The emphasis of this educational reference is on words and phrases that appear in published works about war and military service; and amongst this jargon and slang, there is no pretense of objectivity or completeness, which may be readily found in official documents or government resources. This fragmentary opus is a work in progress ....

Caveat Lector: Vulgar, profane, and obscene dysphemisms, which have been used for every part of speech and rhetorical form, have not been Bowdlerized nor expurgated from this glossary, to the undoubted dismay of purists and the evident enrichment of our mother-tongue; so immature or hypersensitive persons should refrain from perusing this indubitably eclectic and contingently egregious compendium. Swearing is usually either juvenile or crass, but military personnel admire talent and respect skill, so the ability to create imaginative expletives and to craft uncommon scurrility is often appreciated.

O :

an aircraft prefix under the Joint Service Designation System that represents 'observation'.

OA :

Objective Area (qv), being the tactical goal or strategic aim of air, ground, or amphibious missions; compare AO, TO, AOR, MOA, TAOR, CHOP LINE, UA; see FORWARD AREA, FORWARD ECHELON, COMBAT ZONE, FEBA, MLR, FLOT, FRONT LINE.

OAN HON :

in Vietnamese eschatology, a spirit in purgatory, usually condemned to haunt the region of its death, until released by the beneficence or sacrifice of others; in some parts of Vietnam, local customs call for making cháo as offerings for the "wandering souls" during the summertime Buddhist Vu Lan feast, and although this basic rice gruel is generally unaccented, it is sometimes cooked with roasted white rice, giving the porridge broth a more nuanced body and a subtle nutty flavor. See TIGER BALM; compare PHI, HUNGRY GHOST. [nb: since the November 1965 battles (SILVER BAYONET) in the Ia Drang valley, the area has been referred to as the "Forest of Screaming Souls"]

OATH :

a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person, entity, or thing, to witness a person's determination to speak the truth or keep a PROMISE; any statement, troth, or affirmation accepted as the equivalent of such an appeal. Also, to pledge, vow, plight, or solemnly swear a binding obligation or PROMISE. Also, the form of words in which an oath is made; see KEEP THE FAITH, SEMPER FI, ESPRIT DE CORPS, LOYALTY CODE, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, BLOOD OATH, LOYALTY OATH, HOLD ONE'S FEET TO THE FIRE, TOE THE LINE, ACT OF TRUTH, ORDEAL, A MAN'S GOTTA DO WHAT A MAN'S GOTTA DO. Also, an irreverent or blasphemous expression, as a profanation or curse, especially using the name of God or anything sacred; see EXPLETIVE, GODDAM, SWEAR, VULGAR, BLUE STREAK, FUCK, BAD-MOUTH, TALK TRASH. [nb: 'gee' and 'gee-whiz', used as an interjection or exclamation, derive as euphemisms for the name "Jesus"; archaic 'zounds' derived as contraction of "God's wounds"; "blimey" or "gorblimey", used as an interjection or exclamation, derive as a reduction of "God blind me"; 'hooey', allegedly an Americanism used as an interjection for nonsense or tripe, is actually a corruption of the Russian vulgarity ("khuy") for penis, and is commonly used alone (eg: dick, dickhead, dick-wad) or in phrases (eg: dumber than dick; he doesn't know dick; don't dick around; don't stir your tea with your dick; don't dip your dick in the soup)] [cf: migration of "putz" from shine through ornament to penis and dolt; as sexual lure] [v: lucky stiff] [Swearing is either juvenile or crass, but MIL-PERS admire talent and respect skill, so creative vulgarity and uncommon scurrility is often appreciated. "The talk of him that sweareth much maketh the hair stand upright." Ecclesiasticus 27:14 Apocrypha; "In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer." by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens); "Take not God's name in vain; select a time when it will have effect." by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce; "After turning the air blue and then progressively more smoky over some minor domestic mishaps, the husband turned around and encountered his guilty wife, who sadly retorted by repeating his filthy harangue in as much detail as she could recollect; whereupon her husband said, 'My dear, as with so many of your undertakings, you have the words but not the music!'" paraphrase of Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens); "Grant me some wild expressions, Heavens, or I shall burst." by George Farquhar; "When angry, count four; when very angry, swear." by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens); "A whoreson jackanapes must take me up for swearing; as if I borrowed mine oaths of him and might not spend them at my pleasure. ... When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths, ha?" by William Shakespeare; "A footman may swear; but he cannot swear like a lord. He can swear as often: but can he swear with equal delicacy, propriety, and judgment?" by Jonathan Swift; "Yes sir, he swore on that day till the leaves shook on the trees – charming, delightful – never have I enjoyed such swearing before or since! Sir, on that memorable day he swore like an angel from heaven!" reported by an unknown eyewitness to George Washington upbraiding Charles Lee during the 28 June 1778 battle of Monmouth; "'Twas but my tongue, 'twas not my soul that swore." by Euripides; "It comes to pass oft that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him." by William Shakespeare; "When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can't run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn't fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag. … As for the types of comments I make, sometimes I just, By God, get carried away with my own eloquence." by George S. Patton Jr; "And when the riflemen heard their commander swear so prodigiously, their minds were filled with amazement to learn how little they knew of profanity!" said of Daniel Morgan during the AMERICAN REVOLUTION] [v: protomartyr Saint Stephen was canonized for blasphemy]

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE :

see PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, LOYALTY OATH, TEST ACT, PROMISE, CREED, OATH, CODE OF CONDUCT, DUTY, HONOR CODE, LOYALTY UP - LOYALTY DOWN, BRASS-COLLAR, A MAN'S GOTTA DO WHAT A MAN'S GOTTA DO, CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES OF THE SERVICE. [v: Disqualification Act, Alien and Sedition Act, Reconstruction Act]

OB :

(oh-bee) Order of Battle, being the identification, strength, command structure, and disposition of the units, their personnel and equipment, of a military force; the arrangement of an army or fleet prior to enemy engagement. Known as Order of Battle Echelon (OBE) by NavPers, and compiled by Order of Battle Study (OOBS), the order of battle may also be manifest as the Tactical Order of Battle (TOB), Ground Order of Battle (GOB), Air Order of Battle (AOB), Naval Order of Battle (NOB), Command - Control - Communications Order of Battle (C3OB) ... including Enemy Order of Battle (EOB). Compare REPORTED UNIT, TO&E/TOE, MTOE, LINE OF BATTLE. [cf: battalia] Also, the abbreviation for Operations Base; see FOB.

OBA :

Oxygen Breathing Apparatus; being a rebreathing device, with mask and goggles, providing a source of clean air for working (eg: firefighting, rescue, evacuation) in a smoke-filled environment; compare EEBD, SCBA, SCUBA, GAS MASK.

OBC :

Officer's Basic Course, being the introductory branch-specific training for newly commissioned officers, especially those from ROTC programs; formerly known as Basic Officer's Course (BOC) and later known as Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC); see TBS. [nb: Germany has traditionally trained its officer candidates in an eight week basic course at one of several academies (kriegsschule) before sending the graduates along to further training for varying periods in their branch specialization]

OBE :

Order of Battle Echelon; see OB; compare TO&E/TOE, MTOE. [cf: battalia] Also, abbreviation for Overtaken By Events, as when planning is too protracted, or when decision making is insufficiently critical ... all too often due to a "cover your ass" (CYA) mind-set ... a lost opportunity!

OBEY :

to comply with or follow the instructions, directions, restrictions, commands, or any other lawful ORDERs issued by the CHAIN-OF-COMMAND, without hesitation or mental reservation; to submit or conform in action to authoritative guidance. See DRILL, DISCIPLINE, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, WIGGLE ROOM, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, OFF THE RESERVATION, SCRIPTURES, UCMJ.

OBITUARY :

the published notice of a person's death, often with a biographical sketch; compare NECROLOGY, EPITAPH.

OBJ :

OBJective, being the TARGET or goal, destination or end-point of an operation, usually denoted by code word or reference point (RP); see AIMPOINT, PHASE LINE, WAY POINT, SOFT TARGET, HARD TARGET, COLLATERAL DAMAGE.

OBJECTIFICATION :

the practice of degrading things, events, and processes to the status of insensate or inanimate objects, as by the use of impersonal or mechanistic labels, such as TARGET, ZONE OF FIRE, BUSTING CAPS, ROCK 'n' ROLL, HOSE, MAD MINUTE, COLLATERAL DAMAGE, TWEP. This is a coping mechanism that dehumanizes someone's conduct or behavior; it's a form of spiritual or emotional desensitization by causal distancing or connective disengagement. Without OBJECTIFICATION, combatants have a tendency to become dysfunctional from supersensitivity or hyperphysicality, neurotic from evasion or abstraction, or psychotic from immersion or supersaturation. See STRESS OF SOUL, THOUSAND-YARD STARE, SURVIVOR SYNDROME, ZOMBIE, BLACKOUT, FLASHBACK, WATERWORKS, CONVERSION SYMPTOMS, OCULAR PINBALL, PTSD, TELESCOPING, DISSOCIATION, BROKEN-WING SYNDROME, FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT, COMBAT BUM, TOUR BABY, TWO-FISTED, HOMESTEADER. [cf: vitalism, dynamism, mechanism, automatism; v: objectivity, objectivism, objective idealism, objective relativism, reification]

OBJECTIVE :

any clearly defined goal toward which every military operation must be directed, whether a terrain feature, an enemy force or capability; a specific TARGET that (once attained or obtained) will decisively conclude the military mission.

OBJECTIVE AREA :

a defined geographical area wherein a military OBJECTIVE is located, with such to be reached, captured or neutralized by the assigned military forces; abbreviated 'OA'. Compare AO.

OBLIQUE :

at a 45° angle, being neither perpendicular nor parallel to a given line; as derived from 'slant'. Also, a progressive type of attack wherein the line of advance is incremental; synonymous with ECHELON. Also, an angled type of gunfire, which is neither flanking nor frontal. Also, an angled observation that is generally so acute as to prevent identification due to distortion. Also, anything that's indirect or roundabout, circuitous or digressive.

OBLITERATE / OBLITERATION :

to remove or destroy all traces of something; to blot-out or efface; as derived from "cause to be forgotten"; see NOT ONE STONE LEFT UPON ANOTHER, BOUNCE THE RUBBLE, KNOCK INTO A COCKED HAT, ROMAN HOLIDAY, BOMB 'EM BACK TO THE STONE AGE, OVERKILL.

OBSCENE / OBSCENITY :

that which causes uncontrolled sexual desire. Also, that which is offensive to morality or decency; anything depraved, abominable, disgusting, repulsive, or indecent; as derived from "off the stage", being those acts which were not shown to the audience in ancient Greek theater performances. See SMACK, DOUCHE BAG, DUD, DOPE, SOS, TURD, SHIT MAGNET, MAGGOT, YARDBIRD, FIELD REJECT, ITALIAN SALUTE, THE FINGER, THE BIRD, ONE-FINGER SALUTE, THE FISH CHEER, EXPLETIVE, OATH, GODDAM, SWEAR, VULGAR, FUCK, BAD-MOUTH, TALK TRASH.

OBSERVATION DECK :

an elevated platform situated so as to provide visitors with a panoramic view of their surroundings, usually uncovered and open to the sky, whether this spectacular outlook area is built onto touring ships or tall buildings, cliff faces or mountain aeries; compare VULTURE'S ROW, PEANUT GALLERY.

OBSERVER :

see Observer Controller (OC), UMPIRE.

OBSTACLE COURSE :

a training course consisting of a series of physical barriers which must be negotiated by troops in a race against time; used for physical training (PT), and for familiarization with the tactical MIL-CRAFT movements that might be utilized on a battlefield. This training course is also known as an "assault course" or "commando course", and includes wall climbing, low-crawling under wire, balance running, agility running, ditch jumping, rope swing, net climbing, and the like. Sometimes mistakenly called a CONFIDENCE COURSE (qv); the completion of an OBSTACLE COURSE is an individual effort, while satisfying the requirements of a CONFIDENCE COURSE is a team or group effort. See IOCT, PARCOURSE, RUCKING, STEEPLECHASE; compare PARKOUR. [v: military obstacle course ("parcours du combattant")]

OC :

abbreviation for Officer Candidate; see OCS, CADET; compare WOC. Also, abbreviation for Observer Controller, being the designation for umpire or referee CADRE who monitor FTX and war game EXERCISEs for procedural compliance, safety and security; see KNOCK IT OFF, OPFOR, MOCK-COMBAT, WAR GAMES, STOOGE, OFF THE RESERVATION, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGES, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (ROE). [nb: a 'stickler' was the second in single combat, and so was very punctilious about the minutest points of etiquette, then later becoming an umpire or referee in competitive tournaments, and finally being any person who persistently demands absolute adherence or unyielding conformity]

OCB :

Operations Coordinating Board.

OCCAM'S RAZOR :

the philosophical and scientific principle that propositions or assumptions introduced to explain something must not be multiplied beyond necessity, hence the simplest of several hypotheses is always the best when accounting for unexplained facts; eponymously derived from William of Occam, and also called the "law of parsimony". See PARKINSON'S LAW, PETER PRINCIPLE, PARETO EFFICIENCY PRINCIPLE, MURPHY'S LAW, RUBE GOLDBERG, LESSONS LEARNED. [nb: not "Ockham"] [cf: reductio ad absurdum] [cf: 'Hanlon's Razor' is a corollary of Finagle's Law, asserting "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." and has been alternatively stated "Never invoke conspiracy when ignorance and incompetence will adequately suffice, since conspiracy implies intelligence."]

OCCUPATION :

the seizure and control of an area by military forces, especially foreign territory, over a given period or for a set term. Also, a job, skill, or specialty; see MOS, Q-COURSE, OJT, MIL-CRAFT.

OCCUPIED TERRITORY :

that area, region or section, subsection or subdivision, controlled by a party or force that is at political, religious, or ethnic variance from the majority of its residents, during which such control is maintained against the will of those denizens; such territory that's under the authority and effective control of an armed belligerent, exclusive of the land and peoples being administered pursuant to treaty or other terms of agreement (express or implied) with the legitimate civil authority of that territory. See BERLIN WALL; compare CONDOMINIUM. [nb: "Anybody that is aware of post-conflict understands that after World War II in Germany, Italy, Japan, after the Korean War in South Korea, in Bosnia Herzegovina, in the Philippines -- we always left troops to deal with post-conflict. Sometimes for security reasons, but also to be a lever to help develop the political system." by GEN Jack Keane]

OCCUPY :

to take possession and control of a place, to militarily seize and hold a position, to capture and secure a territory.

OCKHAM'S RAZOR :

see OCCAM'S RAZOR.

O CLUB :

short for Officer's Club, the "Officer's Open Mess" on posts and bases around the world, where OFF-DUTY dress and deportment is regulated as much as in any DUTY assignment or BILLET, and perhaps scrutinized even more by wives who manage their husband's careers! Each O CLUB is variously provided with dining rooms, ballroom, barrooms, snack bar, game room, CLASS SIX store, barbershop, picnic area, swimming pool, golf course, trap or skeet range, boating area, and the like; usually located near HQ buildings, main chapel, and VOQ. Although the NCO Club is similar, the EM Club [v: SLOP CHUTE] or Service Club is primitive by comparison. See RIGHT ARM, DINING-IN, MESS, GALLEY, CANTEEN, ALL RANKS CLUB, ANNEX, PARTY SUIT, DIRTY SHIRT, BEARING, DISTAFF. [cf: barrelhouse, beerhouse, cocktail lounge, saloon, roadhouse, speakeasy, blind pig / blind tiger, pub, ginmill, public house, tavern, cantina, bar, barroom, bar-and-grill, grogshop, watering hole, tippling house, 11th Frame, 19th Hole, honky-tonk, dive, brasserie, bistro, taproom, beer joint, beer parlor, brewpub, alehouse, rathskeller, cabaret, nightclub, drinkery] [v: "What happens in the club stays in the club!"]

OCOI :

Office of the Coordinator Of Intelligence/Information (COI) was the predecessor from 1941, along with the JCS Office of War Information (OWI), of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII.

OCONUS :

(oh-ko-nus) Outside [of the] CONtinental United States; being MIL-SPEAK for overseas; includes assignments in Alaska and Hawaii, Guam and Guantanamo. See HERSHEY BAR, DEROS, SOFA, WHEN IN ROME; compare CONUS, ZI. [nb: civilians go 'abroad' while soldiers go 'overseas']

O COURSE :

informal reference to OBSTACLE COURSE (qv).

OCS :

OCS roadwheel

(oh-see-ess; not "ox") Officer's Candidate School; sometimes called "Organized Chicken Shit", and the former enlisted graduates are widely known as "Ninety Day Wonders" or "Ninety Day Blunders" from the length of the original WWII training period, commencing in 1941. Primarily oriented toward training combat arms (ie: Infantry, Armor, Artillery) officers for company-level assignments during wartime, the OCS program has also been intermittently offered in Signal, Ordnance, Transportation, Engineer, Chemical, and Medical Service Corps branches since its inception. A separate WAC OCS program was episodically offered until women were fully integrated into the Armed Forces in 1976. Beginning during WWII, OCS was the first training course to be racially desegregated. The OCS program is also available to reservists, and is known as Officer Training School (OTS) by the USAF. In 1918, ROTC was suspended in favor of the Student Army Training Corps to train enlisted men (EM) for special wartime assignments. To correct the deficiencies of the original WWII program, OCS was extended to 22-weeks during the KOREAN WAR, and to 26-weeks during the VIETNAM WAR; but in April 1973, the program was reorganized into a 14-week branch immaterial course at Fort Benning. A student training in OCS is properly known as a "candidate" [or more formally an "officer candidate" (OC)], which is unlike the terms for CADET used in the various TRADE SCHOOLs. In the post-Vietnam era, the OCS emblem, once worn as a PATCH and later as a helmet BADGE, has acquired the nickname "roadwheel". [nb: Vietnamese term: Truong Sinh Vien Si Quan] [v: Siwash ("At Good Old Siwash" by George Helgeson Fitch (1911)] [nb: Germany has traditionally trained its officer candidates in an eight week basic course at one of several academies (kriegsschule) before sending the graduates along to further training for varying periods in their branch specialization] [v: "What happens in school stays in school!"]

