UNSC Marine Corps Terms & Slang

[Durant, M.]

MARINE / INFANTRY TERMINOLOGY
& SLANG

#
.50 Caliber - The standard heavy, vehicle mounted machine gun used by UNSC forces; aka "Fifty cal," "Fitty cal," and "the Fifty."

1st Suicide Battalion - First Battalion, Twelfth Marines; nicknamed such by the enlisted Marines of the unit to describe the type of missions and combat they've endured and seen.

A-C
AO - Area of Operation; an AO can be as large as all of a planet or as small as the area around an encampment of Marines.
Air Force Salute - Marine slang for a shrug.
Ass - Marine slang for any weapon system or unit that packs a lot of firepower. "We're rolling with a lot of ass today" means "We will be accompanied by tanks or attack aircraft today."
Assault Through - Primary tactic for when encountering a close ambush.

BC - Battalion Commander.
Belt-Fed - Excited; refers to linked rounds fed through a machine gun. Can also be used as an intensifier, as in, "That guy is a belt-fed son of a bitch," i.e., a real son of a bitch.
Berthing Area / Compartment - Where a Marine sleeps aboard ship; a ship's crew quarters.
Blouse Boots - To tuck pants-legs into the top of one's boots and keep them in place by wrapping a metal spring or elastic band around the fabric just below the boot-top.
Boondockers - A nickname for the standard issue Marine Corps VZG7 armored combat boots.
Boonie Cover - A standard issue floppy field hat; aka soft cover.
Butterfly Trigger - A safety trigger that requires two thumbs to actuate.
Brain Bucket - A nickname for a Marine's CH252 Helmet.

CAS - Close Air Support; pronounced "KASS."
CG - Commanding General.
CO - Commanding Officer; usually applied to the Battalion Commander, or less frequently the Company Commander, but never to a Platoon Commander.
Coconut - Marine nickname for the CH252 Helmet.
CASEVAC - Casualty evacuation; an evacuation in a combat zone of a patient who has not yet been stabilized.
Cleared Hot - Given permission to fire your weapon by a superior.
Condition One - A verb that means to put one's weapon on red con one; rack a round into your chamber.

D-F
DCU - Desert Combat Uniform; any field garment with desert camouflage.
Defilade - Cover; any object which protects the Marine from hostile fire is known as defilade.
Deuce Gear - A web of straps and hooks worn as an outer garment, to which one affixes extra gear such as ammo pouches and canteens; aka Load Bearing Vest or LBV.
Devil Dog - A Marine.
Doggie(s) - A nickname for a UNSC Army soldier.
Donkey Dicks - Venerable Marine Corps term for a variety of phallic-shaped implements.

"Echo Five Sierra" - Refers to Sergeant Stone, whose pay grade is "E-5" and whose last name begins with an "S." In radio code phonetics, he becomes "Echo Five Sierra." Can be used as an alternative to one's callsign, or for those who do not possess callsigns.
Enlisted Tent - Area where privates through sergeants sleep in most FOBs or rear bases.
E-Tool - A collapsible shovel carried by all Marines; short for "Excavation Tool" or "Entrenching Tool."

FARP - Forward Arming / Refueling Area; an area directly behind friendly lines used to refuel and rearm aircraft in between CAS strikes and CASEVACs.
Fighting Hole - Sleeping hole dug by Marines to protect from shrapnel and weapons fire. The term "foxhole" is not used by Marine Corps forces, as it is attributed as an Army term. More derogatory opinions of why this is the case are rampant, and too many to list.
FO - Forward Observer; anyone spotting targets down range for support elements.
FTL - Fire Team Leader; a small unit leader.
Foot Mobile - A person on foot.
Forty Mike-Mike - 40 millimeter; refers to either an individual 40mm self-propelled grenade round or the weapon that launches them.

G-J
Grab-ass - Messing around; being lazy or focusing more on other things besides one's job.
Grape Beverage Base - Grape juice powder; the name printed on the packaging in the military rations.
The Grooming Standard - The Marine Corps' standard grooming regulations.

Heavy - A nickname for the Covenant's Hunter troops.
Hardball - Paved road; as opposed to unpaved.
Herringbone - To halt a convoy of vehicles at a 45-degree angle to the axis of a highway, much like the pattern of fish bones.

"I Glassed It" - "I viewed the object through binoculars or a rifle scope." Has fallen out of popularity due to the term also being used to describe the Covenant's tactic of re-terraforming a planet using plasma beams. Generally most people say "I saw it" or "spotted it."
IA - Immediate Action; whatever a Marine trains to do when shit hits the fan.

Jockies - Shortened version of "rocket jockies," referring to Marines with MOS 0352 who carry rocket launchers with them into the field.

