Military Argot
The military has always had its own argot (slang), the armies of the far future should be no different. Some of these terms are from the real U.S. Army, others are from GW's fluff and some are my own invention.
| AFV | Armored Fighting Vehicle |
| Amasec | A widely available and highly alcoholic beverage distilled from wine. |
| AO | Area of Operation |
| APC | Armored Personnel Carrier |
| Aquilla | The Imperial Two-Headed Eagle |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible |
| AT | Anti-tank |
| Augmetic | Cybernetic/Bionic, usually in the sense of body implants or repairs. |
| Baby Ogryn | Catachan trooper |
| Barracks Ghost | A trooper who never leaves the barracks for anything other than duty, drills or chow and then complains how boring the duty post is. |
| BBs | Batteries and Beans, supplies. |
| Bin Rats | Quartermaster Corps personnel, notorious for refusing to issue anything ("it's called stores because we store stuff! If we was meant to issue it, we'd call it issues wouldn't we?") |
| Black Eagle Brotherhood | Imperial Guard, especially troopers from regiments other than one’s own. |
| Bleed Out | To die of blood loss before medical attention can be given. |
| Blueskins | Tau |
| Blunt | Sanctioned Psyker slang for a non telepath |
| Bone 'Ead | An Ogryn sergeant with surgically enhanced intelligence who can interpret orders for his less advanced squad mates. Also used as a term of abuse for anyone given to taking orders too literally to the detriment of their subordinates. |
| Broken Toys | Battlefield hulks, wrecked vehicles |
| Bugs | Tyranids |
| Calling Friends | To request artillery support |
| Calling Friends in High Places | To request ortillery support |
| CAP | Combat Air Patrol |
| Casualty | Both wounded & dead personnel |
| Catachan Kiss | A head butt |
| CCP | Casualty Collection Point |
| CDR | Commander |
| CFV | Cavalry Fighting Vehicle |
| Charlie | Chaos |
| Charlie Mike | Chaos Marines |
| Chart Desk/Chart Table | A small, portable easel-like device for displaying tactical hololithic maps and three dimensional terrain models. A chart desk is a heavier and usually non-portable version |
| CinC | Commander in Chief |
| CO | Commanding Officer |
| Cogitator | Device empowered by the Machine Spirit to perform complex calculations and battlefield metriculations. Also Codifier or Logic Engine |
| COL | Colonel |
| 'Commissioned By Mom' | An incompetent officer of noble origins (by way of explaining how he achieved officer rank |
| ComSec | Communications Security (scrambling, channel hopping, limiting signal interception, etc.) |
| Cooker | Portable Fusion Gun also called a Melta gun |
| Counterseptic | Antiseptic and analgesic fluid used to combat infection. |
| CP | Command Post |
| CPL | Corporal |
| CPT | Captain |
| Dataslate | Hand held device used to store and transfer information, imagery and orders |
| DC | Damage Control |
| Det-Tape | Tape peeled off to detonate tube charges (time delay determined by length tape is trimmed to). Also used as a general purpose detonator material. |
| 'Do A Yarrick' | To take a trophy from a dead enemy. |
| DZ | Drop Zone |
| Emperor's Benediction | Euphemism for a Mercy Killing. |
| Empyrean | Warp-Space |
| Engineseer | A Techpriest of the Adeptus Mechanicus charged with the responsibility of tending the machine spirits of a regiment's vehicles. |
| EOD | Explosives Ordnance Disposal |
| EPW | Enemy Prisoner of War |
| Feth | (v) to copulate (vulgar, Tanith) |
| Flak Board | General Purpose Sheet Material for defense and repair. Fitted to the inside walls of defensive positions to prevent spalling material dislodged by weapon impacts causing injury. |
| FNG | Fraking New Guy |
| FO | Forward Observer. (Occupies the OP & watches for enemy movement, also directs Artillery strikes) |