OCTOPUS :

slang for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), because it lives in the darkest depths, has tenticles that intrude everywhere, and defends itself with a blinding effusion of ink. Also, something likened to an octopus, as a masterful executive with many forms of far-reaching influence or control.

OCULAR PINBALL :

slang for the exhibition of extreme nervousness wherein the individual is either too frightened or too intimidated to properly focus his attention, to control his eye movements, or to coordinate his visual survey with the predominant subject matter; also known as "dancing orbs" and "goggle-eyed", being a symptom of psychomotor disquiet, perturbation, or agitation, correlative with instability, inconstancy, and unreliability, making the affected person unsuitable for responsible assignments, for delivery or receipt of crucial information, regardless of the presumptive cause. Compare EYE-CHECK, EYE-BALL, HAIRY EYEBALL, DOUBLE-O, EYE-FIGHTING, NERVOUS IN THE SERVICE, JITTERBUG, JUMPING BEAN, SALUTE, HAPPY FEET, THOUSAND-YARD STARE, ZOMBIE, TELESCOPING, SURVIVOR SYNDROME, STRESS OF SOUL, FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT, WHITE STATIC, CONVERSION SYMPTOMS, DISSOCIATION, OBJECTIFICATION, FLASHBACK, BLACKOUT, COSR, PTSD. [cf: nystagmus] [nb: the 'startle response' is an alarm reflex that can increase survivability in extremis by two to three times over normal inertia]

OD :

Olive Drab (Army shade 51), as standard dull "Olive Green" (OG) being a mixture of brown and green for military color tone. The wear of olive drab (OD) is no longer authorized after 30 April 2008. [nb: the human eye can discern more shades of green than any other hue] [nb: except for rifle regiments separate from infantry and dragoons from before the War of 1812, the U.S. Army wore blue uniforms until the adoption of KHAKIS and FATIGUES, so when the CLASS-A uniform was redesigned in 1954, the color Army Green (AG44) was selected for its historical link to the early riflemen and SHARPSHOOTERs; then in 2008, the traditional Continental Army blue color was restored] Also, Operational Detachment; see ODA, ODB, ODC. Also, improper abbreviation for Officer of the Day / Deck (OOD); see DUTY DOG, DOG ROBBER, DOGSBODY, CDO, SDO, SOPA.

ODA :

(oh-dah) Operational Detachment Alpha, being an A TEAM in the US Army SPECIAL FORCES. The USSOCOM protocol for ODA numbering (effective 2007) is: the first digit represents the SF Group (eg: 1SFGA=1, 3SFGA=3, 10SFGA=0, 19SFGA=9, 20SFGA=2); the second digit represents the Battalion (ie: 1-4); the third digit represents the Company (ie: 1-3); and the fourth digit represents the Detachment (ie: 1-6). The older 3-digit notation differed by having the second digit identify both the company and battalion (ie: 1=A Co 1st Bn, 2=B Co 1st Bn, 3=C Co 1st Bn, 4=A Co 2nd Bn, through 9=C Co 3rd Bn). Six A TEAMs or ODAs comprise a company (CO), three SF Companies comprise a battalion (BN), and four SF Battalions comprise a group (effective 2007); each active duty SF Group specializes in the languages and cultures of a particular region (ie: 1st SFGA in East Asia; 3rd SFGA in Africa, Mid-East, and Central Asia; 5th SFGA in Mid-East and Central Asia; 7th SFGA in South America; and 10th SFGA in Europe). In developing a new interservice amalgamation, USSOCOM has redesignated the 'ODA' as a generic "special operations detachment", disconnecting its formerly strict affiliation with SF/USSF. Also, in the U.S. State Department, the abbreviation for the Office of the Defense Attaché before the Vietnam-era, which was redesignated the Defense Attaché Office (DAO / USDAO).

O-DARK-30 / O-DARK-THIRTY :

(oh-dark-thirty) a vague reference to some unspecified time when most other people are OFF-DUTY or asleep, as "worked till O-DARK-30", or "awoke at O-DARK-30"; also represented as "oh-dark-early", but never expressed as 0-dark-30 or zero-dark-thirty, despite the fact that only numerals are used in military computation. This early (or late) time segment is also known as "the darkest hour", the "wee hours", and before the "crack of dawn". Compare O-STUPID-30; see WHITE NIGHT, TIME. [nb: "Only soldiers and cooks, physicians and prostitutes are called upon to work at all hours of the day." by Roger Zelazny[

ODB :

(oh-dee-bee) Operational Detachment Bravo, being a B TEAM in the US Army SPECIAL FORCES. [nb: six A TEAMs or ODAs comprise a company (CO), three SF Companies comprise a battalion (BN), and four SF Battalions comprise a group (effective 2007); each active duty SF Group specializes in the languages and cultures of a particular region (ie: 1st SFGA in East Asia; 3rd SFGA in Africa, Mid-East, and Central Asia; 5th SFGA in Mid-East and Central Asia; 7th SFGA in South America; and 10th SFGA in Europe)]

ODC :

(oh-dee-see) Operational Detachment Charlie, being a C TEAM in the US Army SPECIAL FORCES. [nb: six A TEAMs or ODAs comprise a company (CO), three SF Companies comprise a battalion (BN), and four SF Battalions comprise a group (effective 2007); each active duty SF Group specializes in the languages and cultures of a particular region (ie: 1st SFGA in East Asia; 3rd SFGA in Africa, Mid-East, and Central Asia; 5th SFGA in Mid-East and Central Asia; 7th SFGA in South America; and 10th SFGA in Europe)]

ODD MAN OUT / ODD-MAN-OUT :

an activity or involvement that focuses on the exception to the rule, especially a game consisting of this method. [v: odd or even; coin toss / coin matching; short straw; zero-sum; rock-paper-scissors; supra; Tommy Dodd] Also, a method of selecting or eliminating a candidate from a group, as by matching flipped coins, especially in preparation for playing a game. Also, the person so selected or eliminated; nonconformist, individualist, maverick, loner, lone wolf, square peg in a round hole, fish out of water, outsider, misfit, oddball. See LAW OF AVERAGES, GAMBLER'S FALLACY, UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS, LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. [nb: "God delights in odd numbers." Latin proverb; "The protruding nail gets pounded down." Japanese proverb]

ODDMENT / ODDMENTS :

an odd piece, part, bit, fragment, scrap or remnant, especially an item or article belonging to an incomplete set. Compare COLLECTION; see AGGLOMERATION, CONGLOMERATION.

ODOR / ODOROUS / ODORIFEROUS :

see ASIAN STENCH, MONKEY BUTT, JUNGLE ROT, JOCK ITCH, ATHLETE'S FOOT, BARBER'S ITCH. [nb: a contrast in bodily scent is one of the methods of detecting the enemy (or of being detected by the enemy) when unseen under dense field conditions]

OEF :

OEF

Operation Enduring Freedom, from 7 October 2001, conducted in Afghanistan, South Africa, and the Philippines; compare OIF, see GULF WAR, WAR ON TERROR. [nb: a combat jump into western Afghanistan by B/3/504 PIR and A/2/75 Rngr was conducted in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)] [v: Gulf War Supplement]

OER :

Officer Efficiency Report; based on character and efficiency (C&E) rating. See FITREP, ER, DOR, BAYONET SHEET.

OFF-DUTY :

time when military personnel are not assigned to specific tasks, often coincident with personal time, STAND-DOWN, PASS, or LEAVE; a military myth, because servicemembers do not have protected working conditions! Nobody in the military is guaranteed anything, except DUE PROCESS when they disobey. Anyone may be recalled from OFF-DUTY whenever there skills are needed to execute the mission. See DUTY; compare SMOKIN' 'n' JOKIN', DAY OFF / DAY-OFF, FEDERAL FRIDAY. [v: dog days] [nb: "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." Mark 2:27 KJV Bible]

OFFHAND / OFF-HAND :

the unsupported standing position for firing RIFLE or PISTOL; shooting a pistol one-handed or a rifle without a prop or rest (including the sling wrapped as a brace) as executed from a standing or kneeling posture; also known as "freestyle" or "free-hand"; see KICK, SPOT WELD, SIGHT PICTURE, BASS. Also, any abrupt or impromptu act, any casual or cavalier behavior.

OFFICE HOURS :

in the Marine Corps, a unit hearing for minor offences before the commander at which non-judicial punishment may be imposed; see ARTICLE 15, ADY, DRUMHEAD, YELLOW SHEET, ROCKS 'n' SHOALS, UCMJ, compare CAPTAIN'S MAST.

OFFICER :

(off-ick-cur or ossif-fer) any MIL-PERS anointed by an ACT OF CONGRESS with some form of commission (eg: warrant, direct, regular, reserve, etc) which, the recipient infers, purportedly bestows ineluctable suavity and character, or unimpeachable wisdom and honor, such that he deserves the distinguished title of "sir" (cur) rendered with a SALUTE for the monumental restraint of non-FRATERNIZATION! ... in other words, anyone who sleeps and eats and acts like everyone else and who is mysteriously converted by appointment into believing that his shit no longer stinks! As one distinguished veteran said: "The only reason you are given any special consideration is because you will use your superior ability to take care of your men and lead them into battle." See AIDE, MISTER, WO, WOBBLY, MAVERICK, OCS, CADET, PIP, TRADE SCHOOL, BOAT SCHOOL, HUDSON HIGH, BLUE BLOOD, RING-KNOCKER, ROTC, BOC, OBC, BOLC, TBS, MUSTANG, COCKTAIL, OIC, OOD, SDO, CO, OLD MAN, SKIPPER, HONCHO, WALLAH, MOTHER HEN, LDR, RHIP, ROUGHSHOD, GREEN TAB, LINE OFFICER, ENSIGN, LT, LOOEY, SHAVETAIL, BUTTER BAR, BROWN BAR, CAPTAIN, AIMING STAKES, MAJOR, COMMANDER, LIGHT BIRD, FULL BULL, FLAG OFFICER, WHITE WAY, COMMAND ELEMENT, CHAIN-OF-COMMAND, MILICRAT, RANK. [nb: Vietnamese term: Si Quan] [nb: although the USAF phased-out their Warrant Officer ranks in 1979, designating technical personnel as NCOs and command personnel as officers, they did not resume the WWII Army Air Corps program of "Flying Sergeants", inasmuch as pilots and weapons officers are "technicians" ... so a Lieutenant "commands" a one- or two-person aircraft worth $20-million but a Sergeant "commands" a three- or four-person tank crew worth $60-million!] [nb: the word "caddie", with the same origin as CADET, and sometimes shortened to "cad" (irresponsible, dishonorable), was the 17th century term for a gentleman who learned the military profession by serving in the army without a commission; henceforth, it was applied to any person seeking employment] [v: beseem, nicety; cf: mauvais ton] [nb: until recently, an OFFICER was simultaneously designated a "gentleman" when appointed by an ACT OF CONGRESS, which not only inspired further intellectual development but also encouraged cultural sophistication, which refinements were mocked as being 'suave and debonair' (deliberately mispronounced as "soo-wave" and "dee-boner"); v: BRASS HAT, BLUE BLOOD, UP THE HAWSEPIPE, OFFICER'S COUNTRY, TALLY-HO, TACT; cf: HARD-ASS, MACHO] [nb: "Oh he's doing fine, Michael. Nevertheless, he's an officer and a gentleman, and that's no job for a gentleman." by Frank S. Nugent and John Ford in Fort Apache (1948, based on the story "Massacre" by James Warner Bellah); "The worst thing about this war is the chance it gives these dreadful little persons (commoners), the chance to make themselves important." by Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton, and Claudine West in Mrs. Miniver (1942); "There is no place for a caesar in the army ... I have stood by and watched poor officers rise above me, and I've seen great officers march out their lives in one rank when they should've worn stars. I've seen bribery and favoritism and cheating. I've saluted men I knew to be scoundrels. I've seen officers rot away in some little sagebrush post while others bore gold braid in Washington city without reason. It is unfair. It is hard. It is brutal. But you've got to learn it, and do your duty as you set it, and make that your one consolation. I can't talk to him, and you can't. He's got to sit there and go through every damned bit of it alone. He'll be a great man if he does; he won't be anything you'd want if he doesn't. I don't know whether God hates a political general or a grandstand swashbuckler, but I do. And I cannot take the chance of sending him out with twenty men he'll lead to slaughter for the sake of ambition." by Ernest Haycox The Border Trumpet (1936)]

OFFICER'S CALL :

an early morning meeting of all subordinate officers with their immediate superior, sometimes convened as a breakfast gathering at the commander's discretion, for the purpose of discussing unit problems, checking on work in progress, and assigning new details or duties; traditionally heralded by a distinctive BUGLE CALL. This meeting is commonly derided as "morning prayers"; and is known as "Captain's Call" on-board ships. See BRIEFING, CONFAB, EAR-BANG, CROSS-TALK, CHATTER, HALF-MAST, CHIN CHIN, POWWOW, SUMMIT. [cf: consistory, gabfest]

OFFICER'S COUNTRY :

refers to where officers live and work, such as HQ, MESS, BOQ, VOQ, NOB HILL, WARDROOM, and other QTRS, but is especially noted on-board ships, where separation is both functional and social. Compare BELOWDECKS, TAC ALLEY; see TOPSIDE, ABOVE BOARD, MUSTANG. [v: beseem, nicety; cf: mauvais ton] [nb: until recently, an OFFICER was simultaneously designated a "gentleman" when appointed by an ACT OF CONGRESS, which not only inspired further intellectual development but also encouraged cultural sophistication, which refinements were mocked as being 'suave and debonair' (deliberately mispronounced as "soo-wave" and "dee-boner"); v: BRASS HAT, BLUE BLOOD, UP THE HAWSEPIPE, TALLY-HO, TACT; cf: HARD-ASS, MACHO]

OFFICER'S MESS CHEST :

a wooden box, smaller than a FOOTLOCKER, that's been partitioned for the stowage and transport of a coffee pot and stew pot, frying pan and gridiron, ceramic mugs and dinner plates, stainless utensils and CONDIMENTS suitable for serving the commanding officers (6-7) of a company-sized unit, or the staff officers (6-10) of a battalion-sized unit; also called a "field mess chest". See CANTEEN, MESS; compare MESS KIT. [cf: chuck box, grub box]

OFFICER'S WIFE :

a woman who uses her native wit and feminine wile to acquire, by fair means or foul, a military spouse who is sufficiently malleable to be converted into her ideal (ie: the transsexual version of herself) but without the onus of devoting an excess of time or effort in attaining this expectation, and who is almost as monomaniacally ambitious as herself, but can be driven to greater achievements by the promise of several illicit inducements, covert or clandestine, until either high enough rank is obtained or compulsory retirement intervenes, at which point she too retires, never to be nice to anyone again! Formerly a lady and once a frontierswoman, serving in partnership with her mate and sharing in his adversities, but lately a highly polished female, more ornamental than practical, less enduring than brittle, possessing a stainless steel smile and envious eyes in every shade of jealousy. Her rigid spine forgives nothing, her soft bosom comforts only herself, and her moral scale is so finely balanced that everyone is found wanting, and none is better than her. She wears her husband's rank, immodestly goes where she doesn't belong, and no soldier is rude enough to tell her to go away ... not even her sponsor. Although she marries into the military lifestyle, she resents its obligations and resists its impositions, making her sponsor and BRATs pay in myriad and sundry ways for each and every unhappy limitation upon her fickle nature, being at best an asset, and at worst a deterrent to the career of a MIL-PERS. The only difference between her and her sisters strolling the street outside the gate is the price that is charged for services rendered. The gracious and dedicated exception, so fine when rarely encountered, proves the rule. See COW, PETTICOAT COMMAND, DRAG, CAMP FOLLOWER, LADY, RING THE BELL, THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT, THE MOTHER-IN-LAW OF THE ARMY, CLASS-B DEPENDENT, CAMPAIGN WIFE, MISTRESS, THE MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS, DISTAFF, BITCH, SKIRT, BRAT, GREEN BLOOD, ARMY SOUP, GOLD STAR. [v: officer's wife syndrome, professional widow] [nb: "They also serve who only stand and wait" by John Milton; "It is women who knit the lamb's wool cloak in which barbarism masquerades as civilization."] [nb: "If the military wanted you to have a wife, they'd have issued you one." serviceman's adage] [nb: until the Vietnam-era, the military did not recognize the spouse or other dependents of enlisted personnel below the non-commissioned officer ranks]

OFFICER'S WIFE SYNDROME :

see PETTICOAT COMMAND, COW, THE MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS, DRAG, LADY, DISTAFF, SKIRT, ARMY SOUP, BRAT, GREEN BLOOD, GOLD STAR.

OFFICER'S WIVES' INTEL NETWORK :

that "rumor mill" responsible for passing gossip "faster than a speeding bullet" in hopes of being "more powerful than a locomotive" in defense of their clueless sponsors; such secret intelligence (authentic or not) is surreptitiously conveyed at the PX or commissary, post nursery or O Club in a word-of-mouth manner that would overwhelm the TRADECRAFT of CIC agents ... all for a good cause beyond the call of duty: preserving their breadwinner's career! Also known as the "officer's ladies' intel net", "distaff intel net", and "petticoat intel net". See GAS BAG, TALK TRASH, BRAVO SIERRA, CHATTER, SPIN, FACTOID, NOISE, HOOPLA, BIG LIE, GOUGE, DOPE, POOP, THE WORD, GREEN GREASE, GRIPEVINE, BACK CHANNEL, SCUTTLEBUTT, WHISPERING CAMPAIGN, CHINESE WHISPER, BAMBOO TELEGRAPH.

OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT :

see DARPA.

OFFICIAL FACE :

see FLINT FACE, QUARTERDECK FACE, FACE.

