Four-Striper: A Navy Captain.
Fox Three: In air warfare, a code showing that the aircraft’s machine gun or cannon is being fired.
FUBAR: SEAL talk: Fucked Up Beyond All Repair.
Full Helmet Masks: For high-altitude jumps. Oxygen in mask.
G-3: German-made assault rifle.
Gloves: SEALs wear sage-green, fire-resistant Nomex flight gloves.
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time. Where it’s all measured from.
GPS: Global Positioning System. A program with satellites around Earth to pinpoint precisely aircraft, ships, vehicles, and ground troops. Position information is to a plus or minus four feet. Also can give speed of a plane or ship to one quarter of a mile per hour.
GPSL: A radio antenna with floating wire that pops to the surface. Antenna picks up positioning from the closest 4 global positioning satellites and gives an exact position within 10 feet.
Green Tape: Green sticky ordinance tape that has a hundred uses for a SEAL.
GSG-9: Flash-bang grenade developed by Germans: a cardboard tube filled with 5 separate charges timed to burst in rapid succession, blinding and giving concussion to enemy, leaving targets stunned, easy to kill or capture. Usually non-lethal.
GSG9: Grenzschutzgruppe Nine. Germany’s best special warfare unit and counterterrorist group.
H&K 21A1: Machine gun with 7.62 NATO round. Replaces the older, more fragile M-60 E3. Fires 900 rounds per minute. Range 1,100 meters. All types of NATO rounds: ball, incendiary, tracer.
H&K G-11: Automatic rifle, new type. 4.7mm caseless ammunition. 50-round magazine. The bullet is in a sleeve of solid propellant with a special thin plastic coating around it. Fires 600 rounds per minute. Single-shot, three-round burst, or fully automatic.
H&K MP-5SD: 9mm submachine gun with integral silenced barrel, single-shot, three-shot, or fully automatic. Rate 800 rds/min.
H&K P9S: Heckler & Koch’s 9mm Parabellum doubleaction semiauto pistol with 9-round magazine.
H&K PSG1: 7.62 NATO round. High-precision, bolt-action sniping rifle. 5-to-20-round magazine. Roller lock delayed blowback breech system. Fully adjustable stock. 6 x 42 telescopic sights. Sound suppressor.
HAHO: High Altitude jump, High Opening. From 30,000 feet, open chute for glide up to 15 miles to ground. Up to 75 minutes in glide. To enter enemy territory or enemy position unheard.
HALO: High Altitude jump, Low Opening. From 30,000 feet. Free fall in 2 minutes to 2,000 feet and open chute. Little forward movement. Get to ground quickly, silently.
Hamburgers: Often called sliders on a Navy carrier.
HELO: SEAL talk for helicopter.
Herky Bird: C-130 Hercules transport. Most-flown military transport in the world. For cargo or passengers, paratroops, aerial refueling, search and rescue, communications, and use as a gunship. Has flown from a Navy carrier deck without use of catapult. Four turboprop engines, max speed 325 knots, range at max payload 2,356 miles.
Hezbollah: Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia. Party of God.
HMMWV: The Humvee, U.S. light utility truck, replaced the honored Jeep. Multipurpose wheeled vehicle, 4 x 4, automatic transmission, power steering. Engine: Detroit Diesel 150 hp diesel V-8 air-cooled. Top speed 65 mph. Range 300 miles.
Hotels: SEAL talk for hostages.
Humint: Human intelligence. Acquired on the ground, from a human as opposed to satellite or photo recon.
Hydra-Shock: Lethal hollowpoint ammunition made by Federal Cartridge Company. Outlawed in some areas.
Hypothermia: Danger to SEALS. A drop in body temperature that can be fatal.
IBS: Inflatable Boat Small. 12 x 6 feet. Carries 8 men and 1,000 pounds of weapons and gear. Hard to sink. Quiet motor. Used for silent beach, bay, lake landings.
IR Beacon: Infrared Beacon. For silent nighttime signaling.
IR Goggles: “Sees” heat instead of light.
Islamic Jihad: Arab holy war.
IV Pack: Intravenous fluid that you can drink if out of water.
JAG: Judge Advocate General. Navy legal investigating arm.
JNA: Yugoslav National Army.
JP-4: Normal military jet fuel.
JSOC: Joint Special Operations Command.
JSOCCOMCENT: Joint Special Operations COMmand CENTer in the Pentagon.
K-bar: SEALs’ combat knife.
KATN: Kick Ass and Take Names. SEAL talk, get the mission in gear.
KH-11: Spy satellite, takes pictures of ground, IR photos, etc.
KIA: Killed In Action.
KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. SEAL talk for streamlined operations.
Klick: A kilometer of distance. Often used as a mile. From Vietnam era, but still widely used in military.
Krytrons: Complicated, intricate timers used in making nuclear explosive detonators.
KV-57: Encoder for messages, scrambles.
L-T: Short for lieutenant in SEAL talk.
Laser Pistol: The SIW pinpoint of ruby light on a weapon emitted for aiming. Usually silenced weapon.
Left Behind: In 30 years SEALs have seldom left behind a dead comrade, never a wounded one. No SEAL has ever been taken prisoner.
Let’s Get the Hell out of Dodge: SEAL talk for leaving a place, bugging out, hauling ass.
Light Sticks: Chemical units that make light after twisting to release chemicals that phosphoresce.
Loot and Shoot: SEAL talk for getting into action on a mission.
LZ: Landing Zone.
M-16: Automatic U.S. rifle. 5.56 round. Magazine 20 or 30 rounds, rate of fire 700 to 950 rds/min. Can attach M203 40mm grenade launcher under barrel.
M-18 Claymore: Antipersonnel mine. A slab of C-4 with 200 small ball bearings. Set off electrically or by trip wire. Can be positioned and aimed. Sprays out a cloud of balls. Kill zone 50 meters.
M-203: A 40mm grenade launcher fitted under an M-16 or the M-4A1. Can fire a variety of grenade types up to 1,200 feet.
M-3 Submachine Gun: WWII grease gun, 45-caliber. Cheap. Introduced in 1942.
M-60E3: Lightweight handheld machine gun. Not used now by the SEALS.
M-86: Pursuit Deterrent Munitions. Various types of mines, grenades, trip-wire explosives, and other devices in antipersonnel use.
MI-8: Russian Chopper.
M1A1 M-14: Match rifle upgraded for SEAL snipers.
M60 Machine Gun: Can use 100-round ammo box snapped onto the gun’s receiver. Not used much now by SEALS.
M61(j): Machine pistol, Yugoslav make.
M-61A1: The usual 20mm cannon used on many American fighter planes.
M662: A red flare for signaling.
Magsafe: Lethal ammunition that fragments in human body and does not exit. Favored by some police units to cut down on second kill from regular ammunition exiting a body.
Make a Peek: A quick look, usually out of the water, to check your position or tactical situation.