| Found Wanting | Euphemism for field execution by a Commissar; "He was found wanting at the front line." |
| 'Foxed' | Destroyed, from call sign 'November Foxtrot' or Non-Functional |
| Frak | (v) copulate (vulgar, Valhallan) |
| Frag | (n)Fragmentation grenade; (v)Throw a frag grenade; (v)To kill an unpopular NCO or Officer |
| Freak | Abhuman, sanctioned psyker or non human |
| Freak Squad | Abhuman, Sanctioned Psyker or non human unit (such as Ratling Snipers, Ogryns or Kroot mercenaries) |
| Freek | Frequency (radio; also, freq) |
| FUBAR | Fraked Up Beyond All Recognition |
| Fyceline | Principal chemical ingredient used in the manufacture of standard Imperial Guard explosives. |
| Gak | (n) excrement (vulgar, Valhallan) |
| Garri-trooper | Rear Echelon personnel, particularly those who try to pass themselves off as something more. |
| Ghosts | Troopers from a planet that has been destroyed or lost to Chaos. |
| Greenskin | Slang for an Orkoid |
| Grunt | Infantryman |
| Gun Baby | Whiteshield, or Conscript. |
| HALO | High Altitude, Low Opening (refers to parachuting) |
| Hell World | Planet lost to Chaos |
| Hive | A massive archology, a city housed in a single mega-structure |
| Hololithic | Three Dimensional Imagery. |
| 'How copy?' | Did you recieve/understand the transmission? Proper response is, "Good copy." |
| IFV | Infantry Fighting Vehicle |
| Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer | Standard text manual issued to every Guardsmen, containing proper procedure for everything from marching to bayoneting techniques. Also includes prescribed prayers and hymnals. |
| ImpNav | Imperial Navy |
| 'in country' | The battle zone/Area of Operations in a foreign country/region/world |
| Interior Guards | General Term for internal security forces, a world's PDF or a Guard Regiment given colonial duties. |
| JAFO | Just Another Fraking Observer |
| Jar-heads | Marines |
| Juvenat | As in "Juvenat Processes" or "Juvenant Drugs" Techniques of prolonging youth and virility. Usually highly expensive and reserved for senior officers or Imperial Nobility. |
| KIA | Killed In Action |
| Klick | Kilometer |
| Lamp Pack | Standard Guard Issue, compact lamp with internal (limited) power supply, designed to be hand held, or fixed onto lasgun's bayonet lugs. |
| Leftovers | An incomplete squad built from the remnants of squads that have suffered casualties. |
| Leg | Infantryman (nickname given to ground soldiers by Airborne troops) |
| LEO | Low Earth Orbit |
| Lho Sticks | An addictive, mild, narcotic rolled into a compact tube and smoked by guardsmen. Officio Medicae personnel have warned that they may cause respiratory damage. |
| Longlas | Any model lasgun modified or designed for sniper use. (As the name implies, they are usually longer than standard pattern weapons.) |
| Lords of Space | Marines (derogatory) |
| LOS | Line Of Sight |
| LP | Listening Post |
| LRM | Long Range Missile |
| LRRP | Long Range Recon Patrol |
| LTC | Lieutenant Colonel |
| LZ | Landing Zone |
| Magnoculars | Powerful optical device for the magnification of distant objects. Can be modified to varying levels of complexity, with range finders, azimuth metriculators and heat sensing equipment. |
| MBT | Main Battle Tank |
| MIA | Missing In Action |
| Microbead | (also Micro bead link, micro bead intercom) small, short range Vox system for inter-trooper communications in the field.. Generally only found on regiments from civilized or industrialized worlds. Usually a small ear plug with a tiny wire mouthstalk |
| MIF | Mechanized Infantry Force |
| Mike | Minutes |
| MilInt | Military Intelligence |
| MRL | Multiple Rocket Launcher |
| MM | Mini Missile |
| MRM | Medium Range Missile |
| MSGT | Master Sergeant |
| Multikey | Universal key/lock pick |