OFF LIMITS :

areas prohibited or denied to unauthorized access, also known as "restricted access" or "out of bounds", such as firing ranges, munitions training areas, weapons storage areas, operational security areas, intelligence briefing areas, prisoner detention areas, communications equipment areas, medical treatment facilities, and the like. Some paternalistic restraints have been selectively prescribed for "the good of the service", such as excluding servicemembers from posted civilian establishments (ie: clip joint, roadhouse, tourist trap, etc), and confining travel by mileage limits calibrated to PASS/Liberty periodicity (eg: 150mi for 36hr, 250mi for 72hr, 300mi for 96hr).

OFF THE BOOKS :

see WHEN IN ROME, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, OFF THE RESERVATION, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, OFF THE GRID, UNDER THE RADAR, OFF LIMITS, BEYOND THE PALE, OVERSIGHT, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE; compare BY THE BOOK.

OFF THE GRID :

see WHEN IN ROME, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, OFF THE RESERVATION, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, UNDER THE RADAR, OFF LIMITS, BEYOND THE PALE, OVERSIGHT, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE; compare BY THE BOOK.

OFF THE MAP :

see WHEN IN ROME, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, OFF THE RESERVATION, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, UNDER THE RADAR, OFF LIMITS, BEYOND THE PALE, OVERSIGHT, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE; compare BY THE BOOK.

OFF THE RADAR :

see WHEN IN ROME, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, OFF THE RESERVATION, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, UNDER THE RADAR, OFF LIMITS, BEYOND THE PALE, OVERSIGHT, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE; compare BY THE BOOK.

OFF THE RESERVATION :

used literally to specify persons or regions outside the military COMPOUND, post, or BASE, and used figuratively to represent any unauthorized conduct or unsanctioned action; phrase most often refers to a person or situation which is "unresponsive" to command authority or is "out of control" by improvisation, being more extra-legal than illegal; sometimes known as "off the map" or "off the grid", "under the radar" or "off the books", as being without guidance, unaccountable or undetectable. Also, used as a synonym for overseas (OCONUS), being anywhere outside the Zone of the Interior (ZI) or the continental United States (CONUS), with the clear implication that different rules apply in a "foreign realm" or "alien territory" appertaining to everything from sexual mores and substance abuse to professional accountability and LAWS OF WAR. Compare CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, VFR DIRECT, UNODIR, WIGGLE ROOM, WHEN IN ROME, DOG-EAT-DOG, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGES, COUP DE PIED DE L'ANE, SLEEPING DICTIONARY, CAMPAIGN WIFE, STRANGE, DUTCH COURAGE, WHISKEY WARRIOR, GROUP TIGHTENER, HOOCH, GROG, BREW, JUICE, STONED; see DEROS, SOFA, SCRIPTURES, OFF LIMITS, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, BEYOND THE PALE, OVERSIGHT, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE. [v: "What happens in the field stays in the field!", "What happens in school stays in school!", "What happens in the club stays in the club!", "What happens in Sin City stays in Sin City!"]

OFF WE GO INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER :

see WILD BLUE YONDER.

OG :

(oh-gee) Olive Green color, as former (and now reinstated) standard military color for ground forces; compare OD. [nb: the human eye can discern more shades of green than any other hue] [nb: except for rifle regiments separate from infantry and dragoons from before the War of 1812, the U.S. Army wore blue uniforms until the adoption of KHAKIS and FATIGUES, so when the CLASS-A uniform was redesigned in 1954, the color Army Green (AG44) was selected for its historical link to the early riflemen and SHARPSHOOTERs; then in 2008, the traditional Continental Army blue color was restored]

OGA :

Other Government Agency, or Other Governmental Agency; often a euphemism for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Agency (NSA), and the like; compare NGO, QUANGO, GOCO, COCO, BELTWAY BANDIT.

OH LAM / HO LAM :

in Laotian cuisine, a MULLIGAN-style stew of mixed and varied ingredients, including black mushrooms, beans, eggplant (aubergine), gourds, and other vegetables, seasoned with chilies, lemon grass, and coriander (cilantro), then served with sticky rice; originating with the northern (Luang Prabang) Hmong peoples, the name loosely translates as "put in" whatever is available.

OHRA :

(ohvera) Organization for Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance [in the Mid-East].

OI :

(o-i) Operating Instructions

OIC :

(oh-eye-see) Officer In Charge, and sometimes (improperly) cited as Officer In Command; depending upon his personality or command style, may be designated the Big Asshole In Charge (BAIC) or the Big Mother / Motherfucker In Charge (BMIC) [nb: reminiscent of Big Man On Campus (BMOC)]. See NCOIC, OOD, CQ. [nb: Vietnamese term: Si Quan Phu Trach]

OIF :

(oyef) Operation Iraqi Freedom, conducted from 19 March 2002 to 1 May 2003; sometimes called GULF WAR II or "Gulf War Part Two", and is sarcastically called the "Baghdad urban renewal project"; and also refers to the continuing WAR ON TERROR in the SANDBOX after the "mission accomplished" announcement that was supposed to be the "end of major hostilities" (officially concluded by the final withdrawal of American forces on 31 Dec 2011), which is also referred to as "Operation Iraqi Freedom Part Two" or "OIF2" / "OIF II". Compare OEF; see GULF WAR, WAR ON TERROR. [v: Gulf War Supplement]

OILER :

a service TENDER for other vessels; see LIGHTER, BOAT.

OILSKINS :

garments made from cotton cloth that's been waterproofed by impregnating it with linseed oil; this fabric often cracked after extended use (or improper storage) but these leaks could be "repaired" by applying heavy wax ... replaced in the post-Vietnam era by laminated microfiber fabrics that were both breathable and water-repellent. See PONCHO, RAINCOAT, WINDBREAKER.

OJT :

On the Job Training; see MOS, PMOS, CROSS-TRAINING, Q-COURSE, TRNG, MONKEY SEE - MONKEY DO, POI, COUNTERINTUITIVE, IA, UP THE HAWSEPIPE, BUDDY SYSTEM, DLI, DUTY, BILLET, BERTH, POST, ON STATION, WATCH, SHEEP-DIPPED, HARDSHIP TOUR, BUMFUCK, TDY / TAD, PCS. [nb: the word "caddie", with the same origin as CADET, and sometimes shortened to "cad" (irresponsible, dishonorable), was the 17th century term for a gentleman who learned the military profession by serving in the army without a commission; henceforth, it was applied to any person seeking employment]

OK :

(okay) see A-OK.

OKIAGARI-KOBOSHI :

round-bottomed Japanese doll

a traditional round-bottomed Japanese folk art doll made of weighted wood or papier-mâché that has a low center of mass so it always returns to its upright position whenever disturbed; this "getting-up little priest" symbolizes perseverance and resilience when overcoming adversity as a national character trait, and is also known as a "tumbler doll" or "tilting doll", "wobbly man" or "roly-poly" toy. Inspired by Bodhidharma, the patriarch of Zen Buddhism, who performed "sitting meditation" (zazen) for so long that his limbs withered away, and who, according to legend, cut-off his own eyelids so as not to interrupt his concentration; a red and white 'daruma' doll (a type of okiagari-koboshi) inspires fortitude by drawing-in the left eye on the blank face when a goal is established, then adding the right eye only when that goal has been attained. The ancient Chinese version of the okiagari-koboshi is the 'budaoweng' (not-falling-down old man) toy that's similarly weighted for righting itself. Compare MATRYOSHKA. [v: Russian vanka-vstanka; cf: Japanese kokeshi / kokeshi doll] [nb: "Fall down seven times, get up eight." Japanese proverb]

OLC :

Oak Leaf Cluster, a DEVICE denoting multiple awards of the same medal or decoration on different occasions; also represented by a star on Navy and Marine awards, and by numerals on the Air Medal (AM). See V-DEVICE, GONG. [nb: an insignia emblematic of the honors and lineage of a military organization, unlike familial "coats of arms", may be individually enhanced but not personally heritable; v: Heraldry]

OLD ASIA HAND :

see COUP QUALIFIED, ORIENTAL FAN, YELLOW FEVER, GONE NATIVE.

OLD BOY'S CLUB / OLD-BOY NETWORK :

see BOY'S CLUB, GOOD OLD BOY, RING-KNOCKER, CASTE, KHAKI MAFIA, THE ESTABLISHMENT, BROWNIE / BROWN NOSE, VET / VETERAN, PROFESSIONAL VETERAN, VETERANS' ASSOCIATION, FRATERNIZATION. [eg: Kit-cat Club]

OLD BREED :

senior soldier (Army or Marines) of any RANK, also known as "sweat" or OLD SWEAT, and "leather face", having a vast experience; as contrasted with progressive "New Breed", "New Centurions", and YOUNG LIONS, who typified elite units like Force Recon and Special Forces. See DINOSAUR, MOSSBACK, OLD SALT, MAVERICK, BROWN SHOE / BOOT.

OLD CHINA HAND :

see COUP QUALIFIED, ORIENTAL FAN, YELLOW FEVER, GONE NATIVE.

OLD FASHIONED / OLD-FASHIONED :

anything out of style, especially that which was favored or prevalent in former times; having the behavior and tastes, ways and ideas of earlier times; see TRADITION, PATRIOTISM, CONSERVATIVE / CONSERVATISM, RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM, LAST BEST HOPE, ANTI-FEDERALIST, RELIGIOUS RIGHT, REACTIONARY, SIEGE MENTALITY, HIDEBOUND. Also, a cocktail made with whiskey, angostura bitters, and lump sugar, that's served in a short glass over ice cubes and garnished with citrus fruit; see HOOCH, GROG, JUICE, MOONSHINE, THE DRINK, HOIST, GUSTO.

OLD GIRL'S CLUB / OLD-GIRL NETWORK :

an exclusive association that links members of a social class or the alumni of a particular school, members of a profession or an organization, through which the individuals assist one another in various ways and means to break the "glass ceiling"; a sorority among women that's modeled on a comparable men's syndicate. See BOY'S CLUB, GOOD OLD BOY, RING-KNOCKER, CASTE, KHAKI MAFIA, THE ESTABLISHMENT, BROWNIE / BROWN NOSE, VET / VETERAN, PROFESSIONAL VETERAN, VETERANS' ASSOCIATION, FRATERNIZATION, GLASS CLIFF, GI JANE, SKIRT. [nb: in 1996, the ratio of women serving in the U.S. Air Force was 16.3%, in the U.S. Army was 13.8%, in the U.S. Navy was 12.6%, and in the U.S. Marine Corps was 4.9%]

OLD GLORY :

nickname for the national flag, standard, COLORS, ENSIGN, banner, or pennon; also called STARS 'n' STRIPES or "Union Jack", "Grand Old Flag" or "bloody zebra". The attribution of "Old Glory" was made by William Driver to the ENSIGN flown from his brigantine in 1831; and that same flag, having been hidden in his bedspread against Confederate depredations, flew from the capitol dome in Nashville after Union forces recaptured the city. See HOIST, HALYARD, FLAGSTAFF, BLOCK THE COLORS, HALF-MAST, SHIFT COLORS, COLORBEARER, COLOR GUARD, FLAG DAY, CALL TO THE COLORS, STAR SPANGLED BANNER, STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER, SHOW THE FLAG; compare GUIDON, ENSIGN, STREAMER, BLOOD CHIT. [v: Flag Terms]

OLD GROWLER :

slang nickname for the North American AT-6 TEXAN, a fighter aircraft employed during WWII and KOREAN WAR; derived as a result of the distinctive sound made by the propeller on take-off. Compare GROWLER, see BIRD.

OLD HAND :

see OLD VIETNAM HAND, OLD CHINA HAND, OLD ASIA HAND, COUP QUALIFIED, ORIENTAL FAN, YELLOW FEVER, GONE NATIVE, DINOSAUR, OLD BREED, OLD SWEAT, SWEAT, TOP DOG, OLD SALT, SALTY, SALTY DOG, MOSSBACK, SHELLBACK, QUIET PROFESSIONAL, LIFER, OLD BOY'S CLUB, OLD GIRL'S CLUB, VETERAN, WINTER SOLDIER, TRADITION, INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY, CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES OF THE SERVICE, KEEP THE FAITH, SEMPER FI, TRUE BLUE, ESPRIT DE CORPS.

OLD HAT :

stale INTEL, unchanged information, or something already known; compare POOP, HEADS-UP, FYI, DOPE, GOUGE, BULLETIN, HOT-SHIT, BOATSWAIN'S PIPE, BUGLE CALL, TANNOY, VECTOR. Also, pertaining to a traditional mode or method, to an outdated style, pattern, or fashion; see FATIGUE, SOS, OLD BREED, BROWN BOOT.

OLD MAN :

slang reference to the unit commander; however this appellation became ludicrous during the VIETNAM WAR when a 21 year old officer led 25 year old NCOs and 19 year old troops! See CO, COMMAND ELEMENT, LDR, TOP DOG, HONCHO, CHAIN-OF-COMMAND, MOTHER HEN, 10, MC, SKIPPER, CHIEF, CAPTAIN, BREVET, OVERSIGHT. [nb: "An exalted position is no guarantee of an exalted personage." anonymous adage] [nb: a female unit commander is not called the OLD MAN nor "old lady", not "chieftain" nor "chieftess", not the HONCHO nor "honchette", not TOP DOG nor "top bitch", but is rather antonomastically identified by the generic "boss" or "boss lady", or by her designated NICKNAME or CODENAME; also see "GI Jane", "Jane Bond", "Acting Jane", "Swinging Dickless", "Dear Jane", SKIRT, ANGEL]

OLD SALT :

senior sailor of any rank having vast experience; also referred to as SALTY (indicating seniority or experience; not bitter or astringent), SALTY DOG, or "sea dog". See HANDY, MOSSBACK, SHELLBACK, OLD BREED, DINOSAUR.

OLD SCHOOL TIE :

literally a distinctive necktie worn by graduates of prestigious institutions so as to distinguish them, which differentiation separates the sheep from the goats or the anointed few from the unwashed masses; such privileged associations have become pejorative among the ostensibly classless egalitarians who are promoting the ideology of a progressive counterculture; see FOUR-IN-HAND, FIELD SCARF, NECK SCARF, TRADE SCHOOL, BOY'S CLUB, RING-KNOCKER, CRONYISM, TICKET-PUNCHER. [nb: 'choker': slang for a white neckcloth, as a symbolic necktie once worn by clergymen and physicians, lawyers and bankers, professors and other white-collared tradesmen (petit bourgeois) or middle-class professionals]

OLD SWEAT :

senior soldier of any rank having vast experience; also called "sweat" (indicating seniority or experience; not bitter or sour), and "leather face", being a MIL-PERS with enough "know how" to be relied upon to get the job done. See OLD BREED, OLD SALT, BROWN BOOT, DINOSAUR, TOP DOG, LIFER; compare SWEAT HOG.

OLD SCHOOL :

see TRADITION, INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY, CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES OF THE SERVICE, KEEP THE FAITH, SEMPER FI, TRUE BLUE, ESPRIT DE CORPS, LOYALTY UP - LOYALTY DOWN, DUTY, SCRIPTURES, CODE OF CONDUCT, HONOR CODE, CREED, OATH, PATRIOTISM, DINOSAUR, OLD BREED, old sweat, sweat, TOP DOG, OLD SALT, SALTY, SALTY DOG, MOSSBACK, SHELLBACK, QUIET PROFESSIONAL, LIFER, OLD BOY'S CLUB, OLD GIRL'S CLUB, VETERAN, WINTER SOLDIER; compare OLD MAN, NOBLE SAVAGE. Also, see TRADE SCHOOL, ROTC, OCS, WAR COLLEGE, C&GS, RING-KNOCKER, TICKET-PUNCHER.

OLD VIETNAM HAND :

a devotee who's served multiple tours IN-COUNTRY, speaks the native language (eg: French, Chinese, Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao, or any of several Montagnard dialects), and is sympathetic to the cause of a free enterprise system supporting a republican government; also called "old Asia hand" or "old China hand". See COUP QUALIFIED, ORIENTAL FAN, YELLOW FEVER, GONE NATIVE. [nb: during the VIETNAM WAR, it was popular to take a poncho and poncho liner to a local tailor shop to commission a custom-made rain parka, with a snap-closure front and large collar (showing the camouflage-pattern lining), sometimes with pockets and snap-closure or elasticized cuffs ... possession of such an unofficial rain jacket marked the wearer as an "old hand"]

OLD WRIST BREAKER :

cavalry saber

slang for the short and heavy saber issued to the U.S. Army cavalry (CAV) and mounted infantry (DRAGOON) until WWI, which was made of such inferior metal and so poorly tempered that it was impossible to sharpen; see LONG KNIFE, MAMELUKE SWORD, TOASTING-FORK. [v: Knife Terms; The Language of Swordplay]

OLIVE DRAB :

see OD.

OLIVE GREEN :

see OD.

OLLA :

(oya/oy-yeh) an unglazed ceramic pot or jar for the storage of food or water, which refillable terracotta urn is usually short and wide, often with a removeable lid covering the contents; although sometimes finished with a glaze on the inside, this pottery vessel is not airtight when covered ... when placed in the shade, the contents are always cooler than the ambient temperature. See LISTER BAG.

OLYMPIAD :

(forthcoming); see WAR GAMES, SPECTATOR SPORT, CROWN OF WILD OLIVES, CROWN, BAY, FEATHER, PRECONIZE, BRAGGING RIGHTS. [v: bragging song, bragging dance (Algonquian, Narragansett, etc)]

OLYMPUS :

sardonic reference to the Oval Office in the White House, being short for Mount Olympus, the mythic abode of the gods; that realm where POTUS/CINC (Zeus) meets with the JCS (Titans) and other cabinet members. See GREEN ACRES, NSC, SECDEF, CHAIN-OF-COMMAND. [v: theomachy, gigantomachy, titanomachy]

OMEGA :

a special project that operated during the VIETNAM WAR as Detachment B-50, organized under the auspices of Special Operations Augmentation, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne); the Greek letter designation 'omega' [Ω] represents the last in a series, and signifies final or ultimate, completion or conclusion. See THE GREEKS, STD, SOG, SPECIAL FORCES, SPECIAL OPERATIONS. Also, as a conceptual tenet (from alpha to omega, beginning to end), an implication meaning "the last word", being complete, whole, and unable to be improved.

