V, 66Y & 76Y] [name, paygrade, rank, military status, Health Services Command - the medical people & the MOS [Military Occupational Specialty codes for the major jobs I held in the Army] ] |
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| | #20 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: In the wilds of Puget Sound. Near Seth and Cascade, WA.
Posts: 2,433
| A BTW: I will buy the first round for any PATRIOT Gunner from the Gulf. The classic CNN film clip of the Patriot missle taking out the SCUD in the Gulf war? That was right over my billets in Eskan Village. Thanks, folks ... I owe you one. Rowan |
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| | #21 (permalink) |
| Fearless Mouse Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Silver Spring, Maryland
Posts: 1,159
| Seems that the military is even more TLA/FLA oriented than the Federal Government -- for which I used to work. My favorite was always "BPA" which meant either "Blanket Purchase Agreement" or "Bonnieville Power Administration" depending on context. Of course if one was getting a BPA to cover some project involving the BPA, then FUBAR seems to be the appropriate response. |
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| | #22 (permalink) |
| Mr. Flibble is very cross Join Date: May 2001 Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,861
| You wouldn't be able to camoflage very wellin the bright orange BDU's unless the planet had orange trees, grass, and water; or maybe even if you were in the Sun you might blend in |
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| | #23 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: In the wilds of Puget Sound. Near Seth and Cascade, WA.
Posts: 2,433
| Colors The orange/red stuff has two uses: #1: Hunting cammo as deer and the like can't see in that color range but the other hunters can - you're less likely to get nailed. #2: The Swiss wear a red/green pattern that's very IR 'hidden' - you just don't show up. Rowan |
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| | #24 (permalink) |
| Reetou Diplomatic Corp Join Date: May 2001 Location: North-west UK
Posts: 3,803
| Or, to extrapolate a bit further - "normal" DPM is great for us, as humans, because we know how our eyes and optical interpretation work. As soon as we switch to a new planet (fan fic idea here) any aliens we may find are postentially going to have different, or overlapping, sensitivies. Different frequencies, seeing in black&white, seeing infra-red, UV, etc. Think the alien in "Predator". So, having neat little woodland/camo may be great to stop us seeing each other, but leave us totally exposed, whereas, for example, using the deer version quoted above, something totally obvious to us may be invisible to another race of humanoids.... |
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