K-M
K-Pot - Kevlar Pot; a Marine's CH252 Helmet.
Kevlar - A helmet; while civilians know Kevlar as the brand-name of a bullet resistant material, Marines refer to their Kevlar-reinforced CH252 helmets simply as Kevlars.
Kill Zone, Kill Box - The area where the enemy hopes to direct, channel and trap you in order to kill you, or where you hope to do the same to him.

LOD - Line of Departure.
Leatherman - The all-in-one plier, screwdriver and knife tool carried by Marines.
Lollygaggin' - Fooling around; being lazy.
LT - Nickname for a lieutenant.

MRE - Meal Ready to Eat; standard military fare, food manufactured and served as a complete, self-heating meal in a plastic bag.
MSR - Main Supply Route; any paved road is typically referred to as an MSR. MSRs can be designated by numbers or names in order for Marines to remember them easier - especially when the actual road names are hard to pronounce.
MOPP - Mission Oriented Protective Posture; a protective suit designed to protect a Marine from nuclear, biological, and chemical elements.
Moto - Motivated; anything that expresses the highly-motivated spirit of Marines. Shouting "Get Some!" is a moto thing to do.
Motard(ed) - A derogatory term for someone who is motivated to the point of retardation; always in high spirits even in the shittiest of situations. "That boot is a motard."


N-Q
NJP - Non-Juidicial Punishment; next to a court martial, the most severe form of punishment to which a Marine can be subjected. It usually involves a loss of rank and pay grade.
Navy Corpsman - The medic, though medics in the Marine Corps are technically a part of the Navy's hospital corps and are never referred to as "medics" but Corpsmen. Pronounced "CORE-MAN" or "CORE-MEN," not "CORPSEMEN."
Negligent Discharge - Accidental firing of a weapon; aka ND.
Nine-Lines - A procedure for directing air strikes on ground targets or calling in CASEVAC.
No-Co - A derisive and derogatory nickname for Marines belonging to November Company, First Battalion, Twelfth Marines by the Marines of Oscar Company. Another term used to describe November Company is "No-Go."
No Salute Zone - Forward areas where officers are not to be acknowledged with salutes, in order to conceal rank from potential enemy observers.
November Juliet - A nickname for coffee using phonetic alphabet.

Oh Dark Hundred - Until darkness falls or literally 12:00 AM (2400 / 0000 hours). Note: "Oh Dark Thirty" typically means half an hour past dawn or literally 12:30 AM, or any ridiculously early hour of the morning.
Oscar Mike - "On the Move" from the phonetic alphabet.
Overwatch - A position that offers protective fire for a given area or excellent visual coverage of an area.

"Paint Me" - To paint something is to shine one's gunsight laser designator or settle one's crosshairs on a target in preparation for shooting it.
Pasta Shell - Another nickname for a Marine's helmet.
POG - Person Other than Grunt; a pejorative term for anyone who is in the rear echelon and therefore not in a force recon or infantry unit. This is one of the most insulting terms in the Marine Corps, almost the equivalent of the "N" word. Note: POG is pronounced with a long "o," i.e. "P-Oh-G."
Poggie Bait - Candy.
Police - To clean up or correct, as in "Police your tent," or clean it up.
Pyro And Smoke Protocol - Codes involving use of smoke grenades and flares.

R-S
ROE - Rules of Engagement; the all-important, ever-changing and always ambiguous rules governing when a Marine may fire his weapon.
RTO - Radio Telephone Operator; the radioman. Arguably the most important guy in a platoon.
Rack - Nautical term for a bed / sleeping area.
Red-Con One - Readiness Condition One; a loaded weapon with a round in its chamber, but with the safety on.
Revetment - Crude fortifications made from earth, concrete or sandbags.

SOP - Standard Operating Procedure; is sometimes informally used as a synonym for common sense.
Schwack - To kill; origin believed to be a video game.
Staff NCOs - Anyone from staff sergeants to sergeant major. Corporals and sergeants are also NCOs, but they are never referred to as junior NCOs, simply NCOs.
SITREP - Situation Report; often used as a more confusing way to say "situation."
Slackman - Fire Team Automatic Rifleman, armed with a GPMG.
Snatch - A specific Marine term for abducting an enemy combatant in order to gather intelligence.
Soft Cover - Same as a boonie cap or garrison cap. Note: The word "hat" does not exist in the Marine Corps; anything you place on your head is a cover.
Sparrow - A small reaction force held in reserve while another unit attacks; an "eagle" is a large reaction force.
"Spread Load His / Her Excitement" - To calm down; from the tradition of foot patrols spreading a heavy load equally among all troops.

T-Z
TAD - Tactical Air Direct; a radio band for communicating directly with pilots in attack aircraft.
Tango - An enemy or "target."
T-Rats - T-Rations; pre-manufactured military food heated and served in chow halls of forward units.

Victors - Vehicles.

Whiskey Tango - White trash.

Zoomie - An Air Force or Navy pilot.