OMELET / OMELETTE :

(forthcoming); compare TOAD-IN-A-HOLE, PIG-IN-A-BLANKET, FRENCH TOAST, SCOTCH WOODCOCK, SCRAMBLED EGGS, EGGS BENEDICT, EGGS FLORENTINE, EGGS SARDOU. [v: egg foo yung / egg fu yung, Western omelet, Spanish omelet, frittata]; also, "you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs" or "you must break eggs to make an omelet"; see IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE, WHISTLIN' IN THE DARK, SILENT MAJORITY, THIRD ESTATE. [nb: "Americans -- like omelettes: / there is no such thing / as a pretty good one." by W.H. Auden (1965-8)]

OMGIF :

an apocryphal acronym for "Oh My God, I'm Fucked!", which is purportedly the reverse of FIGMO (qv).

OMLT :

Operational Mission Liaison Team, being the companion placement of allied foreign units in partnership with American combat units for exchange training and shared experience during peacekeeping evolutions; see KATUSA, DOUBLE FORCE, STRIKER, BUDDY SYSTEM. [v: geminate]

OMNIRANGE :

a radio navigational aid in which ground-based stations emit distinctive signals on each of 360 degrees, giving the BEARING of each degree with reference to magnetic north; also called "VHF omnirange" or VOR, as developed after WWII to replace the Adcock Range system.

OMV :

Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle, a module that can carry offensive or defensive weapons through earth's atmosphere into space.

ON A WING AND A PRAYER :

see (ON A) WING AND A PRAYER.

ONCE BITTEN - TWICE SHY :

see FOOL ME.

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH :

this phrase directs the group to make another attempt, especially a final heroic attempt to forestall defeat; originally excerpted from the famous patriotic speech in Shakespeare's play [act iii Henry V (1598)], wherein the brave men are exhorted to close the gap in their line with their own bodies: Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; / Or close the wall up with our English dead. / In peace there's nothing so becomes a man / As modest stillness and humility: / But when the blast of war blows in our ears, / Then imitate the action of the tiger; / Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, / Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage; / Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; / Let pry through the portage of the head / Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it / As fearfully as doth a galled rock / O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, / Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. / Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, / Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit / To his full height. On, on, you noblest English. / Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof! / Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, / Have in these parts from morn till even fought / And sheathed their swords for lack of argument: / Dishonour not your mothers; now attest / That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you. / Be copy now to men of grosser blood, / And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman, / Whose limbs were made in England, show us here / The mettle of your pasture; let us swear / That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not; / For there is none of you so mean and base, / That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. / I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: / Follow your spirit, and upon this charge / Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' [nb: not "once more into..." nor "... the breech"] [nb: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Luke 6:23]

ONE-ARMED BANDIT :

slang for a slot machine, being a gambling apparatus operated by inserting coins or slugs into a receptacle and pulling a lever on the side to actuate the mechanism, which is calibrated for periodic payoffs; also called a "fruit machine" (from the images used in rotation), this late 19th century American invention is so-called because the odds against winning are set so high that the device is said to rob everyone who uses it of their loose change!

ONE-BUCK :

designation for STRAC units held in readiness in the United States for deployment to Vietnam on 48-hour notice.

1D10T :

a nonexistent substance that a novice or tyro is required to obtain or attend in the same manner as any other SNIPE HUNT objective; sometimes "clarified" phonetically as 'one delta one zero tango', it's actually a simulacrum of 'IDIOT'! Compare MERMAID, DRAGON.

ONE FELL SWOOP :

this expression is usually interpreted to mean "in a single act" or "all at once", but it originated as a fierce lamentation, meaning "an imprudent but irrevocable act", which is derived from 'deadly' + 'sudden', and was uttered in regard to the murder of Lady Macduff and her children (an act that drove Lady Macbeth insane, whence Macduff revenges himself on Macbeth, and Malcolm succeeds him): "All my pretty ones? Did you say all? Oh Hell-Kite! All? What! All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme At one fell swoope?" [act 4 sc 3 Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1605)]. [nb: "We look upon a great battle as a principal decision, but certainly not as the only one necessary for a War or a campaign. Instances of a great battle deciding a whole campaign, have been frequent only in modern times, those which have decided a whole War, belong to the class of rare exceptions." by Karl von Clausewitz, On War (1832)]

ONE-FINGER SALUTE :

a euphemistic descriptor that's probably based on the "three-finger salute" of the Boy Scouts; see THE BIRD, THE FINGER; compare THE F-BOMB, A-OK, ITALIAN SALUTE, POLISH SALUTE, HIGH BALL, HAND SIGN.

155 HOWITZER :

see PENNY-NICKEL-NICKEL / PENNY NICKEL NICKEL.

152mm HOWITZER :

Soviet-made short-barreled cannon lofting a 96# shell at a range of 11 miles / 19,600yds.

1FG :

abbreviation for First Sergeant; also represented as FSG, FIRST SHIRT, or TOP.

ONE HAND CLAPPING :

a catch-phrase truncated from the famous Zen koan: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?", which encapsulates the American perception of both the inscrutability and unfathomability of Asian thought processes; although Buddhists employ these illogical koans to inspire unconventional thinking (v: OUTSIDE THE BOX), this expression represents an impasse in cross-cultural communication, such that the American ADVISOR is either stymied or frustrated in the exchange ... a confusion sometimes compounded by language barriers as well as mind-sets.

100 MPH TAPE / ONE-HUNDRED MILE PER HOUR TAPE :

extremely strong and versatile cloth-based MIL-SPEC adhesive tape, normally three inches wide and variously colored (eg: OD green, woodland camo, aircraft silver, etc); commonly known as "duct tape" (1942) by civilians. Although soap is clearly more beneficial, most MIL-PERS believe that 100 MPH TAPE is the greatest of all human inventions! Compare 1000 MPH TAPE / ONE-THOUSAND MILE PER HOUR TAPE; see WD-40, MUZZLE. [nb: in an effort to control costs and reduce waste, the DoD has instituted a policy of "non-duplication" in military procurement (Military Adaptable Commercial Item {MACI}), such that a mil-spec contract will NOT be let whenever a commercial "off the shelf" (COTS) product is "close enough for government work" and does not require special features; so some name brand items are now in logistical inventory]

100th ABN DIV :

(aka: Century Division) see SONS OF BITCHE.

100th INF DIV :

(aka: Century Division) see SONS OF BITCHE.

101st ABN DIV (AMBL) / 101st ABN DIV (Air Assault) :

Originating as the 101st Infantry Division during the CIVIL WAR, and nicknamed 'Screaming Eagles' from its wartime mascot, it has been deployed on expeditions in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Elements of the 101st Airborne Division include: 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3/187th Infantry Regiment, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 1/401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 81st Airborne Antiaircraft/Antitank Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion. Renown for their WWII helmet insignia (501st PIR: diamonds, 502nd PIR: hearts, 506th PIR: spades, 327th GIR: clubs), which is reminiscent of the corps designations that were first introduced during the CIVIL WAR, these playing card suit symbols still demarcate the division's several battalions. The division's jump status was terminated in May 1968 when the 101st was reorganized as an AIRMOBILE (Ambl) division, then after withdrawal from Vietnam, was redesignated an AIR ASSAULT unit in October 1974, with a preference (not a requirement) for PARACHUTE and HELIBORNE cross-training. See ONE-OH-WORST, SCREAMING CHICKENS, PUKING BUZZARDS, SERTS, GERONIMO, CURRAHEE, PARADICE, RAKKASAN.

1-MC / 1MC :

the public-address (PA) system on-board ships, as used for "Now Hear This" and "Do You Hear There" messages, and also known as "loud hailer" and loudspeaker. Compare 2-MC, 21-MC, 4-MC, 5-MC, 7-MC, 4-JG, 2-JV; see TANNOY, SQUAWK BOX, BITCH BOX, BLOWER, HORN, KLAXON, TOCSIN, ANNUNCIATOR, BOATSWAIN'S PIPE, BUGLE CALL, POOP, HEADS-UP, FYI, STAND-TO, DEFCON, SACON, FPCON, ESP, GQ, ALERT, AHOY, HOISE.

ONE-OH-DEUCE :

refers to a 105mm HOWITZER (DIME-NICKEL), which actually measures 102mm; including the M-52 SP, M-101, M-102, M-108 SP, M-119, M-202, and L5, lofting a 33# shell at ranges to 7 miles / 11,500m. See TOWED, SP, KILLER JUNIOR, ARTY.

ONE-OH-WORST :

derisive nickname for the 101st Airborne Division, based upon its numerical designation; also called "Hundred and Worst" and "barfing buzzards". Formally known as 'Screaming Eagles', by allusion to its infantry division mascot during the CIVIL WAR; this division was selected for PARACHUTE (ABN) training during WWII, was redesignated AIRMOBILE (1968) during the VIETNAM WAR, and reorganized (1974) after withdrawal from Vietnam as an AIR ASSAULT (heliborne) unit. See SCREAMING CHICKENS, PUKING BUZZARDS, SERTS, GERONIMO, CURRAHEE, PARADICE, RAKKASAN.

1% WARRIOR / ONE PERCENT WARRIOR :

Heroditus claimed that for every 100 soldiers, 9 should not be there, 80 are mere targets, 10 are satisfactorily functional, but only 1 is an instinctive dynamic fighter whom others will naturally follow.

ONE-SEVENTY-FIVE :

175mm artillery, including M-107 SP, lofting a 175# shell at ranges to 20 miles / 32,000m. See SP, HEAVY STUFF, ARTY.

175 HOWITZER :

see ONE-SEVENTY-FIVE.

1SFOD-D :

see DELTA FORCE.

ONE-SHOT / ONE SHOT :

something occurring, appearing, made, done, or used only once. Also, something achieved or accomplished with a single try, such as a "one-shot deal" or "one-shot solution"; also known as "one-off". Also, a close-up camera shot of one person; see MUG SHOT.

ONE SHOT - ONE KILL :

see SNIPER / SCOUT-SNIPER, BEAUTY MARK, SNIPER'S TRIANGLE, KILL BOX, COUP MANQUE; compare DOUBLE TAP, LUCKY SHOT, MONEY SHOT. [cf: one-shot, one shot deal, one-off] [nb: sniper kill ratio: 1.3 rounds per kill; contrasted with conventional ratio of about 20,000 rounds per kill]

ONE SIZE FITS ALL :

a 19th century catch-phrase describing the noose that's made with a rope when someone is condemned to be lynched as a form of extralegal execution after summary judgement; this Americanism has been destigmatized in the post-WWII era, and has since been innocently applied to a variety of commercial products. Compare ARMY SIZE / ARMY SIZED, NAVY SIZE / NAVY SIZED; see HALTER, LYNCH, JUDGE LYNCH, PISO'S JUSTICE, GALLOWS, DRUMHEAD, REGULATOR, VIGILANCE COMMITTEE, ROPE MEDICINE, STRANGE FRUIT, CHRISTMAS TREE, ROOM TO SWING A CAT, LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG, TWIST IN THE WIND. [cf: Procrustean bed]

ONE STAR / ONE-STAR :

metonymic reference to a brigadier general (or rear admiral lower half) based upon their insignia of RANK; see FLAG OFFICER, OLD MAN, GEN / GENERAL, SKIPPER, ADM / ADMIRAL, CO, LDR.

1000 MPH TAPE / ONE-THOUSAND MILE PER HOUR TAPE :

a shiny MIL-SPEC aluminum tape that's tremendously adhesive, which has been used since the Vietnam-era to make quick fixes to the fuselage of aircraft, especially when covering bullet holes; a technological marvel similar to duct tape (a coated cloth tape used to seal the junctures in ductwork), this aluminum tape, cut to size and shape, is meant to be applied to metal, and to survive exposure to severe environmental conditions ... which is why it's also called "speed tape" or "high-speed tape". It differs from 100 MPH TAPE / ONE-HUNDRED MILE PER HOUR TAPE, which has a woven cloth backing that's non-reflective, by being much stronger and semi-permanent when installed. [nb: in an effort to control costs and reduce waste, the DoD has instituted a policy of "non-duplication" in military procurement (Military Adaptable Commercial Item {MACI}), such that a mil-spec contract will NOT be let whenever a commercial "off the shelf" (COTS) product is "close enough for government work" and does not require special features; so some name brand items are now in logistical inventory]

130mm GUN :

Soviet-made artillery gun lofting a 74# shell at a range 17 miles / 29,700yds.

ONE-TIME PAD :

a tablet comprising a quantity of sheets of nitrocellulose paper (FLASH PAPER), identical to others in the same series, each page of which serves as a cryptographic medium for singular surreptitious messages, being both effective and efficient while ensuring complete and secure disposal after only one code use; see CODE, KEY, ALPHABET SOUP, TRADECRAFT. [cf: Etch-A-Sketch (1959)]

ONE-TRICK PONY :

an idiomatic expression for something having restricted functionality or someone having a limited repertoire, as when the purpose or activity, skills or talents are either incapable or inhibited; a person who does only one thing well, but that one necessary thing, being absolutely essential at a particular time and place, will be reliably performed when called upon. See BERTH, BILLET, Q-COURSE, MOS, PMOS, TECH, WONK, WIZARD, PRO PAY; compare CROSS-TRAINING, ASI, SQI, THREE-IN-ONE. [v: one-hit wonder; cf: multitasking]

122mm ROCKET :

Soviet-made rocket lofting a 41# warhead to a range of 7 miles / 12,000yds; although it could be ground launched from an angled embankment, the missile with its firing tube and tripod mount was normally setup by a six man crew.

ONE-TWO :

any sequential process involving a combination of one major act or important thing following another; derived as an extension of the one-two punch in boxing, which is a left-hand jab that's immediately followed by a right cross. Also, any effective combination of two strong people or powerful things. Also, a type of attack in fencing that's made up of two movements; and by extension, any combination sequence in MARTIAL ARTs; see JAP SLAPPER, MMA, KNUCKLE SANDWICH, SMITE, HAYMAKER, SUNDAY PUNCH, UPPERCUT, TWO-FISTED, BEAT HIM TO THE PUNCH, COUNTERPUNCH, CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE, PULL ONE'S PUNCHES.

10 / ONE-ZERO :

(won-zeerow) designation for a fully qualified RECON team leader, regardless of RANK [eg: Krait One-Zero Actual]; his second in command is designated "11" (one-one), and third in command is designated "12" (one-two). During the VIETNAM WAR, the Recon Team Leader's Course (B-53 smag) for special operations patrolling was colocated with the JUMP SCHOOL at Long Thanh from 1968; being completely separate from the MACV Recondo School (qv) with its own unique curriculum. See STRATA, SOG, LDR, MC, MOTHER HEN, HONCHO, SKIPPER. [nb: unlike conventional units, officers and NCOs are only slotted into their "rank equivalent" position after being approved (UP CHECK) by their more experienced teammates] [nb: "rough terrain" parachuting was initially taught to military personnel at the US Forest Service Smokejumpers school ... which techniques were adopted for HALO insertion of recon teams into TRIPLE CANOPY jungle]

10-CODES :

see TEN-CODES.

105 HOWITZER :

see DIME-NICKEL, ONE-OH-DEUCE.

ONG / ÔNG :

Vietnamese term for an adult male; a man, equivalent to Signor, Senhor, Herr, Monsieur, Don, Mister. Compare PAPA-SAN.

ON GUARD :

the command to assume the "ready" position or "alert" posture for BAYONET drill or hand-to-hand practice combat, as derived from the "en garde" expression; see RECOVER, AT CLOSE QUARTERS, CQB, TWO-FISTED, BATS 'n' HATS, BUTT STROKE, KNIFE, GABRIEL, MARTIAL ART, MMA, JAP SLAPPER; compare GUARD, SENTRY. [v: Knife Terms; The Language of Swordplay] [nb: the "spirit of the bayonet" is "to kill!" ... not only was the word "kill" banned from the training and indoctrination (TRADOC) vocabulary (see SMACK) during the VIETNAM WAR, but bayonet, pugil stick, and hand-to-hand close combat training have since been eliminated from soldierly preparation. Although the "little corporal" Napoleon claimed that three hostile newspapers are to be feared more than thousands of BAYONETs, Voltaire said, as both social and political philosophy, that "You can do anything with a BAYONET, except sit on it!". An old military maxim states: "Deny your soldiers a proper bayonet and you will find a foreign one at your throat."]

ONI :

Office of Naval Intelligence; established in 1882 and headed by the Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI). See NILO.

ONIONS :

slang for testes, testicles, or gonads of the male, which are also called ballocks [v: bollix], balls, balloons, goolies, dusters, bangers, klackers, dumbbells, danglers, cojones, stones, jewels, nuggets, marbles, pebbles, rocks, acorns, nuts, beans, berries, eggs, apples, tomatoes, plums, turnips, potatoes, tea bags, biscuits, cookies, wheels; being a metaphor for courage, bravery, valor, mettle, fortitude, intestinal fortitude, fearlessness, dauntlessness, stout-heartedness, intrepidity, daring / daring-do, boldness, audacity, nerve, verve, derring-do, vim, hardihood, gumption, hustle, pluck, spirit, grit, sand. See GUTS, SPUNK, MOXIE, V-DEVICE, BRAGGING RIGHTS, TROPHY, KILL RING, STREAMER, WATCH MY SMOKE, BITE THE BULLET, PAIN, SCAR, COUNT COUP, DIEHARD, MACHO, HERO, SLOW MATCH, WINTER SOLDIER; compare PRICK, CU, SPLIT, STRANGE. [cf: bag, sack, scrot (shortening of 'scrotum'), purse]

ONIONSKIN :

see FLIMSY, CC, MANIFOLD SET.

