66 LAW Light Anti-tank Weapon System, a disposable 66mm anti-tank rocket
9-milly nickname for the 9mm Browning thirteen-shot pistol; can also refer to 9mm ammunition
ABR advanced battle reaction
Adoo Dhofaris who espoused the Communist cause; (general) enemy
Armalite alternative name for the M16 assault rifle
Askar armed tribesman
basha waterproof shelter made from a poncho; can also mean barrack room, house, bed etc.
BATT British Army Training Team, the SAS unit training the Sultan’s loyal forces in Oman
Batt House BATT headquarters
BET behavioural exposure therapy
BHM British Military Hospital
Bradbury Lines SAS barracks until 1999, in Redhill, Hereford. Later renamed Stirling Lines
buckshee free; a freebie
bukit hill, mountain (from the Malay)
Carl Gustav 84mm anti-armour recoilless rifle
casevac casualty evacuation, removal of injured to aid post or hospital
CBF Commander British Forces
CES complete equipment schedule
CO Commanding Officer
Cobra Whitehall’s domestic emergency situation room
CPO command-post orderly
crap-hat failure; member of the regular Army
cross-grain march over hills direct from summit to summit
CRW counter-revolutionary warfare
CT Communist terrorist
cyalume stick light-stick attached to clothing or lifejacket, activated by squeezing; visible from up to a mile away
D11 Metropolitan Police elite firearms team
DF direction-found
DG Dhofar Gendarmerie
dickers in Northern Ireland, youths who note security forces’ movements
DPM Disruptive-Pattern Material camouflage
dragon light hand-held searchlight
DZ dropping zone
EU Emergency Unit
Figure 11 man-shaped target on firing range
Firqat, FKW Firqat Khalid bin Waalid, company of Dhofaris loyal to the Sultan
frag fire at (from fragmentation granade)
FST field surgical theatre
full battle order fully armed
Gemini large rubber dinghy
GOC General Officer Commanding
GPMG General-Purpose Machine Gun, belt-fed 7.62mm machine gun
green slime nickname for Intelligence Corps (from their distinctive green berets)
Guryunov Soviet 7.62mm medium machine gun
hangi Fijian feast
Head Shed nickname for senior officers
hexamine stove lightweight stove burning blocks of solid fuel
ISFE instantaneous safety fuse electric
Jenson’s Violet purple-coloured medication
Kremlin nickname for intelligence section at Regimental headquarters
L42 sniper rifle, based on the Lee Enfield. The standard British Army sniper rifle until the 1990s
LFT liver-function test
LMG light machine gun
LSL landing ship logistics
LZ landing zone
M202 66mm multi-shot portable flame weapon, firing incendiary rockets
M79 grenade launcher
mag magnetic north
majnoon ‘mad one’ (from the Arabic)
maroon machine nickname for the Parachute Regiment (from their maroon berets)
MFC mortar fire controller
mixed-fruit mortar fire pattern, two HE shells to one white
pudding phosphorous
MO medical officer
mod plod MoD policeman
MT motor transport
OC officer commanding
O group orders group
OGs olive-green Army clothing
pig an RUC armoured car
PIRA Provisional IRA
POST Post-Operational Stress Trauma
PTSD Pos-Traumatic Stress Disorder
QM Quartermaster
QRF quick-reaction force
RAOC Royal Army Ordnance Corps
RCL 75mm recoilless anti-armour weapon
RE Royal Engineers
re-entrant valley running into side of a hill
REME Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
REMFs rear-echelon motherfuckers
RF Reconnaissance Force
Rigid Raider fast assault boat
RPD Soviet 7.62mm light machine gun
RSM Regimental Sergeant Major
RTU Returned to Unit (of origin)
Rupert officer
Sabre Squadron SAS combat squadron. There are four, A, B, D and G
SAF Sultan’s Armed Forces (of Oman)
sangar protective wall built of stone or sandbags
sarbe small radio used for ground-to-air communication
scran food
SF (general) sustained fire
SF (Ireland) security forces
shake-out preparation for combat
shamag cloth worn on head as protection from sun
sit rep situation report
SLR 7.62mm self-loading rifle
souk Middle Eastern market
SP superintendent
spider sleeping quarters, so called because it has eight ‘legs’ – dormitory areas – off one central section
Sports and Social SAS barracks
SSM Squadron Sergeant Major
stag period of watch
Startrek air strike
sustained-fire heavier-barrelled GPMG, mounted on a tripod
(SF) kit and equipped with a dial sight, enabling it to fire at night on preset targets
tout informer
trig point summit of hill
vet rep vertical replenishment (by helicopter)
wads sandwiches
Wali governor of province (Oman)
wet rep weather report
XM203 M16 assault rifle equipped with underslung 40mm grenade-launcher
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Osprey Publishing,
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