MACV – Military Assistance Command Vietnam – the Saigon HQ of the US Army and other major U.S. commands (Marines, Air Force, Navy)
USARV – US Army Republic of Vietnam logistical support command for MACV
Hotel Caravelle – Saigon hang-out of the American news bureau correspondents. The famous roof-top bar probably the scene of many battle planning exercises by the USARV general staffers
Gin ‘n Tonic Generals – general officers strategizing battle plans at Hotel Caravelle Happy Hour
Cocktail Colonels – senior MACV officers drinking at Hotel Caravelle Happy Hour
Combat Colonels – colonels riding the C&C helicopter jumpseat in search of the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross)
Leftover Lieutenants – senior commanders who were young officers who survived the Army RIF (reduction in force) in the late 1950s
Typewriter Twerps – AP, UPI, Stars & Stripes ‘correspondents’
Coffeepot Commandos – headquarters soldiers talking war to their coffee cups
White House Warriors – WH war planners and strategizers
Sigh-Gone Sycophants – soldiers assigned to Saigon to help win the war. Mostly believing their own BS
C&C – Command & Control (or chaos and confusion) helicopter flying high above the battle zone with the colonel issuing stupid orders over the Comm Net
REMF – – Rear Echelon MF – non-combat soldiers living very comfortably away from the combat zones
ORA – Orderly Room Army – lowest bureaucratic unit in the Army. The ORA cannot be defeated –
Perfumed Princes – staffers in higher level HQs (mostly Division or MACV)
Eau de Cologne Clerks – HQ clerks freshly showered and clothed
Another ribbon on the rack – one more medal on the chest
MACV minions – Sigh-gone Sycophants happy not to be in the war
Codes – senior level commanders and staff pukes, usually VIPs and/or field grade/general officers (REMFs)
AO – Area of Operations – tactical combat area assigned to units
FSB – Fire Support Base
LZ – Landing Zone – troop drop off location
PZ – Pickup Zone – troop pick up location
FNG – F***ing New Guy
Fox Mike – FM frequency range for radio communications with ground and ground units operations centers (TOCs)
UHF radio – ultra-high frequency radio range for commo between aircraft and aviation unit operations stations
VHF radio – very high frequency radio range for communication between gunships
ADF – common commercial band radio for listening to AFVN while flying – also used for ‘homing’ to certain ground stations
Intercom – internal radio system inside helicopter for crew communications
PRC-25 – FM radio backpack carried by the RTO for FM commo
TA-312 – tactical hardwired landline telephone handset
CCN – Command & Control North – Special Forces (Green Berets) clandestine mercenary teams operating in Laos
GGR – God Guided Rocket
RLO – real live officer (commissioned as opposed to Warrant Officers)
Jody – your girl’s boyfriend back home
Chieu Hoi – ‘open arms’ – aka lay down your weapons (or die)
ARVN – Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam regular army)
VC – the Viet Cong enemy civilian hometown team in South Vietnam
NVA – North Vietnamese Army – hard core regular soldiers from the North – bad dudes
PAVN – Peoples Army of Vietnam – formerly the Viet Minh
RF/PF – Ruff Puff – regional/popular civilian forces protecting villages and hamlets. Think Provincial National Guard
Short timer – guys with less than 100 days until returning home
Huey – UH-1 helicopter – iconic helicopter of the Vietnam war
Slick – Huey helicopter carrying troops, cargo/supplies, C&C, etc. – four crewmen – carried only two M-60 machine guns
Charlie model (Huey) – helicopter gunship with four crewmen – carried rocket pods, 40 mm nose cannon, two 7.62 mm rapid firing Gatling type guns (mini-guns), two fearless door gunners complimented the crew
Cobra (helicopter) – helicopter gunship with only two crewmen – fired rockets, 40 mm cannon, or 7.62 mm rapid firing Gatling type guns (mini-guns)
ASP – ammo supply point – large outdoor storage area for bombs and bullets
SOI (signal operating instructions) small multi-page booklet containing call signs and radio frequencies of various units within a large command radio network (net) – call signs and frequencies changed periodically to confuse the NVA/VC radio operators
Chicken plate – ceramic chest protector worn with a canvas over-the-shoulder harness. Pilots wore theirs, crewmembers sat on theirs
TOC – Tactical Operations Center – command staff HQ
AFVN – Armed Forces Vietnam Network – in-country radio and tv broadcast shows
Saigon Tea – Sigh-gone business girl’s favorite non-alcoholic drink. You buy me Sigh-gone tea? while she is pilfering your wallet
MPC – Military Payment Certificate (aka funny money) – medium of exchange currency used to eliminate use of the American dollar
HCM – Ho Chi Minh – aka Uncle Ho was the political leader of North Vietnam whose goal was reunification of North and South Vietnam
Hanoi Hilton – nick name of the infamous Hao Lo prison where most American POWs were held in captivity during the Vietnam war
Xin Loi – Vietnamese phrase for too bad or sorry about that
HQ – abbreviation for headquarters section of any unit
Straphangers – group of non-combatant administrative personnel
RTO – radio-telephone operator, the grunt who carried the C.O.’s PRC-25 FM radio used for communication with ground and air units
Stealth Slaughter – lower mentality draftees sent to combat units as infantry riflemen anticipating high mortality probability
von Clauswitz – Prussian General who wrote On War seminal treatise about warfare strategy that unfortunately is not applicable to insurgent operations
Up Country – military regions usually north of main occupied military HQs areas. In Vietnam, I Corps was the northern most US operating military region (and the most deadly)
Iron Triangle, War Zones C & D – those areas around Saigon the MSM portrayed as romantically fearsome non demurs to enhance their war reporting sagas. A day trip to and from Saigon and back to the Hotel Caravelle cocktail hour
MSM – Main Stream Media – ABC, CBS, and NBC the only networks creating, editing, delivering their distorted nightly news to America
Zippo – iconic flip-top cigarette lighter carried by the grunts. Zippo the ville was to burn/torch the thatched huts of villagers
MOS – Military Occupational Specialty – your military job description
11-Bravo – 11-B MOS – infantry rifleman
Grunt – foot soldier – an Army 11-Bravo
NCO – non-commissioned officer in enlisted rank of E-5 and higher – aka sergeant
First Sergeant – usually the highest ranking NCO in a unit with supervisory oversight of all unit administration matters
Gook – disparaging term for Vietnamese/Asian person
Dink – same disparaging term as Gook
Agent Orange – liquid chemical defoliant sprayed over large jungle areas to deny coverage for enemy activities
Fulda Gap – the open plain area east of Frankfurt, Germany thought to be the Cold War Soviet avenue of attack into Western Europe
Willy Pete – white phosphorous rockets that burned beyond belief. Good for target marking and also to burn out the bad guys.
HE – high explosive compound similar to TNT. Rockets were available with either 10 lb. or 17 lb. warhead configuration
C-rations – canned food meal pack. 12 variety meals per case – contained crackers, cheese, desserts – all at least ten years old
P-38 – small metal device used to open C-ration cans. Always carried on your dog-tag chain
Dog-Tags – oval shaped metal disk with personal information stamped into disk for individual identification

(c) Copyright – 2023 Vic Bandini