ON ONE'S KNEES :

figuratively brought low, as when defeated, intimidated, or humiliated; literally to force someone into submission or compliance. Compare TAKE A KNEE.

ONS :

Operation Nomad Shadows conducted from 5 November 2007; see GULF WAR, WAR ON TERROR.

ON STATION :

refers to a unit, vehicle or vessel being at its assigned position or in its area of responsibility; notification on the common communications net that one or more aircraft have arrived at the operational area in support of the tactical situation; compare BREAK STATION; see AO, TO, AOR, MOA, TAOR, CHOP LINE, OA, UA. Also, used to mean "on duty" at one's assigned place; see DUTY, BILLET, BERTH, POST, WATCH, HARDSHIP TOUR, BUMFUCK, MOS, OJT, SHEEP-DIPPED, TDY / TAD, PCS, QTRS.

ON THE BEACH :

someone who is not engaged in seafaring or not involved in marine activities; being withdrawn or unemployed; being a sailor without a ship assignment or retired from naval service; also known as SWALLOW THE HOOK. See DIRT SAILOR, CIVLANT, CIVPAC, RETARDED, RETIREE.

ON THE BOUNCE :

to exhibit energy or vitality, vigor or exuberance, liveliness or enthusiasm, as when suddenly springing into action; see FLARE, STALL, GLIDE SLOPE, GROUND EFFECT, JUMP-START, OP TEMPO, GOOD TO GO, MISSION READY.

ON THE DOWN LOW / ON THE DOWN-LOW :

see QT.

ON THE LINE :

being on DUTY with an infantry unit in the field; serving at the SHARP END, on the FRONT LINE, or LINE OF BATTLE.

ON THE MONEY :

see MONEY SHOT.

ON THE QT :

see QT.

ONTOS :

a self-propelled medium-sized TRACK-driven TANK body mounted with 1 (or up to 6) 106mm recoilless rifle(s), remotely fired and reloaded from dismount, as used as a TANK destroyer and fire-support vehicle by the USMC. Term ostensibly derives from the Greek for "thing". See RR, SCORPION, DUSTER, SPAT, TRACK.

OOBS :

Order of Battle Study; see OB, TO&E/TOE, MTOE. [cf: battalia]

OOD :

(oh-oh-dee) Officer of the Day, and sometimes shortened to "OD"; being the officer charged with responsibility for the guard, prisoners, assigned and casual personnel, and all associated government property on an assigned day at a military installation; equivalent to USAF Air... or Aerodrome Officer of the Day (AOD/AOOD) and to Navy "watch officer" or Officer of the Deck, who, in the absence of the captain, is responsible for the ship while stationed on the BRIDGE at sea and on the QUARTERDECK in PORT. Compare CQ, JOOD, OOG, SDO, CDO, OOW, SOPA, DUTY DOG, DOG ROBBER, DOGSBODY; see BRASSARD, PARADE, DETAIL.

OODALOOP :

Observe - Orient - Decide - Act, being a decision-making process; also represented as "Observation - Orientation - Decion - Action" and alternatively spelled "OODA loop", and also known as BOYDLOOP (qv).

OODLES :

a PSYOPS deception project simulating a spy network parallel to the agent teams actually compromised in NVN, with pseudo messages and actual support; see DECEPTION, SOG.

OOG :

Officer of the Guard, being an officer assigned to act for the Officer of the Day (OOD) in the proper instruction of the guard, and is responsible for their performance and discipline when they execute their duties at a post, camp, or station.

OOLONG :

a brown or amber tea that's grown in China and Taiwan, which is partially fermented before being dried; literally derived from 'black dragon'. Compare BLACK TEA, GREEN TEA.

OORAH :

(oo-rah, ouhr-rah) Marine Corps version of HOOAH, with the same spirit and meaning; apparently introduced by recon elements during the KOREAN WAR to express esprit, although earlier use of HOISE is a very credible antecedent for both OORAH and HOOAH. According to USMC FORCE RECON history, the 1st Amphibious Reconnaissance Company, then operating aboard a WWII-vintage diesel submarine in the KOREAN WAR theater, is credited with the invention of the call or salute OORAH, which was then pronounced "Aar-uugah", in imitation of the submarine dive warning alarm; since the 1st and 2nd Amphib Recon Co's were then deployed for raiding and surveillance from submarines, this call was both an alert and an acknowledgment of readiness for action. The veterans of these missions introduced this KLAXON sound to other Marines during stateside training after the war, and it spread ... becoming a PT chant as well as an enthusiastic affirmation (OOORRRRAAAAAHHH!). See CHANTEY, AHOY, HEAVE-HO, GUNG-HO, YUT, ESPRIT DE CORPS, BATTLE CRY, WETSU, FIDO, STRAC, GUSTO, JODY CALL.

OOW :

Officer of the Watch, being the officer who's primarily responsible, in the absence of the captain, for the navigation of the ship during a certain WATCH; see OOD, CDO, SWO, SOPA, WATCH BILL, WATCH-AND-WATCH, BELLS.

OP :

Observation Post, sometimes called "Oscar Papa", "lookout", or "overwatch position"; not "outpost" nor "operations post". A daylight position setup outside the perimeter and beyond perimeter defenses to give advanced or early warning of enemy action. Situated so as to enable the calling and adjustment of supporting ARTY or TAC AIR missions. The OP is in telephone or radio contact with the perimeter, is lightly armed and manned, and is not intended for defense. Compare LP, COP, VISOBS, FO, OPN, CROW'S NEST. [cf: picket, vedette] Also, Operations Post, an informal designation for a BASE CAMP, JUMP CP, CP, FSB, FOB, AOB, MOB, or other BASE.

OPAQUE :

impenetrable to light; not transparent or translucent; as derived from 'shaded'. Also, not transferring or transmitting radiation, sound, heat, or the like. Also, dull or lusterless; not shining or bright. Also, hard to understand; obscure, unfathomable, or impenetrable.

OP BOX :

OPerational BOX, being a container, sized from FOOTLOCKER to CONEX, that's packed with all mission specific weapons and equipment for the unit's initial deployment, including radios and optics, maps and manuals, medicine and relevant clothing; also called TEAM BOX.

OPC :

Out-Processing Company; compare REPL' DEPOT.

OPCON :

(op-kon) OPerational CONtrol, being a temporary reassignment of leadership so as to augment a unit for tactical success, which change or transfer is negated after the operation concludes; compare CHOP OPCON; see CHAIN-OF-COMMAND.

OPEN BOOK :

informal reference to a shared resource or to readily available information, as in the instance of unrestricted intelligence or "open source" data; see UNCLAS, OSIN, OSINT, OPEN KIMONO. [v: open book exam]

OPEN DOOR :

the establishment of equal commercial access to certain territories by the major economic powers, variously applied to the Congo and Manchuria, but was initially based upon the "most favored nation" clause in the treaty terms imposed on Imperial China after the Opium War (1839-42); terminated after WWII by the People's Republic of China (PRC). See NINE-POWER TREATY.

OPEN DOOR POLICY :

one of several management practices that has been introduced from civilian organizations into the Armed Forces so as to make the military less hierarchal and more egalitarian; a communication practice wherein a supervisor is readily available to hear the complaints and suggestions of his subordinates, to resolve their problems and settle their disputes, which policy is signaled by an "open [office] door" ... being the symbol of an "open heart" or "open mind". This example of form over function recommended by people who do not know how to manage complex institutions, and imagine that military activities are equivalent to corporate affairs, bespeaks a gross misunderstanding of leadership, which is never the result of committee meetings or group consensus. Such transparency ostensibly fosters collaboration, increased productivity, higher morale, and mutual respect ... this employee empowerment practice presumes that managers have nothing else to do (officers don't work, only troops work), and assumes that achievement does not generate its own satisfaction and pride (rewards are given, not earned). This policy transfers the initiative to the subordinate, and shifts authority from the conventional CHAIN-OF-COMMAND to its inverse, while ignoring the traditional remedies (IG, Chaplain) to purblindness. The fallacy of such liberal informality is that it is too often perceived to be permission to discuss or speculate, as if military missions were subject to debate. While the intent of an "open door" policy is to garner trust, it can too easily promote jealousy and mistrust, especially among intermediate supervisors; but any leader who does not regularly mix with his people deserves to be sabotaged by unsuspected "surprises", of which he had no inkling ... the mood of the men will always show in their uniforms, their weapons and equipment, their vehicles and quarters, as well as their comportment. This anti-capitalist pro-socialist ideology promotes lower standards by eliminating anything too difficult and requiring less from each individual; it's one of the contributing factors for mission failure. See CONFESSION BOX, EYE-CHECK, RUN IT UP THE FLAGPOLE, NOSE COUNT, POPULARITY CONTEST, OFFICER'S CALL, FALL ON DEAF EARS. Also, the practice of leaving the door to one's office or quarters standing open so as to avoid any suspicion of impropriety (eg: FRATERNIZATION) or a charge of misconduct (eg: sexual abuse).

OPEN DRAINAGE SYSTEM :

see PENROSE DRAIN; compare CLOSED DRAINAGE SYSTEM.

OPEN FIRE :

see COMMENCE FIRE.

THE OPEN KIMONO / OPEN YOUR KIMONO :

(forthcoming); a colloquialism for full and complete exposure, utterly unreserved revelation [v: "warts and all"; cf: spurious book entitled The Open Kimono by Seymour Hare, or Opening the Kimono by C. Itall]; also, a referent for unrestricted or open source data, such as uncoded plain text or cross-platform, public domain or uncopyrighted material; see UNCLAS, OSIN, OSINT

OPEN LETTER :

a device used as a strategic ploy, wherein a letter, often of criticism or protest, that's addressed to a specific person, typically a supervisor or official, but is intended to be brought to public attention; compare CIRCULAR LETTER.

OPEN ORDER DRILL / OPEN-ORDER DRILL :

a troop formation used for exercise, combat training, and other extended-interval practices, wherein the separation between the individuals is greater than those for CLOSE ORDER DRILL; also called "extended order drill".

OPEN SEASON :

a late-19th century Americanism denoting a period of time wherein a person or thing may be exposed to criticism, attack, or recrimination with impunity; being a practice extended from that specific time of year when it's legally permissible to catch fish or hunt game that's protected at all other times. Compare WEAPONS FREE ZONE, FREE FIRE ZONE, KILL BOX, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (ROE); see BOUNCE THE RUBBLE, BIGGER BANG FOR THE BUCK, BOMB 'EM BACK TO THE STONE AGE, NOT ONE STONE LEFT UPON ANOTHER, KNOCK INTO A COCKED HAT, TURKEY SHOOT, KILL 'EM ALL, OVERKILL. [nb: "Most of the world's ills would be cured with one three-day open season on people." by Ernest M. Hemingway]

OPEN SECRET :

something that's supposedly covert, clandestine, or classified but is actually known quite generally, being a colloquialism of the post-CIVIL WAR era.

OPEN SESAME :

any marvelously effective means for bringing about a desired result; a magical incantation generating a universal access key; from the use of these words by Ali Baba to open the door of the robbers' den in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. See SMOKE 'n' MIRRORS, FAIRY DUST, PASSWORD, HOODOO, VOODOO, CHARMS, ABRACADABRA, MOJO, WIZARD, RAINMAKER.

OPEN SIGHT :

a rear sight on a firearm consisting of a notch, often adjustable, across which the gunner aligns the blade-like front sight of the weapon onto the TARGET; also called IRON SIGHTS. Compare PEEP SIGHT, LEAF SIGHT; see SIGHT PICTURE, SIGHT RADIUS, SPOT WELD, ZERO, BASS, DEFLECTION, BORESIGHT. [v: Firearms Glossary]

OPEN TRAILER :

any dog that's been taught to bay or bark when on the trail of its quarry; compare STILL TRAILER; see K-9, SCOUT DOG, WAR DOGS, LEND-LEASH. [nb: while dogs have only about ten vocal sounds to express themselves, cats have more than a hundred]

OPEN WAR :

any overt and demonstrative combat employing conventional forces and legitimate resources, as opposed to covert or clandestine operations by irregular forces; compare UW, SHADOW, SHROUD, UNDER THE RADAR. Also, a style of combat, promulgated by John J. "Blackjack" Pershing, marked by irregularity of formation, comparatively little regulation in space and time, the greatest possible use of infantry firepower, variable intervals and distances between units and individuals, brief orders, and the maximization of individual initiative by all troops engaged; compare TRENCH WARFARE, see WAR.

OPERA BOUFFE / OPÉRA BOUFFE :

see FIVE O'CLOCK FOLLIES, WIEU, DOG 'n' PONY SHOW. [v: comic opera, opéra comique, theatre of the absurd]

OPERATIONAL PROJECT STOCKS :

contingency equipment reserved for the initial troop build-up in a theater of operations, which consists of hundreds of miscellaneous line items, including vehicles, boats, fuel equipment, maintenance tools, bridging supplies, defensive devices, ropes, parachutes, uniforms, boots, and many other items, all of which are pre-positioned for distribution to deployed elements.

OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM :

see OEF, GULF WAR.

OPERATION GARDEN PLOT :

a plan developed for direct federal support of local law enforcement in the event of a major uncontrolled civil disturbance; proposed after the riots in Watts, Newark, and Detroit wherein the U.S. Army and National Guard, together with federal police agencies, would assist local officials when quelling any domestic civil disturbance that persists in preventing government from restoring the safety and security of a community. Officially designated The Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan (18 USC 1385 Posse Comitatus Act), or the Military Cooperation with Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies Act, is administered by Northern Command (NORTHCOM), and was last activated (ie: Noble Eagle) to assist authorities subsequent to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. Under Homeland Security restructuring, this plan is serving as a model for crowd control, emergency relief, and other civil disturbance protocols.

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM :

see OIF, GULF WAR.

OPFOR :

OPFOR

contraction of OPposition FORce(s), or OPposing FORce(s); designation of appropriate opponent or simulated "enemy" elements in WAR GAMES and MOCK-COMBAT field exercises. Displaying a circled triangle motif and wearing ridged helmets with black uniforms, the OPFOR aggressors utilize foreign doctrine and known enemy tactics to make training more genuine and testing more realistic. OPFOR elements are named in conformity with the foreign doctrine they are implementing (such as "Krasnovyans" for Soviet practices). See JRTC, NTC, RED FLAG, MILES, MOHAWK, EXERCISE; compare GRAY FORCE, GREEN FORCE, BLUE FORCE, RED TEAM, PURPLE FORCE, ORANGE FORCE, RED FORCE, BANDIT, BAD GUYS, BELIEVER.

OPINION :

any view or estimate that's based on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty; that personal attitude or appraisal to which CIVILIANs are entitled; alternatively, that judgment which acquires greater import and credence in direct correlation with the increased authority of the express believer. A dismissive military maxim states that "Opinions are like assholes; everybody's got one, and they all stink!" ... which has been more politely stated as: "Opinions are like bellybuttons; everybody's got one, and they all got lint!" See BIG PICTURE, PARTY LINE, WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS, HIDEBOUND, BRASS EAR, TWO CENTS, PUT IN ONE'S OAR, PEANUT GALLERY, POPULARITY CONTEST, TOE THE LINE, SCRIPTURES, TRUE BELIEVER, WAR CORRESPONDENT, THE CHATTERING CLASS, RUMOR, SYMPATHY, RUNNING DOG, TERGIVERSATE, ACCORD, JUDGMENT CALL, TRUTH. [nb: "The more opinions you have, the less you see." by Wim Wenders; "The trouble with most folks ain't so much their ignorance as knowing so many things that ain't so." by Josh Billings; "Men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen." by Epictetus; "Many men, many minds." / "There are as many opinions as there are men." by Terence (Publius Terentius Afer); "People with opinions just go around bothering others with them." attributed to Siddhartha Gautama; "An army can lose its best leaders, but the lowest soldiers will never lose their opinions." ancient Chinese proverb; "If everyone always speaks for their own amusement, and no one feels any obligation to listen attentively, then why, in an egalitarian society devoted to meaningless content, does everyone feel the need to constantly interrupt with their irrelevant opinions?!"; "Opinions are like assholes ... since everybody has one; regrettably, the latter are freest with the former."; "Opinions are like assholes, because everybody's got one, and they all stink!"] [v: commentariat, obiter dictum]

OPIUM :

the condensed juice or sap from the seed capsules of a poppy (papaver somniferum) that's dried after harvest, and has been used since the 3rd century BC for its narcotic effect; this extract, distributed from the Mid-East to both Europe and Asia, contains morphine (1806), codeine (1832), papaverine (1848), and other alkaloids. See DOPE, JUNK, MORPHINE, OTFC, COLORS, LSD, ANGEL DUST, SPICE, BATH SALTS, CHEERIOS, RANGER CANDY, SMACK, HOT SHOT, CHINA WHITE, CAN SA, GRASS, HAY, STICK, TAR, HUBBLE-BUBBLE, STONED, WASTED, BAD MEDICINE. [nb: natural opium derivatives: morphine, codeine, papaverine, heroine; semi-synthetic opium derivatives: hydromorphone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, oxycodone, dihydrocodeine, buprenorphine; synthetic opioids: phenylpiperidines, meperidine, fentanyl; pseudo-piperidines: methadone, propoxyphene; all synthetic opioids introduced into medical use share the same liabilities as classical opioids]

OPIUM DEN :

slang for a Naval Air Operations Center (AOC), situated at an air station (NAS) or on-board a vessel (eg: FLATTOP). See COMMANDO INDIAN, FOC, TAOC, OPN, AIR BOSS; compare THE CAVE, WAR ROOM.

OPLAN :

(op-plan) OPerations pLAN; later designated "o-plan" (oh-plan). Compare ATO; see DANCE CARD, PLAN B, FIELD EXPEDIENT, WARNING ORDER, FRAG ORDER, SIOP, CAPABILITY, COURSE OF ACTION, TACTICS, STRATEGY. [nb: "If you get the objectives right, a lieutenant can write the strategy." by George Catlett Marshall]

O-PLAN :

(oh-plan) designation of an operations plan in the GULF WAR-era; see OPLAN.

