• La Dai - Come here!
• Lao Green - Local marijuana
• LAW - Light Antitank Weapon - M-72 - Fired 66mm round from disposable launcher
• LBE - Load Bearing Equipment, web gear, system for carrying canteen, ammo, pack, etc..
• LBJ - (1) Long Binh Jail, the Army Stockade in Long Binh. (2). An Incompetent Commander in Chief
• Leaf Killers (Ranch Hands)- Nickname for pilots spraying Agent Orange defoliant
• Leatherneck - A Marine
• Lefty Lemon - Radio Code for Yellow Smoke
• Legs - Non-airborne infantrymen
• Lifer - A career soldier
• Lima Delta - Line of Departure: point of no return in an attack
• Lima Lima - LL - Land Line: a field telephone
• Lima Poppa - LP - Listening Post
• Little People - radio code for ARVNs
• Loach - Light Observation Helicopter
• Log - Logistics
• Log Bird -Re-supply helicopter, usually a Huey or a Chinook
• LOH - Light Observation Helicopter, usually a Hughes 500C or a Bell Jet-Ranger
• Louie Lime - Radio Code for Green Smoke
• Low Boy - a tank transporter, also called Dragon Wagon
• LRRP - Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol - 5 man team dropped into the bush
• LRRP Rations - freeze dried food developed for LRRPs tasted better than "C" Rations
• LZ - Landing Zone (note that some were Fire Support Bases and had names)

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• Mac the FAC - The Forward Air Controller
• MACV - Military Assistance Command Vietnam
• Mad Minute - Random firing of all perimeter defensive weapons to discourage infiltration
• MAM - Military Aged Male
• Mamma-san - An older Vietnamese woman
• MEDCAP - Medical Civil Action Program 
• MF - Main Force
• MFIC - Mother F***** In Charge
• Mighty Mite - Portable smoke generator used for filling tunnels with smoke
• Mike-mike - One millimeter
• Mike Forces - Montagnards trained by US Special Forces
• Mil - Unit of circular and vertical/horizontal measurement, 6,400 in a circle
• MOGAS - Military grade gasoline
• Montagnards - Hill people
• Montegnard Bar - A Heresy tropical "chocolate" bar (nasty)
• MPC - Military Payment Certificates, scrip issuedto GI's in lieu of dollars
• MRRF - Mobile Road Reaction Force
• Mustang - An office who has come up through the ranks

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• Napalm - Jellied gasoline. Resembles Jell-O in bombs, "maple syrup" in a Zippo-track
• Nape - Napalm
• NAM - Vietnam (In-Country)
• NCOIC - Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge
• NDP - Night Defensive Position
• Nickel - radio code for a junior NCO
• No Bic - I don't understand
• Nordo - Someone with poor communication skills (usually and officer or non-com)
• Number One - The Best
• Number 10 - The worst
• Number One Thou (One Thou, One Thousand) - Much worse than number 10
• Nung - A mercenary, usually a Chinese anti-Communist working or a paroled prisoner working for a Mike Force
• NVA - North Vietnamese Army

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• OIC - Officer In Charge
• Oil Spot - A pacified area
• One-Four - The platoon Sergeant
• One-Six - The platoon leader
• One-Six-Alpha - The platoon leader's gunner, the Assistant tank commander
• One Thou, One Thousand - Much worse than number 10
• Oscar Pappa - Observation Post