| NCO | Non Commissioned Officer, i.e. Enlisted |
| 'Nine Seventies' | Imperial Guard issue entrenching tool, derived from its standard Imperial catalog number 'M-970' |
| Obscura | An illegal, highly addictive Narcotic |
| One way Ticket | Assignation to a grav chute landing. "To be given a one way ticket." |
| OP | Observation Post |
| OpFor | Opposing Force |
| OpSec | Operational Security (not giving/making available to the enemy information about your plans, movements, state of repair/supply, etc.) |
| Ortillery | Orbital Artillery, Orbital Bombardment of a target |
| 'Out' | All radio transmissions end in "Out" when the sender does not expect a reply from the receiver |
| 'Over' | All radio transmissions end in "Over" when the sender expects a reply from the receiver |
| Padre | Chaplain (without regard to religious affiliation) |
| Planetary Defense Forces | |
| PFC | Private First Class (or, Private Frakin' Civilians) |
| Pict | A video feed equivalent of vox. |
| Plank | Idiot, also a derogatory term for an Ogryn. |
| POW | Prisoner Of War. (See EPW). |
| Promethium | A general term for fuel, but commonly used to refer to the highly volatile and incendiary jelly used as fuel in flamer units. Designed to adhere to the target and rapidly immolate them. Promethium reaches extremely high temperatures within seconds of ignition, and even burns underwater. |
| PT | Physical Training, typically 1 Hour or more of mixed workout (running, cardio, strength exercises). |
| REMF | Rear Echelon Mother Frakker (used by combat troops to insultingly refer to supply, maintenance, admin, etc. personnel.) |
| Resuscitrex | Offico Medicae device incorporating a number of specialized devices, most frequently used to fibrillate patients who have suffered Cardiac Arrest. |
| ROE | Rules Of Engagement |
| 'Roger' | Vox shorthand for "I understand" |
| RPG | Rocket Propelled Grenade |
| Ruinous Powers | Chaos gods |
| SAD | Search And Destroy |
| SAR | Search And Rescue |
| Savlar | A thief or drug addict. |
| SAW | Squad Automatic Weapon |
| Scope | General term for powered spotter sights. May be the telescopic sights on a longlas, or a hand held "telescope" used by an officer. |
| Scrambled | Insane, shell shocked. |
| Screamer-Killer | Tyranid "Carnifex" genus. |
| SEAL | Sea, Ether, Air & Land; type of special forces troops |
| SFC | Sergeant First Class |
| SGT | Sergeant |
| Shell | Carapace Armor. |
| Short | A trooper nearing the end of his enlistment |
| Sierra | Sniper |
| SitRep | Situation Report |
| Skellies | Necrontyr |
| Slap | Disciplined by a senior officer for minor infraction (possession of unauthorized publications, for instance.) |
| SMG | Sub-Machinegun |
| Smoked | Destroyed, also a particularly one sided engagement as in 'We smoked the Tau at Gatorsville' |
| SNAFU | Situation Normal, All Frakked Up |
| SP | Self propelled (often used to classify whether and artillery piece is "towed" or "self propelled") |
| Spook | Tyranid "Lictor" Genus |
| Spoonheads | Tau |
| Spyerers | Upper class Hive-worlders |
| Squawk | Transmit |
| SRM | Short Range Missile |
| SSG | Staff Sergeant |
| 'Stand By' | Wait for instructions/approval. |
| 'Stand Ready' | Get prepared for action. |
| 'Stand To' | Proceed to action/battle stations & be ready to take action if warranted by situation. |
| Sweeper/Sweeper Set/Sweeper Broom | Man-portable Mine Detector. |
| Tango | Traitor |
| Tango-9 | T-9 explosive (makes C-4 look wimpy) |
| 'The Emperor Protects' | Common soldiers' blessing or refrain. |
| The Green (Catachan Phrase) | Jungle Terrain., Deathworld Class Jungle. |
| Titans | War machines of the Collegio Titanicus |
| Toasters | Necrontyr |
| TOC | Tactical Operations Center |
| Torch | Flamer |
| Toy Soldiers, Glory Boys | Storm Troopers, Special Operations teams |
| Tread Fether |