OPLAN 34A :

USMC LTG Victor Krulac was designated by McNamara to elicit covert targets of "plausible deniability" for combined operations, producing this directive, dated 15 December 1963, authorizing MACV to establish SOG, which became operational 24 January 1964, commencing direct operations against North Vietnam on 17 March 1964; see CAS, CSD, LEAPING LENA, OSO.

OPLAN 37-64 :

a three element phased plan of GRADUATED RESPONSE intended to interdict SVN insurgency and to militarily compel an NVN diplomatic remedy; see RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (ROE).

OPLAN 7500 :

the military's global counterterrorism plan of training partner nations and of utilizing civil affairs to gather intelligence in a classified strategy of eliminating safe havens and attacking TERRORIST ideologies, as an expansion of simple manhunting tactics by Special Operations Forces (SOF). See CONSTABULARY, IRREGULARS, UW, COUNTER-GUERRILLA, COUNTERINSURGENCY, ASYMMETRIC WARFARE GROUP, TIWG, NSPG, PROVOCATEUR.

OPN / OPNS :

abbreviation for OPeratioN or OPeratioNS, also known as Plans and Operations, being the proverbial "3 shop", as S-3/G-3/J-3 (v: J-CODES, STAFF); a military operation is the use of tactics to attain the strategic objective, by planning, training, and executing the mission. This abbreviation is pronounced as a whole word, but may be conversationally shortened to "op" or "ops" (ah-pss), which is not a legal abbreviation for this term; also called BALL GAME. See TOC, CMOC, JDOC, JOC, CTOC, MACCOC, WAR ROOM, AOC, FOC, TAOC, ADOC, ASOC, COMMANDO INDIAN, OPIUM DEN, ACV, CP. [nb: Vietnamese term: Hanh Quan] [nb: at DoD/SecDef level, the planning element (J-5) is separated from the operations element] [nb: "To fail to plan is to plan to fail!" military maxim]

OPORD / OP ORD :

OPerations ORDer; see OPLAN, FRAGO, SMEAC, ORDER.

OPPONENT :

see FOE, BAD GUYS, OPFOR, BANDIT, TERRORIST, BELIEVER. [v: Names of Foreigners or Foes]

AN OPPORTUNITY TO SUCCEED :

a facetious catch-phrase for any disagreeable job that lacks the time and resources to be done properly, but must be done anyway; see BOONDOGGLE, HALF-ASSED, GOOD ENOUGH FOR GOVERNMENT WORK. [nb: an apt MURPHY LAW of Combat says: "There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always enough time to do it over!"]

OPPOSITE NUMBER :

informal reference to an equivalent position or assignment, a comparable DUTY or RATING, as in advisory or joint service elements with a dual or parallel organizational structure; see COUNTERPART, ADV, CAP, MATA, MATS, CO VAN MY, OUC DA LOI, TAN TAY LAN, GONE NATIVE, INDIG, LITTLE BROWN BROTHER.

OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANCE DISORDER :

(forthcoming);

OPPRESS / OPPRESSION :

(forthcoming); the exercise of authority in a cruel manner or the application of power in an unjust way; der: press, squeeze, suffocate. [nb: "He who allows oppression shares the crime." by Desiderius Erasmus; "The only thing that anyone learns from being hated and oppressed is how to hate and oppress others." by Kage Baker]

OPSCHED :

(op-sked) OPerations SCHEDule.

OPSEC :

(op-seck) OPerations/-al SECurity, being the methodologies used to keep classified details from the enemy; see NEED TO KNOW, EYES ONLY, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, PASSWORD, CODENAME, CODEWORD, INFOSEC, FOUO, NOFORN, RIG, BLACKOUT, GAG ORDER, COMPARTMENTALIZATION.

OP TEMPO :

OPerational TEMPO, being the rate, pace, or pattern of unit activity, hence unit preparedness and/or unit member readiness for any given frequency of effective commitment, including deployment; see STRAC, GOOD TO GO, COMBAT LOADED, MISSION READY, SADDLE-UP, LOCK 'n' LOAD, UNLIMBER, SLOW MATCH, MOVE OUT, JUMP-START, HOOPLA, BATTAILOUS.

OP 'TIL YOU DROP :

rhyming slang satirizing continuous field operations in contrast with piecemeal relief and replacement; being a method that contradicts the COMBAT EFFECTIVEness of whole unit rotation, necessary refit, and integrated replacement training ... a catch-phrase that probably inspired the later civilian expression: "shop 'til you drop". See OPTEMPO, WETSU.

OPTIMISM / OPTIMISTIC :

a tendency to expect the most favorable outcome of events or conditions; a desire to look on the bright or positive side of things; the belief that good will ultimately triumph over evil, and that virtue will ultimately be rewarded; the doctrine that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds. See LOVE BEADS, BLUE-SKY, ROSE-COLORED GLASSES, WE SHALL OVERCOME, LIBERAL SENILITY, KUM BA YAH, PACIFIST, PEACE, CAN DO / CAN-DO, COCKEYED OPTIMIST / COCK-EYED OPTIMIST, PROGRESSIVE / PROGRESSIVISM, HOPE FOR THE BEST, LAST BEST HOPE. [nb: the formulaic mantra of self-affirming positive thought that's inculcated by rote amongst all right-thinking do-gooders is: "Every day, in every way, things are getting better and better." by Emile Coue / Émile Coué ... which is also represented as: "Day by day, in every way, things are getting better and better."]

OPTIONAL :

something that's been left to personal choice or to individual discretion, as being elective or voluntary, as not being required or mandatory; selected for any use or purpose that one chooses, as not being earmarked for a particular purpose ... except for MUFTI, PARTY SUIT, CIVVIES, and other irregular aberrations, such non-uniformity is contrary to the military mind-set or weltanschauung. See UNIFORM, ARMY SIZE / ARMY SIZED, NAVY SIZE / NAVY SIZED, HOBSON'S CHOICE, VOLUNTOLD.

OPTION IV :

US plan to evacuate Saigon.

OR :

Operating Room in a hospital. Also, ORDERLY ROOM. Also, Operational Readiness.

ORAL SEX / ORAL COPULATION :

see CHOWING DOWN, HEAD, HUMMER.

ORANGE BLOSSOM :

a cocktail made of gin and orange juice, which is then strained into a chilled glass; compare SCREWDRIVER, BRONX COCKTAIL, TEQUILA SUNRISE, HARVEY WALLBANGER; see HOOCH, GROG, JUICE, MOONSHINE, THE DRINK, HOIST, GUSTO.

ORANGE FORCE :

designation for an opposition force (OPFOR) in U.S. or allied WAR GAMES or MOCK-COMBAT training exercises. See CPX, FTX, JTFEX, JRTC, NTC, GQ, WAR GAMES, OPFOR, RED TEAM, PURPLE FORCE, RED FORCE, BANDIT, BAD GUYS, BELIEVER; compare GRAY FORCE, GREEN FORCE, BLUE FORCE, ALLY, FRIENDLIES.

ORATORY :

the informal transmittal of valuable information, often undocumented, from the more experienced to the less experienced members of a unit while socializing in a barroom (ie: oratorium); after the ancient practice of eloquent public speaking, especially by secular priests who live in religious communities but have not taken priestly vows. See RABBI, PATRON SAINT, SEA DADDY, KHAKI MAFIA.

ORBIT :

to fly aircraft in a circular or oval (RACETRACK) pattern, as a stable platform for surveillance and interception, as a method of holding station (STACK) for availability, or as a method of returning to an approach or recycling to an execution point; also called "go around". See UMBRELLA, CAP, HIGH 'n' DRY, CROW'S NEST, AWACS, VATLS; compare FIGURE-8, SHORT ORBIT. Also, the path or course described by an object moving around a celestial body; see GPS, SATELLITE, OMV, ORION. [nb: a 'sun synchronous' orbit enables a satellite to pass over the same spot on the earth at the same time each day]

ORDEAL :

a test or putting to the proof, as someone subjected to distress, suffering, or grievous experience; also known as a "trial by ordeal", a "trial by fire", or a "trial by combat". In the time before the reign of the anti-hero in this modern period of "God is dead", people believed that ultimate truth would be revealed, that it could not be hidden or obscured, distorted or obliterated, hence the quest for spiritual fulfillment and the moral basis for proper conduct. People sought to propitiate what they could not control, and subjected each other to tests as verification of worthiness; the mediums of fire and water employed in these ordeals does not condemn, but enables the sinner to condemn himself. Before its degeneration into a contest to settle a private quarrel, the DUEL was a consecrated ORDEAL representing the spiritual embodiment of metaethical forces engaged in "trial by combat", wherein divine judgment would decide the "single combat" issue, and "God's Will" would be represented by victory. See ACT OF TRUTH, CARTEL, DUEL, GANTLET, OATH, CROSS SWORDS, MEASURE SWORDS, SNAKE PIT, FIELD OF HONOR, KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON, HOLD ONE'S FEET TO THE FIRE, GAUNTLET, CUTTHROAT, BLOOD ALLEY, MARATHON, PAIN. [v: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (1819); Vathek by William Beckford (1786)(re: the lost souls in the Hall of Eblis)] [nb: a "gage" is something, such as a glove, that was thrown down by a medieval knight in token of his challenge to personal combat] [nb: according to some alleged experts, dueling was a "sport" that adversaries engaged in only until "first blood" was drawn, whereupon the disputants' contest was officially concluded with "honor" preserved, rather than a fight to the death] [nb: a 'stickler' was the second in single combat, and so was very punctilious about the minutest points of etiquette, then later becoming an umpire or referee in competitive tournaments, and finally being any person who persistently demands absolute adherence or unyielding conformity]

ORDEAL TREE :

any of several trees having poisonous seeds, leaves, bark, roots, or the like, that are used in primitive "trials by ORDEAL".

ORDER :

an authoritative instruction, being a directive, command, or commission to execute, fulfill, provide, or make something resulting in conformity or obedience to established law(s); including Army Regulation (AR), Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Verbal Order of the Commanding Officer (VOCO), Special Order (SO), Letter Order (LO), General Order (GO), STANDING ORDER, Technical Order (TO), Fragmentary Order (FRAG ORDER / FRAGO), Field Order (FO), WARNING ORDER, TASKING ORDER (TASKORD), Operations Order (OPORD), MARCHING ORDERS. See LAWFUL ORDER, COMPOS MENTIS, CHARGE, DELEGATE, COMMAND ELEMENT, CIRCULAR, UCMJ, LAWS OF WAR, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (ROE), SMEAC, LOI, LON, BILLET, RIOT ACT, UNODIR, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, WIGGLE ROOM, OFF THE RESERVATION, OUTSIDE THE WIRE, WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGES, SCRIPTURES, LINE OF DUTY, COUNTERMAND, TS CARD, SOP, BLUE BOOK, ROCKS 'n' SHOALS. Also, a formalized two part command consisting of the preparatory order (PREPARATORY COMMAND) and the execution order (COMMAND OF EXECUTION) [eg: forward march, PARADE REST, AT EASE, eyes right, etc], as used to direct or control unit elements or formations; see BY THE NUMBERS, BY THE BOOK, CLOSE ORDER, MANUAL OF ARMS [nb: although the CADENCE of commands is stipulated in THE BIBLE, all subordinates learn not to anticipate the command's execution order, because uniformity is paramount].

ORDERLY :

an enlisted soldier assigned to perform various chores for a commander or group of officers, as a steward, seneschal, reeve, manciple, cellarer, chamberlain, factor, horse-holder, shield-bearer, spear-carrier, water-hauler, stamp-licker, agent; see DOGSBODY, STRIKER, MAN FRIDAY, GOFER, HOUSE MOUSE, DRO, AIDE. Also, a hospital attendant having general, non-medical duties; compare MEDIC, CORPSMEN, PECKER-CHECKER, BAND-AID, BABY DOC, BAC SI, Y SI, BONE CUTTER, RAMP TRAMP, ANGEL, FUZZY-WUZZY ANGEL. Also, pertaining to or charged with the communication or execution of ORDERs; compare RUNNER, AIDE, HOUSE MOUSE. Also, according to established order or law; characterized by, observant of, or governed by system or method, by rule or discipline, protocol or procedure.

ORDERLY ROOM :

the "business office" of every COMPANY-sized unit, and the domain of the FIRST SHIRT, who administers this office on behalf of the OLD MAN for the subordinate platoons (PLT) and sections (eg: SUPPLY, MESSHALL); compare DAYROOM, see CQ, ORIFICE.

ORDER OF BATTLE :

see OB, OBE, OOBS, C3OB, TOB, GOB, AOB, NOB, EOB; compare REPORTED UNIT, TO&E/TOE, MTOE, LINE OF BATTLE, SERIAL, LINE OF DEPARTURE. [cf: battalia]

ORDER OF THE SPUR :

(forthcoming); see SPUR RIDE, CAMPAIGN HAT, INITIATION, LONG KNIFE, PONY SOLDIER, YELLOWLEG, TOAD, TANKER, ARM, ACR, AIR CAV, AIRMOBILE, AMBL, AM, AA, AIR ASSAULT, CAV, HELIBORNE, BOOTS AND SADDLES, CAVALRY WHISKERS, STIRRUP CUP, YELLOW RIBBON. [v: rowel] [cf: Knights of the Golden Spur, an association of Confederate cavalrymen]

ORGANIZE :

to assign men and materiel, personnel and other assets to an ACTIVATEd unit, making it operational; also called "constitute" or "commission". Compare REFLAG, RECONSTITUTED, DEACTIVATE. [nb: the term "composite" (put together) indicates a compound of disparate elements forming a whole, while the term "component" (put together) indicates constituent elements of a greater whole]

ORGANIZED MILITIA :

a former military organization functioning under both state and federal authority.

ORI :

Operational Readiness Inspection.

ORIENTAL CRUD :

a disparaging characterization of inexpensive Asian products, especially cheap or inferior imitations of "superior" American workmanship; gewgaw or gimcrack, bagatelle or bric-a-brac, trinket or trifle, wherein "a silk purse is made from a sow's ear"; see BOONDOGGLE, HALF-ASSED, GOOD ENOUGH FOR GOVERNMENT WORK, COTS; compare SNUFF, SCRATCH, MILITARY GRADE, MIL-SPEC. [v: brummagem] [cf: 'borax: slang for cheap, poorly made, but showy merchandise of an undistinguished style] Also, a prejudiced slur against Asian cookery, which slight is intended to promote a preference for Western cuisines (eg: French, Italian, German, Spanish, etc); compare LOP SLOP, DIM SUM, POT STICKER, CHOP SUEY, PAD GA PAO, SUKIYAKI, CHOW MEIN, LO MEIN, INSTANT NOODLES, GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN, MONGOLIAN HOT POT; see SLOP, GUT BOMB, WASH, WAD, GLOP, GOOP, GOO, CHOW, BEANS, RATIONS. Also, a generalization for any persistent malady contracted in Asia, especially a resistant affliction such as a debilitating cough or scabrous skin disorder. Also, any venereal disease contracted in the Far East; see VD, STD, CLAP, ARC, TROPICAL BUBO, SHORT ARM, PECKER-CHECKER, PRO KIT.

ORIENTAL FAN :

a flat semicircular device, composed of interlocking or overlapping vanes that may be folded together when not in use, which serves to stir the air so as to cool the body; the most inexpensive style consists of paper reinforced by bamboo slivers, often displaying an Asian scene painted on the paper when unfolded, howeversome pierced vanes of rosewood or sandalwood, polished ivory or water buffalo horn are also crafted, such that the openwork shows a pattern or scene when unfolded ... due to restrictions against weapons, Buddhists integrated a rugged version of the folding fan into their self-defense training. Also, slang reference to an enthusiastic Western convert to the exoticism of Asian customs and peoples; the partisan expressions of such a proselytizing aficionado is commonly known as YELLOW FEVER; see GONE NATIVE, EXILE, BAMBOO ENGLISH, SLEEPING DICTIONARY, POINTIE TALKIE, BRACELET, JOSS STICK, SPIRIT MONEY, BAMBOO, RICE BALL, BUSH HANKY; compare RICE CHRISTIAN, COUP QUALIFIED, YELLOW PERIL. [cf: "root-digger" geneologist]

ORIENTAL PUZZLE BOX :

(aka: "puzzle box", "trick box", "magic box", and "secret box") see CHINESE BOX, BLACK BOX; compare OUTSIDE THE BOX.

ORIENTAL STENCH :

see ASIAN STENCH.