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• P-38 - Can opener that came with C-Rations
• Papa-san - An older Vietnamese male
• Pathet-Lao - Location Communists
• Payback - Revenge
• Peacenik - An anti-war demonstrator (VC sympathizer, i.e.. traitor)
• Penny - Radio code for an enlisted man
• PETNA - An explosive substance
• PFT - Portable Flame Thrower
• Piaster - Vietnamese Money (in fall 1968 100 piasters was 1 US Dollar)
• Pig - M60 machine gun
• Pogue - Derogatory term for those in rear echelon support
• POL - Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants
• Poncho Liner - lightweight, camouflage blanket for use at night in Central Highlands
• Pop Smoke - to ignite a smoke grenade for identification and wind direction for Hueys
• Popular Forces - Local milita forces organized within a village
• Pot - Marijuana 
• PRC-25 - AN/PRC-25 man portable FM radio set
• PRC-77 - AN/PRC-77 man portable secure FM radio set
• Prick 25 - Slang for the AN/PRC-25 man portable FM radio set
• Puff the Magic Dragon - An AC-47 gunship, a Spooky
• Punji Stake - sharpened bamboo stick booby trap smeared with excrement to cause infection
• Purple Haze - A type of LSD (celebrated in Jimi Hendrix song of same name)
• Push - Radio channel/frequency.. you pushed a button to select one

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• Quad-50 - Four Caliber 50 machine guns mounted on a gun truck for convoy defense, usually a Deuce-and-a-half
• Quick Reaction Force - Helicopter-borne infantry able to react to enemy attacks
• Q-Service - Quarterly service of vehicles

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• R & R - Rest and Recreation
• Rallier - A VC defector who has rallied or returned to the flag of the South Vietnamese government.( usually about four seconds before being blown away)
• Rack - Bed
• Ranch Hands - The special air force units that flew defoliation missions
• RD - Regional District Police
• Re-up - Re-inlist
• Re-Education Camps - Political prisons
• Red Ball - Radio code for a hard surface road
• Red Haze - Radio code for ammonia sensing people-sniffer in aircraft
• Red Legs - Artillerymen
• RF - Regional Force
• Regional Forces - Semi-professional local troops
• Rootin Tootin Raspberry - Radio Code for Red Smoke
• RF - Regional Force
• RF/PF -Regional Forces/Popular Forces
• Rock N' Roll - Automatic fire. M-16 or M60
• Round Eye - Caucasian
• RPD - Soviet made squad machinegun, 7.62mm
• RPG - Rocket Propelled Grenade (anti-personnel and anti-armor)
• RPG2 - Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher, Soviet made
• RPG7 - Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher, Soviet made (updated)
• RTO - Radio Telephone Operator
• Rucksack - also "Ruck": packs carried by grunts

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• SA - Small Arms
• Sao - A repulsive, dishonorable or stupid person
• Sabot - Cladding around an APDS round
• SAMPAN - A Vietnamese boat made of either wood or buffalo grass
• Sandy - A1-E1 Skyraider providing fire suppression on a SAR mission
• Sappers - NVA/VC who infiltrated a camp to blow it up
• SAR - Search And Rescue mission - looking for downed pilots
• SHADOW - Airforce C130 Gunship
• Short - Very little time left in-country
• Short-Timer -Less than 30 days to go in-country
• Short-Timer's Stick - A notch stick used by a grunt to count down his last days in country
• Short Round - an artillery round that falls short of the target on the Gun/Target Line
• Shotgunning - Blowing pot smoke down a gun barrel to cool it and enhance it's effect
• Sinh Loi - Sorry about that!, I'm sorry
• Sitrep - Situation Report, made hourly to next higher headquarters
• Six - Radio call-sign of a unit commander (Company, Battalion)
• Six-by - A large flatbed truck ( from it's wheel layout
• SKS - Soviet/Chicom 7.62mm carbine
• Skypilot - Chaplain
• Sky Soldier - paratrooper
• Slick - a UH1D with no seats (slick floor)  troop carrier
• Sling Load - load carried beneath a helicopter on a cable
• SMOKEY - Airforce C130 Flare Ship
• SNAFU - Situation Normal, All F** Up
• SOI - Signal Operating Instructions: codes for radio communications
• Spad - A1 Skyraider
• SP - Start Point. Beginning of a road march
• Spectre - Radio code for the AC-130 Gunship, "Spooky"
• Spider Trap - A covered VC foxhole
• Spooky - An AC-47 Gunship the REMFs and Saigon reporters called "Puff"
• SP Pak - Sundry Pak
• SRAP - Short Range Ambush Platoon
• Stack Trooper - An exemplary soldier
• Starlight Scope - Image Intensification Device, turned night into "green" day
• Strac - Strictly adhere to regulations
• Stand Downs - A line unit's return to base for a short rest period
• Steel Pot - Helmet
• Super-quick - 105mm howitzer round fuse for immediate detonation
  

