FASCAM: Scatterable mines that provide a rapid, flexible means of delaying, harassing, paralyzing, canalizing, or wearing down the enemy forces in both offensive and defensive operations. Mines can force the enemy into kill zones, change their direction of attack, spend time in clearing operations, or take evasive actions. FASCAM can be delivered by air, artillery, or by hand using prepackaged and prepositioned containers.
Field phone: Simple telephones that are powered either by sound (TA-ls) or D-cell batteries (TA-312s) and connected by two-strand wire called WD-1.
Fighting positions: The location or position from which a soldier or fighting vehicle fights. This position is usually improved to provide protection to the soldier or vehicle and camouflaged to hide the position until the soldier or vehicle fires.
First sergeant: The senior NCO in a company, normally a master sergeant or E-8. In combat, the first sergeant assists the executive officer in handling the administrative and logistical needs of the company. He is the equivalent to the company sergeant major in the armies of Commonwealth countries.
FIST: Short for fire-support team. This team is headed by an artillery lieutenant and coordinates all requests for artillery and mortar fires as well as close air support. The FIST team consists of four to six men and travels in an M-113, normally within arm’s reach of the company commander.
Fifth point of contact/Third point of contact: Paratroopers are taught there are five points of contact their bodies need to make in succession when landing. In order they are; the balls of their feet, the outer thighs, their buttocks, their shoulders, and finally, their head. Hence, when someone has their fifth point of contact firmly embedded in their third point of contact, they have their heads up their ass.
FSO/FSE: Fire-support officer and fire-support element. The fire-support officer is responsible for coordinating all indirect fires, i.e. artillery, mortar, and close air support, for the battalion or brigade to which he is attached. The fire-support element is located at the battalion or brigade command post.
Gasthaus: A small German neighborhood restaurant and pub that may also include a hotel.
GB: A chemical agent, better known as Sarin. A non-persistent nerve agent, it can be lethal even at very low concentrations, with death following within 1 to 10 minutes after direct inhalation due to suffocation from paralysis of the lung muscles. Its last reported use was on 21 August 2013 when it was employed in the Ghouta region of Syria.
Golden BB: In aviation lore a single lucky shot that brings down an aircraft or kills the pilot.
Gun mantlet: The armor that protects a tank’s main gun and its cradle.
Halon gas: A gas used to extinguish fires in the M-l tanks and Bradley vehicles. Automatic fire sensors detect fires and release the halon gas within milliseconds of activation.
Headspace and timing: On a weapon, headspace is the distance between the face of the bolt and the base of the cartridge case, fully seated in the chamber. Timing is the adjustment of the gun so that firing takes place when the recoiling parts are in the correct position for firing. On the M-2 heavy barrel machinegun, proper headspace and time are critical if you want to keep the receiver cover from blowing up in your face while firing.
HEAT: Short for high explosive antitank, a round that depends on a shaped charge explosion to penetrate an armored vehicle’s armor. Because the round contains high explosive, it has a secondary role as an anti-material round.
Hind: Nickname of the Soviet MI-24D attack helicopter.
Improved TOW vehicle or ITV: A modified M-113 armored personnel carrier that has an antitank guided missile launcher mounted on a small rotating turret. TOW stands for tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided antitank guided missile. The TOW was the heaviest antitank guided missile in the US Army’s inventory capable of hitting a tank-sized target out to a range of 3700 meters with a 90 % hit probability throughout the 1970s and most of the 1980s.
INSUM: Intelligence summary.
Intercom: Short for intercommunications system. The intercom links all tracked vehicle crewmen together and allows the crew to talk amongst themselves.
IZB/Inter-zonal border: Also called the Inner German Border, this was the boundary that divided the Federal Republic of Germany, (West Germany), from and the German Democratic Republic, (East Germany), from 1949 to 1990 when the two Germanys reunited. Its 1,393 kilometers, (866 miles), of fences, walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps, and minefields were the physical manifestation of Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain.
LAW: Short for light antitank weapon. The current US Army LAW contains a 66mm antitank rocket that has an effective range of 300 meters. The LAW comes in a collapsible tube that is discarded when the rocket has been fired. It was supplanted by the M136 AT4 84mm Lightweight Multipurpose Weapon in the US Army starting in 1987.
Jedi knights: The nickname given to a graduate of the US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies located at Fort Leavenworth, Ks. The curriculum of the school is intended to teach a select group of junior field grade officers, “the flexibility of mind to solve complex operational and strategic problems in peace, conflict, and war.”
LBE: Short for load-bearing equipment. This is the web gear worn by soldiers that includes suspenders and a web belt to which equipment is attached, such as ammo pouches, the soldier’s first-aid pouch, canteen, grenades, bayonet, pistol holster, etc. LBE was designed, in theory, to evenly distribute the weight of this equipment on the soldier’s body.
LOGREP: Short for logistics report. Submitted to higher headquarters to inform them of the current status of ammunition, fuel, maintenance, and supply of a unit.
LP: Listening post. A listening post is an outpost that is used during periods of limited visibility to provide security and early warning to the unit that it is covering. As its name implies, the LP relies on hearing the approaching enemy.
M-class="underline" This is the current main battle tank of the US Army. It has a crew of four, mounts a 105mm main gun, an M2 caliber .50 machinegun, and an M240 7.62mm machinegun. The 63-ton tank is powered by a 1500 horsepower turbine engine and is capable of 45 mphs. The fire-control system incorporates a laser range finder, a solid-state computer, a thermal imaging sight, and other electronics that allow the main gun to fire while on the move with a high degree of accuracy, day or night. Starting in 1986, the tank’s main armament was upgraded to a 120mm smoothbore gun, additional armor, an improved fire control system and redesigned the M-1A1.
M-3: The scout version of the Bradley fighting vehicle. See Bradley for a description.
M60: A 7.62mm machinegun that is the mainstay of the US Army’s infantry squad. It has an effective range of 900 meters.
M-113: Until recently, the M-113 was the primary armored personnel carrier. Weighing 13 tons, it has a crew of two, driver and commander, and the capacity to carry an entire infantry squad. The M-l13 is normally armed with a caliber .50 M2 machinegun located at the commander’s position. Because infantry cannot fight while mounted, M-113 is being replaced by the M-2 Bradley fighting vehicle. M-113 still remains a mainstay in the US Army, performing support roles on or near the front. Over 80,000 of these vehicles and derivatives based on it have been produced.