ORIENTEERING :

a paramilitary training and civil affairs activity practiced by MIL-PERS, including CADETs and CRUITs, that promotes teamwork, leadership, physical fitness, and navigational skills, which are useful to military components ... ORIENTEERING is a recreational pastime, not unlike sport parachuting, that appeals to military servicemembers. As with fencing and polo, this sport originated as a military exercise, and was first open to competition in 1897 near Oslo Norway, then the first large scale meet was organized in 1918 near Stockholm Sweden. The sport developed (being the impetus for the 1933 invention of the Swedish protractor COMPASS) and expanded worldwide; and although Silva co-sponsored an event at Dartmouth College in 1941, ORIENTEERING was not established in America until the Vietnam-era. The International Orienteering Federation (IOF), which sets rules and regulates competition, was founded in 1961; and the United States Orienteering Federation (USOF) was founded by members from the Quantico Club in 1971. ORIENTEERING is an activity in which cross-country trekkers use a detailed map and a compass to locate control sites (WAY POINTs) in the landscape. A standard ORIENTEERING course consists of a start (triangle), a series of demarcated control sites (circles), and a finish (double circle). The control sites, numbered in the order that they are to be visited, are marked by circles connected by lines on a map, and by distinctive panels ("markers") on the ground. The control sites are positioned at features that are to be found, and include a control description (or "clue") that clearly identifies the site. The route between control sites is not specified, so the selection of the best navigational pathways is the essence of this sport. ORIENTEERING exists in two basic forms: accuracy and timed events; it is also undertaken by individuals or teams that compete from staggered, relay, or mass starts. Although the timed events have an element of accuracy, with competitors checking through a series of remote stations, they are primarily speed races, from sprints to overnighters, conducted on foot ("foot-o"), mountain bicycle ("bike-o" / "MTBO"), X-C ski ("ski-o"), or boat ("canoe-o"). Other timed events include hash marking ("hash-o" / "blaze-o"), hill climbing ("billy goat"), extreme terrain ("extreme-o"), Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance ("ROGAINE"), timed-out scoring ("score-o"), and Amateur Radio Direction Finding ("ARDF" / "radio-o"). The accuracy events ("trail-o") are untimed and are typically much more difficult to navigate. In trail-o competitions, it is not uncommon for the course to have false goals at pivotal control sites to increase the challenge. Trail-o courses are also open to handicapped persons, such as disabled veterans, where canes, crutches, and wheelchairs are not inhibiting factors. ORIENTEERING, which can also be conducted in urban areas and underwater seascapes (v: SCUBA ORIENTEERING or "scuba-o"), uses a variety of maps (eg: 1:15,000 magnetic, road map, MOSAIC, TOPO, etc), prefers a wrist or thumb COMPASS, but does not use the military GRID COORDINATES system ... use of a GPS or other electronic locator is prohibited. Other than suitably rugged outdoor attire, there is no ORIENTEERING uniform, and team equipment costs are low. For those unable to participate in an organization's shooting team or drill team, ORIENTEERING can be an alternate sponsored activity. [nb: "ROGAINE" actually derives from the names of its originators in Australia: Rod Gail and Neil Phillips; cf: STABO] [cf: hide and hunt, scavenger hunt, LETTER BOX hunt, TREASURE HUNT]

ORIFICE :

intentional mispronunciation of 'office', with allusion to peristalsis for processing RED TAPE and other HEADSHED STATIC (aka: CONFETTI, SNOW, SMOKE 'n' MIRRORS, MICKEY MOUSE, CHICKEN SHIT, BRAVO SIERRA), and being the realm of the desk jockey, PENCIL PUSHER, office flier, typing machinegunner ("Remington Raider"), staff warrior, combat briefer, barroom shooter, fire base gunfighter, and Saigon commando. The term 'office' derives from service or DUTY. See REMF, CLERKS 'n' JERKS, CANDY-ASS, ACETATE COMMANDO, BEAN-COUNTER, TAP-DANCER, BOMB-PROOF, MILICRAT, PAPER BULLET, RED TAPE, ANNEX, SATELLITE. [v: official office, public office, registry, officiary, chamber, embassy, chancery, chancellery, prefecture, legation, yamen, duumvir, triumvir] [nb: rubber band (elastic) invented 1852; paper clip patented 1899; stapler coined 1909; earlier papers were either tied or were secured with a ribbon through a hole]

ORION :

Lockheed P-3 / EP-3 propeller-driven aircraft, used for electronic and anti-submarine warfare; see SIGINT, ASW, MAD, DASH, compare LIGHTNING. Also, designation for the "next generation" manned orbital and lunar spacecraft.

ORLOP :

the lowest DECK above the space at the bottom of the hull of a ship; also called "orlop deck"; see HOLD.

ORP :

Objective Rally Point, being the pre-designated gathering place where unit members are to assemble when the movement or mission is concluded; see RALLY POINT, RV, MARSHAL.

ORPHAN :

without one or both parents, as by destitution or death; bereft of protective affiliation; see BABY LIFT, DUST OF THE EARTH.

ORTHOPEDICS :

the medical specialty concerned with the correction of deformities or impairments of the skeletal system, together with all associated structures (such as muscles and ligaments), whether caused by disease or injury, and treated by surgery or appliances, manipulation or exercise.

ORTHOTICS :

the medical specialty concerned with the proper fit and function of appliances that're used to correct musculoskeletal impairments or to compensate for bodily deficiencies; the design and fabrication of a device or support that's used to relieve or correct an orthopedic problem. See WHOLE MAN, PHANTOM LIMB, REFERRED PAIN, CRUTCH, BROKEN-WING SYNDROME. [nb: WD-40 is an effective lubricant for hinged prosthetic limbs]

ORV :

Off-Road Vehicle, being an enclosed four-wheel drive (4WD) automobile used to transport passengers; also known as an "off-highway vehicle" (OHV) or "sport utility vehicle" (SUV), as opposed to a sedan, JEEP / HMMWV, or TRUCK. Fleet purchase of the International "Scout" in the 1950s began the procurement trend away from vehicles built to MIL-SPEC (like the JEEP and HUMVEE) that were later "civilianized" for sale to the general public, and toward the purchase of commercial models that only needed to be painted in military livery.

OSCAR :

the word assigned to represent the letter "O" in the international phonetic alphabet; at various times in different spelling schemes, it has also been acrophonetically represented as Oboe and Opal; it is sometimes spelled "oskar". This is a "governing flag" in US Navy signals that also represents "optional". See ALPHABET SOUP, PHONETIC ALPHABET. [v: Alphabet Codes & Signal Flags]

OSD :

Office of the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF).

OSI :

Office of Special Investigations; Air Force directorate equivalent to Navy NIS and Army CID. See BUTTON, FBI, POLICE.

OSIN :

(oh-sin) abbreviation for Open Source INformation (eg: social media); also known as Open Source INTelligence (OSINT).

OSINT :

(oh-sint) abbreviation for Open Source INTelligence, being unclassified information that's available to the general public without special access (clearance or authorization), which information may be exploited for its potential military value by social engineering and data mining; OSINT garners The useful work product (eg: insight or perspective on context) resulting from the collection, evaluation, interpretation, integration, and processing of unrestricted (non-proprietary) information, such as that derived from newspapers and magazines, radio and television broadcasts, reference materials and conversational interviews, so as to attain a tactical or strategic advantage, including propaganda cudos. See REPORT, MR, WHITE PAPER, JOURNAL, RUMOR MILL, MI, INTEL.

OSO :

Office of Special Operations, directly subordinate to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD); see JCS. Also, Offensive Systems Officer, being the navigator-bombardier on an Air Force strategic bomber (eg: B-52, B-1, etc); compare DSO.

OSPREY :

the Boeing / Bell CV-22/MV-22 tilt-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, used for medium transport (eg: 32 fully equipped combat troops), capable of in-flight refueling, and low-level all terrain flying at 240knots airspeed, being one of the first to employ computer-assisted flight control to aid PILOTs with the complex mechanics of maneuver; also called "tilt-rotor" for its ability to swivel its wings and propulsion rotors for level flight. The amphibious MV-22 OSPREY is scheduled to replace the CH-46 SEA KNIGHT.

OSS :

OSS

(oh-ess-ess) Office of Strategic Services; sometimes called "Donovan's Dilettantes", but widely misrepresented as "Oh So Social" or "Oh So Silly". Evolving from the Coordinator of Intelligence (COI) in July 1941 and the JCS Office of War Information (OWI) in June 1942, the OSS was developed from 13 June 1942 to engage in "unorthodox warfare" (eg: subversion, espionage, counter-espionage, intel, psy-war, guerrilla warfare, sabotage, economic warfare in support of military operations); and was patterned on the British Special Operations Executive (SOE, formed 19 July 1940, which was known as the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare"). OSS subdivisions specialized in processing information and direct action;including sections: Research & Analysis (RA), Secret Intelligence (SI), Special Operations (SO), Operational Groups (OG), Maritime Unit (MU), CounterIntelligence Branch (X2), Morale Operations (MO), School & Training Branch. OSS teams operated in Southeast Asia at the end of WWII, and recommended Vietnamese autonomy under Ho Chi Minh. OSS was disbanded Sept 1945, and was a forerunner of both the CIA and Special Forces (USSF). See SACO, JACK, SECRET AGENT, CRYPTO, TRADECRAFT, PROVOCATEUR, SPOOK, SHANGRI-LA, COUNTRY CLUB, FINISHING SCHOOL. [v: Popski's Private Army (Vladimir Peniakoff); Sikorsky's Tourists (Wladyslaw Sikorski)] [nb: the OSS guidelines for recruitment, evaluation, and selection of field operatives, including women and foreign nationals, was explicated in a manual that was published after the war: Assessment of Men by OSS Assessment Staff; authentic anecdotal accounts of "Station S" include: You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger by Roger Hall (1957), and The OSS and I by William J. Morgan (1957)] [nb: for an authentic anecdotal account of a WREN selected and trained for offensive CT ops in Northern Ireland, see One Up: A Woman in the SAS by Sarah Ford] [nb: the 7th Regiment, New York State Militia, was known as the "Silk Stocking Regiment" during the American CIVIL WAR for its elite membership of privileged scions]

OSS STILETTO :

OSS F-S

a distinctive STERILE version of the British Fairbairn-Sykes COMMANDO DAGGER was produced in lightweight steel by a housewares and hardware manufacturer (Landers, Frary and Clark) in New Britain, Connecticut during 1942; these knives were slightly shorter than type 3 British versions and were housed in a unique sheath, the frog of which resembled a four slotted pancake flipper (for mounting convenience on various equipment belts), with an O-ring handle retainer. This unmarked F-S dagger, painted green with a stippled inset grip panel, was issued to special operations agents and special forces operatives from WWII through Vietnam, including trainees for the Bay of Pigs incursion. Due to wartime restrictions, the OSS dagger was poorly tempered (as were many type 3 F-S daggers) and so was displaced by the M-3 TRENCH KNIFE whenever possible. [nb: Landers, Frary and Clark (LF&C) had previously manufactured the "Mark I" KNUCKLE KNIFE with bronze haft and double-edged blade for WWI issue, with the surplus issued from inventory to Army RANGERs and Marine RAIDERs at the beginning of WWII]

O-STUPID-30 / O-STUPID-THIRTY :

(oh-stupid-thirty) derogation of a meeting, assembly, or formation that's scheduled "too early"; based upon the O-DARK-THIRTY referent, this is a complaint about the inappropriate timing of an obligation that's "unnecessarily" early; see TIME. [nb: despite the fact that only numerals are used in military computation, such informal argot is never expressed as "0-..." / "zero-..."]

OSUT :

One Station Unit Training; being a combination of basic (BCT) and advanced (AIT) training, where a soldier remains in the same unit for both portions of instruction; similar to the CADRE system employed during WWII where the parent unit was responsible for training all of its own members.

OSV :

Over the Snow Vehicle; military designation for a snowmobile (eg: Weasel); see IRON DOG, CAT-TRAIN; compare X-C, K-9, SCOUT DOG, SNOWSHOE, ATV. [nb: the first snowmobile was invented in 1920 from an automobile chassis that was fitted with tractor-treads and skis by Virgil D. White; another early military snowmobile was the "Eliason motor toboggan"] [v: toboggan, slipe, ahkio, akja, pulka / pulkka; cf: sleigh, sledge, sled, bobsled (double-runner / double-ripper), Flexible Flyer sled (1889)] [nb: as a safeguard when traveling alone, a musher will drag a TRAWL or LIFELINE after the sled so as to avoid being abandoned on the trail in case of accident; the dead-man's throttle cutoff switch on a snowmobile obviates this precaution]

BILTMORE OSWALD :

a humorous character created by James Thorne Smith Jr., son of a U.S. Navy commodore and WWI veteran, who was then editing the Navy newspaper "Broadside"; the stories about this accident-prone would-be sailor were collected into a book, "Biltmore Oswald: The Diary of a Hapless Recruit" (1918), whose misadventures proved so popular after the war that another volume of stories was published, "Out 'o Luck: Biltmore Oswald Very Much at Sea" (1919). Thorne Smith, who also published a book of poetry, is best known for writing "Topper: An Improbable Adventure" (1926) and "Topper Takes a Trip" (1932), "Night Life of the Gods" (1931), "Turnabout" (1931), "The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous" (1939), and two posthumous releases "I Married a Witch" (1941) and "Bats in the Belfry" (1943), which spawned the TV series "Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie", and "My Living Doll" during the 1960s. Smith said of his work: "Like life itself, my stories have no point and get absolutely nowhere. And like life they are a little mad and purposeless. Quite casually I wander into my plot, poke around with my characters for a while, then amble off, leaving no moral proved and no reader improved." See FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

OTC :

in naval parlance, the Officer in Tactical Command.

OTFC :

Oral Transmucosal Fentanyl Citrate, being a sublingual lozenge on a stick ("lollipop") that supplies a field analgesic (pain relief) for severe wounds through the mucus / mucous membrane faster than an intramuscular injection (by SYRETTE) of morphine; see CHINA WHITE, SPECIAL K, CHEERIOS, ANGEL DUST, SPICE, BISCUIT, BATH SALTS, FIVE FINGERS, SMACK, JUNK, DOPE, BAD MEDICINE.

OTH :

an Other Than Honorable discharge from military service; see DISCHARGE.

OTS :

Officer Training School, being the U.S. Air Force designation for OCS; see BOC, OBC, TBS.

OTTER :

DeHavilland U-1 fixed-wing light cargo aircraft, capable of short take-off and landing (STOL) by wheels, skis, or floats. Compare TWIN OTTER, BEAVER; see BIRD.

OTV :

the "Interceptor" Outer Tactical Vest, replaced by the lighter and more protective Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV); see SAPI, ESAPI, CHICKEN PLATE, HAPPY SUIT, IBA, FLAK VEST, FLAK JACKET. [cf: flexible 'mail'; v: doublet]

OUA :

Outstanding Unit Award, being the US Air Force version (red, white, blue stripes) of the Army / Navy / Marine Corps Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC); compare JMUA, see UNIT CITATION, GONG.

OUC DA LOI :

Vietnamese phrase for Australian; sometimes represented as "Uc Dai Loi" or "Uc Da Loy". Compare CO VAN MY, TAN TAY LAN; see ADV, COUNTERPART. [v: Down Under Military Glossary]

OUT :

a procedure word (PROWORD) meaning 'transmission complete' that's used in radio/telephone procedure (RTP) to make voice communications more concise and clear; it implies that the station is shutting down or changing channels so that further communication is not possible, and it is mutually exclusive with OVER. [nb: 'clear' means that communication is finished but the station is standing-by for more traffic (finished sending, able to receive); 'break' means that this communication is finished but this station is changing channels for further communication (still sending, unable to receive)] [cf: discon / disconnect]

OUTBOARD :

located on or toward the exterior hull of a craft or vessel (eg: outboard motor); situated farther away from the center, being opposite of INBOARD [ie: as when differentiating inboard engines (nearest to the fuselage) from outboard engines (farthest out on the airplane's wing)].

OUTCAST :

that which has been rejected or discarded, especially someone who is cast out or evicted from society, such as a despised pariah; see DUST OF THE EARTH, UNTOUCHABLE, FIELD REJECT, DUD, SOS, PUKE, YARDBIRD, DOUCHE BAG, DISCHARGE, UD, COG, CHAPTER TEN, SECTION EIGHT, WASH, SLOP, FILE 13, DUSTBIN, LITTER, BUTT CAN, GI CAN, BURN BAG.

OUT COUNTRY / OUT-COUNTRY :

the Southeast Asian conflict outside South Vietnam (ie: North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and sometimes Malaysia, Thailand, Burma [Myanmar], and China); compare IN COUNTRY, UP COUNTRY.

OUTFIT :

any set or assemblage of articles that equip a person for a particular task, role, trade, or the like, as to be "fitted out" with specific gear or other items that form a KIT or RIG. Also, a group associated in an undertaking that requires close cooperation and dedicated enterprise, as a military unit; an agency or company, party or organization. Also, the matched set of garments and accessories forming an ensemble; a distinctive UNIFORM that differentiates someone's position or profession, especially military service. Also, whatever is necessary to accomplish or fulfill the assignment, as to furnish the essential physical, mental, or moral requirements on a journey or expedition.

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE :

an idiomatic expression meaning to exchange a bad situation for a worse one; to be free of one predicament only to be immediately set upon by an even worse plight; also represented as "out of the fry pan ..." or "out of the skillet ...". See GONE SOUTH, A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK.

OUTGOING MAIL :

indirect fire aimed at enemy positions, as in COUNTERBATTERY FIRE when "sending them a message"; compare IN-COMING.

OUTGUN :

to exceed in FIREPOWER; see UP-GUN, ARMS RACE, BIGGER BANG FOR THE BUCK, MAD, OVERKILL, KNOCK INTO A COCKED HAT, NOT ONE STONE LEFT UPON ANOTHER. Also, to outdo or overwhelm, as by superior forces.

OUTLAW'S OVEN :

see DAKOTA FIRE HOLE / DAKOTA FIRE PIT.

OUTPOST :

a distant station or POST that's been established to protect the main force (or the nation) from surprise attack, generally situated in enemy territory or a foreign environment; see COP, OP, CP, FOB, FSB, LSA, BASE CAMP, COMPOUND, CROW'S NEST, DEW LINE, NATURAL AREA. [nb: "But the turning and surrounding a small fraction of the enemy, and particularly in the darkness of night, is also more practicable for this reason, that whatever we stake upon it, and however superior the force used may be, still probably it constitutes only a limited portion of our army, and we can sooner stake that than the whole on the risk of a great venture. Besides, the greater part or perhaps the whole serves as a support and rallying-point for the portion risked, which again very much diminishes the danger of the enterprise. Not only the risk, but the difficulty of execution as well confines night enterprises to small bodies. As surprise is the real essence of them so also stealthy approach is the chief condition of execution: but this is more easily done with small bodies than with large, and for the columns of a whole army is seldom practicable. For this reason such enterprises are in general only directed against single outposts, and can only be feasible against greater bodies if they are without sufficient outposts, ...." by Karl von Clausewitz]

OUTRIDER :

from the positions that attendants once occupied [v: dickey] on the outside of a carriage, a modern referent for the DOOR GUNNERs or assault troops who ride on the LANDING SKIDs of a helicopter during its combat assault (CA); literally derived as one who rides outside; see FLARE, LITTLE BIRD, CHOPPER. [nb: the people clustered atop a TANK or within an APC are 'passengers' who are not expected to fight from those positions] Also, from the earlier practice by a mounted attendant riding beside, or one or more riding slightly before and after, a carriage, the escort of a caravan, procession, cavalcade, cortege, CONVOY, or TRAIN by guards and/or attendants; see HORSE GUARD, POSTILION, ESCORT, MINDER, DETAIL.