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• TA-312 - Hand-cranked field phone
• Tanglefoot - One strand barbed wire strung at ankle height
• TAOR - Tactical Area Of Responsibility
• Tango Boat - US landing boat modified for use in the Mekong Delta
• Tango Charlie - Radio code for Tank or Track Commander
• TET - The Vietnamese New Year
• Tea Party - Radio code for an ambush
• Tee Tee - Very small amount
• Thud - A plane crash, usually referred to an F-105 Thunder Chief fighter because of their appalling record of losses
• Thumper - An M-79 grenade launcher, so called because it made a hollow "thump" when fired
• Tiger Suit -Camouflage fatigues
• The Triangle - The Iron Triangle, a VC stronghold near Saigon
• Toke - Puff on joint
• TOC - Tactical Operations Center
• Tunnel Rats - US troops who crawled the tunnels to search for VC underground
• Two shop - Intelligence section
• Two step - Krait or a Bamboo viper (as in you're dead two steps after a bite. But anti-venom injection usually prevented that path)
  

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• UCMJ - Uniform Code of Military Justice
• Uncle Ho - Ho Chi Minh
• UNSEF - Unknown Sized Enemy Force
• USARPAC - United States Army Pacific
• USARV - United States Army Vietnam
• URC-10 - AN/URC-10 Survivial Radio used by LRRPs
• UTM - The grid system on topographic maps (Universal Transverse Mercator) 

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• Viet Cong (VC) - Vietnamese Communist
• VCMF - Viet Cong Main Force
• VCLF - Viet Cong Local Force

• VCS - Viet Cong Suspect

• Vet - Former member of the armed forces

• Viet Minh - Vietnamese Nationalist: group started by Ho Chi Minh against French
• VIP Vietnamese Information Program (provided incentives to locals for turning in  enemy weapons, locations, or booby traps.)
• VN - Vietnamese National Civilian
• VTR - Vehicle, Tracked, Recovery (the tow track for tanks), Usually an M-88
  

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• Waste - To kill someone
• Wax - To beat up, injure severely, kill (or to beat decisively in a sport contest)
• Web Gear - canvas belt and shoulder straps used for packing equipment and ammunition on infantry operations
• Whispering Death - VC's name for a B-52 strike. They never heard it coming
• The White Lie Ward - Da Nang and other base hospital wards for hopeless cases
• White Mice - South Vietnamese police, for their white helmets and gloves
• WIA - Wounded In Action
• Willie Fudd - WF-2 Flying Radar plane
• Willie Pete - White Phosphorous round or grenade (instant barbeque) usually followed HE rounds to burn up what had just been blown up
• Winchester - Radio communication for "I am out of ammunition"
• The World - Anywhere but Vietnam, usually referred to home

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• XM-177E2 - CAR-15, carbine version, collapsible-stock M-16 rifle
• XM-203 - 40mm grenade launcher attachment for M-16 rifle below barrel 
• XO -Executive Officer, the second in command of a unit.

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• Yankee Station - Tonkin Gulf Area of South China Sea patrolled by US Navy
• Yards - Term for Montagnards
  

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• Zapped - Killed
• Zippo Track - An M-113 APC converted to a mechanized flame-thrower
• Zoo - The jungle
• Zonked - Drugged up
• Zulu Time - Greenwich Mean Time, Vietnam was about twelve hours behind

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Tools of the Trade 

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