AAV: Assault Amphibious Vehicle
Carries eighteen to twenty Marines from ship to shore; serves as ground troop transport. Armament: .50-caliber machine gun and 40mm automatic grenade launcher. See also LVT.
ABM: Anti-Ballistic Missile
AGM: Air-to-Ground Missile
AK-47: Russian- or Chinese-made automatic rifle.
Amn Al Khass: Iraq’s internal intelligence and security service; also known as SSS, Special Security Services.
APC: Armored Personnel Carrier
APU: Auxiliary Power Unit
ASP: Ammunition Supply Point
ATGM: Anti-Tank Guided Missile
AWACS: Airborne Warning and Control System (U.S. Air Force)
BMP: A Soviet-made, tracked, infantry fighting vehicle. Carries up to eight troops and is normally armed with a 73mm or a 30mm cannon and ATGMs.
Bn: Battalion
CAAT: Combined Anti-Armor Team
Consists of several Humvees equipped with TOW and Javelin ATGMs, .50-caliber machine guns, and grenade launchers.
CAS: Close Air Support
CENTCOM: Central Command (Also USCENTCOM)
U.S. Central Command, one of nine U.S. unified military commands; headquartered at McDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, CENTCOM maintained a forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
CG: Commanding General
CO: Commanding Officer
CP: Command Post
DASC: Direct Air Support Center
Provides a direct communications link between Marine air and ground units.
EGBU-28: Enhanced Guided Bomb Unit
More accurate version of the “bunker buster” that uses GPS for guidance. See also GBU.
EOD: Explosive Ordnance Disposal
EP-3: Lockheed EP-3E Aries II aircraft, designed specifically for Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) collection. The aircraft operates with a five-person flight crew and as many as twenty intelligence specialists.
EPW: Enemy Prisoner of War
FAC: Forward Air Controller
Provides direction and control for aircraft firing or dropping ordnance in support of ground troops.
FARP: Forward Arming and Refueling Point
FO: Forward Observer
Provides fire direction and control for artillery or mortars.
Frag Order: Fragmentary order
An abbreviated operations order that a commander uses to inform troops of information they need to carry out an assigned mission.
G-3: Operations and training function for a military command of brigade or higher. See also S-3.
GBU: Guided Bomb Unit
E.g., GBU-15, an unpowered, glide weapon used to destroy high-value enemy targets; the GBU-37 “bunker buster” is a five-thousand-pound laser-guided conventional explosive with a 4,400-pound penetrating warhead. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition is guided to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target.
GOSP: Gas-Oil Separation Plant
GPS: Global Positioning System
Gunny: Slang for Marine gunnery sergeant.
HARM: High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile
An air-to-ground missile, specifically the AGM-88 HARM.
HEAT: High Explosive Anti-Tank
Armor-piercing, anti-tank ammunition.
HET: (U.S. Army) Heavy Equipment Transporter
HET: (U.S. Marines) Human Exploitation Team
Helps collect and interpret intelligence.
HMLA: Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron
Flies AH1J Cobras and armed UH1N “Hueys.”
HMM: Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron
Flies CH-46 “Sea Knight” helicopters.
HUMINT: Human intelligence—as contrasted with electronic, satellite, or other intelligence gathering.
HVT: High-Value Target
ICM: Improved Conventional Munitions
ID: In the context of a military unit, Infantry Division. Also an abbreviation for identification.
IED: Improvised Explosive Device
IFB: Interruptible Feedback Line
Allows a television producer, director, talent, and others to communicate with each other during a program; usually through an earpiece.
IFF: Identification Friend or Foe
I-MEF: 1st Marine Expeditionary Force
JDAM: Joint Direct Attack Munition
An unpowered, GPS-guided, one-thousand or two-thousand pound, glide bomb.
Jihaz Haneen: Clandestine Baath intelligence and security organization.
JSTARS: Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System
LAR: Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
Marine unit equipped with LAVs for rapid ground reconnaissance forward and on the flanks of a larger force.
LAV: Light Armored Vehicle
LAV-25, wheeled light armored vehicle employed by Marine LAR Battalion. Carries six troops; armament: 25mm chain gun.
LVT: Landing Vehicle, Tracked; See also AAV.
LVTC: Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Command
An LVT equipped with communications equipment and configured so that a commander can use an LVTC-7 as his command. Armament: .50-caliber machine gun.
LZ: Landing Zone
MAG: Marine Air Group
MAW: Marine Aircraft Wing
The 3rd MAW served as the Air Combat Element of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
MAWTS: Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron
MEU: Marine Expeditionary Unit
The smallest air-ground task force, consisting of a reinforced infantry battalion, a composite helicopter squadron, and a logistics support element.
MIA: Missing In Action
MOPP: Mission Oriented Protective Posture
Designation for the protective suit, mask, and other equipment worn to shield troops from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. See also NBC suit.
MP: Military Police
MPS: Maritime Prepositioning Ship
Large “roll-on roll-off” vessels full of military equipment, weapons, and ammunition; strategically placed to expedite the deployment of U.S. military units.
MRE: Meal, Ready-to-Eat
Mukhabarat: The foreign intelligence service of Iraq
NBC suit: Nuclear, biological, and chemical protective gear
NCO: Non-commissioned officer in the military services
NOK: Next of Kin
NVG: Night-Vision Goggles
OGA: Other Government Agency
Euphemism for CIA or other intelligence service personnel operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places.
Overwatch: A base of fire from heavy weapons in support of a maneuver
PAO: Public Affairs Officer
PAX: U.S. military abbreviation for passengers, usually in an aircraft. Also “packs.”
PFC: Private First Class
POW: Prisoner of War
QRF: Quick Reaction Force
RAP: Rocket-Assisted Projectiles
RCT: Regimental Combat Team
Rein.: Reinforced
ROE: Rules of Engagement
RPG: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
RPV: Remotely Piloted Vehicle
Radio controlled aircraft used to conduct reconnaissance and/or intelligence collection. See also UAV.
S-1: Staff officer that performs administrative record-keeping and personnel function for a battalion or regiment.
S-2: Staff officer that performs intelligence and counter-intelligence function for a battalion or regiment.
S-3: Staff officer performing operations plans and training functions for a battalion or regiment.
S-4: Staff officer who performs logistics, maintenance, and supply function for a battalion or regiment.
SAW: Squad Automatic Weapon
Carried by one member of each Marine infantry fire team.
SERE: Survival, Escape, Resistance, and Evasion
Plan followed in the event a pilot or other Armed Forces member is down or lost behind enemy lines.
sharqi: Iraqi sandstorm
Sit Rep: situation report
SOP: Standard Operating Procedure
TAA: Tactical Assembly Area
TF: Task Force
TOC: Tactical Operations Center
TOT: Time on Target
TOW: Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided
Is the primary anti-tank missile used by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.
UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Reconnaissance aircraft operated by remote radio control and/or GPS.
UN: United Nations
UNSCOM: UN Special Commission
The organization appointed by the UN to seek weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
V Corps: U.S. Army forward-deployed headquarters for two divisions, a corps support command, and nine separate brigades totaling approximately 41,000 soldiers.
VBIED: Vehicular-Borne Improvised Explosive Device
VMU-2: Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron Two
Operated RPVs over the battlefield for the Regimental Combat teams. See also UAV.
WIA: Wounded In Action
WMD: Weapons of Mass Destruction
XO: Executive Officer