OUTRIGGER :

slang for the supporting and balancing TRAIL on a TOWED cannon or other artillery piece when LIMBERed for travel or UNLIMBERed for firing; also (redundantly) called "outrigger legs"; see ARTY.

OUTSIDE THE BOX :

outside the box

(forthcoming); compare BRASS-COLLAR, BRASS EAR, BOX HEAD, MILITARY MIND, PARTY LINE, ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM, TOE THE LINE, PRIMROSE PATH, THE BIGGER THEY ARE, ONE HAND CLAPPING, SCRIPTURES; see CAT SKINNER, BLACK SWAN EVENT, PARADIGM SHIFT, ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, UW, COUNTERINSURGENCY, COUNTER-GUERRILLA, ANTI-TERRORISM, SPECIAL OPERATIONS. [v: 360° thinking, David and Goliath; cf: color outside the lines] [nb: "If you want to think outside the box, then you need to know how the box was made." paraphrase of Poncho Diaz-Pons; "A spider nestled inside a coconut shell thinks his world is the whole world." Thai allegory; "There was never an idea started that woke up men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank." by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr; "Now in war we are confronted with conditions which are strange. If we accept them we will never win." by George S. Patton Jr]

OUTSIDE THE WIRE :

a catch-phrase referring to the hostile or unsafe area beyond the range of weapons guarding a COMPOUND or BASE CAMP situated in a foreign country; that area outside the PERIMETER that remains unpacified or unsecured, wherein reconnaissance and tactical operations are conducted; see INDIAN COUNTRY, BANJO COUNTRY, DOWN RANGE, FREE FIRE ZONE, WEAPONS FREE ZONE, OVER THE FENCE; compare BEHIND THE FENCE, INSIDE THE WIRE. Also, informal referent for anywhere outside a secure military RESERVATION, being anyplace beyond the fence separating a POST or BASE, COMPOUND or BASE CAMP, FOB or FSB from their non-GARRISON surroundings, including DODGE CITY, CRUSADER FORT, LITTLE AMERICA. Also, figurative reference to any condition or circumstance that seeks to resolve a military problem with an extra-military alternative or with non-military creativity; also known as "bending the rules" or "selective interpretation of the rules", giving commanders latitude in their accountability, and plausible deniability; see WHEN IN ROME, ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, OFF THE RESERVATION, PLAN B, OFF LIMITS, OVERSIGHT, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, WIGGLE ROOM, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE. Also, informal reference to all those non-military persons who are ineligible for admittance to military installations, or to those former servicemembers who have been discharged from the Armed Forces and so have become ineligible for admission ... those CITIZENs who live BEYOND THE PALE (ie: STOCKADE, COMPOUND); see CIVILIAN, DINOSAUR, MOSSBACK, OLD BREED, OLD SALT, SWALLOW THE HOOK, ON THE BEACH, CIVLANT, CIVPAC, RETARDED, KICKSTANDED, STACK ARMS, DOUBLE-DIP, HORS DE COMBAT, PROFESSIONAL VETERAN, VET / VETERAN; compare RETIREE.

OUTWORK :

a minor earthwork, or other smaller defensive structure, established outside the limits of a larger or the principal fortification; see REDOUBT, BARBICAN, EMPLACEMENT, BAILEY, DEFILADE, ZIGZAG, STOCKADE, PERIMETER. [v: Military Earthworks Terms]

OVAL :

background trimming for para wings

the informal term for the background trimming for PARACHUTE WINGS, being a distinctively colored and patterned PATCH worn behind the parachutist's badge when the PARATROOPER is assigned to a unit on jump status. Originating during WWII to increase the perceived size of para-WINGS, which was commonly believed to be too small by contrast with PILOT's WINGS, it became a designator for active jump status when permanent wear of the WINGS was permitted, regardless of AIRBORNE standing. The OVAL is sometimes "humped" to include the gradations of Senior and Master ratings; and the entire badge (OVAL and WINGS) may sometimes be a single embroidered PATCH (especially in the Far East where custom tailoring was inexpensive). Depending upon historic tradition and unit evolution, the OVAL will not always match the color or pattern of the same unit's beret FLASH (eg: 5th SFGAbn). The distinctive OVAL and FLASH patches are collectively known as "FLASHing". AIRMOBILE units are not authorized "FLASHing". Navy and Marine personnel on jump status do not wear OVALs. Compare JSD; see Q-COURSE, Q-TAB, TRASH. [v: Flashing Sampler]

OVER :

a procedure word (PROWORD) meaning 'transmission temporarily completed' that's used in radio/telephone procedure (RTP) to make voice communications more concise and clear; it implies that the station remains atuned and waiting so that further communication is possible, and it is mutually exclusive with OUT. [nb: 'clear' means that communication is finished but the station is standing-by for more traffic (finished sending, able to receive); 'break' means that this communication is finished but this station is changing channels for further communication (still sending, unable to receive)]

OVER A BARREL :

an awkward or untenable position, being one from which extrication is difficult or impossible; as derived from a corporal punishment practiced in earlier times, where the offender was bound across the barrel of a cannon (not a staved container, but the tubelike part of a gun) preliminary to lashing for an infraction of military regulations. See PAIN; compare WALK THE PLANK, KEELHAUL, GAUNTLET, GARROTE, DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS, TWIST IN THE WIND, BELL THE CAT. [nb: apparently civilians adopted variations of this punishment, including humiliating college hazings, where victims were bound helpless to a wooden barrel (a staved container) for assorted torments, not unlike being locked in a pillory or stocks for public derision] [nb: a 19th century Navy expression for a formal flogging with the cat-o'-nine-tails as ship's punishment was: "dance at the gratings"; while a Navy version of the pillory or stocks, known as "kiss the wooden lady", bound a sailor facing the mast for fatigue punishment and intermittent or random kicks to his buttocks by shipmates]

OVER AND OUT :

a gross solecism repeatedly employed by ignorant civilians when contriving WANNABE scenarios for novels or films; a grating error in radio/telephone procedure (RTP) that totally discredits the fictitious characterization and hypothetical story line; see PROWORD, CALL-SIGN, RADIO, TELEPHONE. [nb: "roger"/"wilco" and "over"/"out" are mutually exclusive; "break"/"clear", "repeat"/"say again", and "shoot"/"fire" are very specific; "niner", not "fiver"; "zero", not "oh"]

OVER 'n' UNDER :

XM-148

despite this phrase being indicative of a SHOTGUN configuration, it is slang for the XM-203, introduced as XM148 into the field in 1970, which hung a single-shot 40mm/1.5784in "bloop tube" grenade launcher barrel under the foregrip of the M-16 rifle, which impaired the balance and accuracy of both weapons. An experimental "pump M-79", with a five-round tube-magazine below the barrel, was selectively issued to LRRP and SPECIAL OPERATIONS teams in (1968) Vietnam. In 2006, all versions of the single-shot grenade launcher were superseded by the M-32 Multiple-shot Grenade Launcher (MGL) for infantry operations. See BLOOPER, THUMPER, SINGLE-ACTION, DOUBLE-ACTION, PUMP-ACTION, BLACK MAGIC, WIDOW MAKER, POODLE SHOOTER, TUPPERWARE, ACTIV. Also, any double-barreled shoulder arm, configured one barrel above the other, as with shotguns or combination guns; see the Aircrew Survival Weapon (ASW) or M-6 SCOUT. [cf: the LeMat revolver was a double-barreled nine-shot pistol that was developed by Jean A.F. LeMat, a New Orleans physician, in 1856 for close combat by naval and cavalrymen; chambered for .40 caliber and 18 gauge, it was preferred by Confederate generals J.E.B. Stuart and P.G.T. Beauregard]

OVERCOAT :

a protective coat, knee-length and lined, designed to be worn over ordinary clothes during the cold of winter; see FISH FUR, compare GREATCOAT, FIELD JACKET, WINDBREAKER, BOAT CLOAK. [nb: George Ingle Finch created the first wintertime parka containing pockets of duck (eiderdown) or goose down insulation that were covered by a windproof silk balloon fabric, which was worn during an expedition (1922) to Mount Everest]

OVERHEAD :

a ceiling-like covering of the exposed support members for above the compartment; see DECK, BULKHEAD, HATCH.

OVERKILL :

to extirpate more of the enemy, or to cause more destruction, than is absolutely necessary for a military victory; this term implies wanton devastation and needless COLLATERAL DAMAGE. Term seems to have originated after the atomic bombings of WWII, but utterly fails to note historic examples of greater devastation and annihilation; see CBR, WMD, NUKE, BOMB 'EM BACK TO THE STONE AGE, BOUNCE THE RUBBLE, UP-GUN, OUTGUN, ROMAN HOLIDAY, NOT ONE STONE LEFT UPON ANOTHER, KNOCK INTO A COCKED HAT, SURPLUS KILL, MASSACRE, HEADHUNTING, TURKEY SHOOT, KILL 'EM ALL, ATROCITY, GENOCIDE, HOLOCAUST [eg: Albi, Atlanta, Baharestan Square, Beziers, Carthage, Chatham Islands, Columbia, Covington, Dresden, Glencoe, Guernica, Hiroshima, Katyn, Lidice, Meroë, Nagasaki, Nanking/Nanjing, Shanghai, Sybaris, Tiananmen Square, Veii]. [v: vernichtungsgedanken] Also, the capacity to exterminate or obliterate the opposition, as with plans for Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD); see BRINKMANSHIP, BIGGER BANG FOR THE BUCK, DOOMSDAY. Also, any great or unsuitable excess, as to overwhelm or vitiate by misjudgment or zeal.

OVERPRESSURE :

the pressure resulting from the blast wave of an explosion; passage of this wave is referred to as "positive" when the resulting pressures exceed atmospheric pressure, and "negative" when less than atmospheric pressure. See CONCUSSION GRENADE, BLAST SYNDROME; compare EXPLOSIVE PRESSURE.

OVERSEAS BAR :

a service stripe worn on the lower right sleeve of the CLASS-A uniform, each representing six-months of foreign duty served in a combat zone; this service stripe, commonly known as a HERSHEY BAR(qv), replaced the WWI-era overseas chevron that was worn in the same manner. See OCONUS, DEROS, WHEN IN ROME, DUC, PH. [nb: an OVERSEAS BAR should never be confused with exotic drinking establishments outside CONUS or with foreign legalities, no matter how much the former involves the latter] [nb: civilians go 'abroad' while soldiers go 'overseas']

OVERSEAS CAP :

the GARRISON CAP or garrison hat that was adopted for troops in France during WWI as a more convenient replacement for the CAMPAIGN HAT when not wearing a helmet; also known as a "Go To Hell" cap, fore 'n' aft cap, flight cap, side cap, boat cap, flat cap, envelope cap, pisscutter, or CUNT CAP. Compare BILLED CAP, SAUCER CAP, CRUSHER; see HEADGEAR. [nb: a Balmoral hat, which somewhat resembles a beret, and is traditionally blue (from the campaigning dress of the Blue Bonnets), and is often accented with a surrounding "diced" pattern (called "checky" after an accounting process of the Stewarts or High Stewards, from which "exchequer" derives) that symbolizes guardianship and protection; the boat-shaped Glengarry hats are of 19th century military origin]

OVERSEXED WEEKLY :

nickname of the "Overseas Weekly", an unaffiliated newspaper that was published from 1950 to 1975 in various theater editions [ie: Europe (c1950), Asia (c1966), America (c1970)] as a representative of the alternative press. Being "the enlisted man's newspaper in contemporary times", and calling itself "the only overground-underground paper", it appealed to a youthful readership with sensational reportage, but attracted the ire of officialdom (eg: banned by SecDef Robert S. McNamara; ban later rescinded by the Supreme Court) for the accuracy of its exposés. This populist weekly supported the rights of servicemembers, regardless of race or religion, against the abuses of power inflicted by crazed or bigoted officers (eg: the lieutenant colonel who dressed his twelve-year-old son in a military uniform to help conduct troop inspections). The métier of this independent tabloid was titillation, from lurid court martial testimony and come-on headlines to ribald humor and pin-ups, which were leavened by sports and lifestyle features for the edification of its servicemember readership. Founded by Marion von Rospach, a companion publication ["Overseas Family" (c1959)] was also produced in Germany. The "Overseas Weekly" is proud of never having lost a libel suit, and never having been charged with any act harmful to the United States [cf: Pentagon papers in NYT (1971)]. Compare STARS AND STRIPES, YANK, JOURNAL. [nb: "We have Communists and we have the Overseas Weekly. Neither is one of God's blessings to the American people or their soldier sons overseas. Immoral, unscrupulous, corrupt and destructive are words which could be applied to either." by MG Edwin Walker (1961)] [nb: "Army Times", "Navy Times", "Air Force Times", "Marine Gazette", "Early Bird Brief", "Daily News Roundup", and other service-oriented newspapers are proprietary publications, just as "Army", "Leatherneck", "Sea Power", "Air Power", "National Guard", "Legion", "VFW", and other quasi-military magazines are proprietary publications of their respective professional or veteran associations, which are neither endorsed nor sponsored by the military]

OVERSHOOT :

in AvnSpeak, to fly an aircraft beyond the end of a RUNWAY, as to pass over or go beyond the limit of a landing strip; see TOUCHDOWN, BOUNCE, THRESHOLD, RABBIT-CATCHER, APRON, RAMP, TAXIWAY, TAILHOOK. Also, in marksmanship, to launch or direct a projectile so as to pass over or beyond the target; to miss the objective by going above it.

OVERSIGHT :

(forthcoming); supervision, responsibility for conduct/result; see READ-BACK, SCRIPTURES, CHECKING THE DICTIONARY, WIGGLE ROOM, CROW'S NEST, WATCHTOWER, VISOBS, C&C, ABNCP, UMBRELLA, GOD'S EYE VIEW, LDR, JUDGMENT CALL, LOYALTY UP - LOYALTY DOWN, EXTRAORDINARY POWERS, HIGHER, RHIP, EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, BARN DOOR POLICY, MICROMANAGEMENT, CASTRATION ANXIETY, NO EXCUSE, ZERO TOLERANCE, ROUGHSHOD; supervision by overseer, see HONCHO, CHIEF, OLD MAN, TOP DOG, MOTHER HEN, 10, MC, WALLAH, RAINMAKER, SKIPPER, CO, LDR, GADGET, ACTING JACK, BREVET, MILICRAT, COMMAND ELEMENT, CHAIN-OF-COMMAND, HEADSHED, SHADOW OF THE FLAGPOLE; contranym alternative, to be overlooked during inspection, as WIGGLE ROOM or OFF THE RESERVATION

OVER THE FENCE :

slang for cross-border operations, which are typically covert or clandestine, except during HOT PURSUITs, interventions, or other INCURSIONs; also called "across the fence", "cross the line" (or "line crossing"), "over the wall", and "hop the fence". See DMZ, DEMILITARIZE, THE GREEKS, UNPFK / UNPIK (CCRAK), JACK, STD, SOG, SPECIAL OPERATIONS. [nb: Vietnamese term: Hanh Quan Vuot Bien] [nb: unlike the CIA and similar agencies, the military operates in foreign territory only under Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of State (DoS) sanctions, with operational security (OPSEC) providing "plausible deniability" for any classified operations] [nb: Lam Son 719 (8 Feb - 9 Mar 1971) was restricted to interdiction of infiltration routes through the southern panhandle of Laos] [nb: the Cambodian INCURSION (30 April - 30 June 1970) was limited to 30km from the SVN border; as SOG missions were restricted to 20km inside Laos and Cambodia]

OVER THE HILL :

an act of flight or abandonment, as to go or to have gone OVER THE HILL, with figurative or symbolic reference to any boundary; see AWOL, UA, DESERTER, MUTINEER, UCMJ, AWOL BAG. Also, informal reference to anyone too old or too unfit to "cut the mustard" (MUSTER), being a poor or pathetic example, an unworthy specimen, past one's prime; as a metaphor for someone who has reached his peak and is now on the downhill side of life's hill.

OVER THE TOP :

rash or impetuous, excessive or gross, extravagant or reckless behavior; ostensibly derived from the brave CHARGE of WWI troops advancing out of their trenches toward the enemy ... perhaps this attribution and re-interpretation has been made by a mistaken confusion between "dutiful courage" and "unfettered wildness" ... in any case, the modern meaning has completely distorted its origin.

OVERWATCH :

a secure observation platform, especially for surveillance or supervision; see COIGN OF VANTAGE, CROW'S NEST, VISOBS, GOD'S EYE VIEW, WATCHTOWER. Also, a supportive base of fire from heavy weapons during a maneuver.

OWI :

(oh-w-eye) the JCS Office of War Information, being the former federal agency (1942-45) responsible for disseminating information about changes in Allied military policy or casualty statistics; the predecessor, along with the Office of the Coordinator Of Intelligence/Information (OCOI), of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII. Also, abbreviation for the charge of Operating (a motor vehicle) While Intoxicated /... Impaired; see DUI. [v: Punitive Article 111 (operation of a vehicle, aircraft, or vessel while impaired by alcohol or drugs)]

OZ :

see LAND OF OZ. Also, for ounce, see SHOT. [nb: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines a "food labeling ounce" as 30ml, which is slightly more than the 29.6ml in a "fluid ounce"]

OZZIE :

informal reference to an Australian, being an inhabitant of the "Land of Oz"; from the corrupt pronunciation of AUSSIE. See OUC DA LOI, ANZAC; compare KIWI, TOMMY, GI. [v: Down Under Military Glossary]