Headed for Trouble - By Suzanne Brockmann Page 0,101

Area of Operations.

AWOL: Absent WithOut Leave.

BATTALION: A unit of 800 to 1,000 troops.

BDUs: Battle Dress Uniforms.

BUD/S: Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs. The intensive training all candidates complete in order to become SEALs.

BEQ: Bachelor Enlisteds’ Quarters. Housing for unmarried enlisted personnel.

BOQ: Bachelor Officers’ Quarters. Housing for unmarried officers.

C4: An easy-to-carry, versatile, pliable plastic explosive with a texture similar to Play-Doh. Lightweight and stable, it can be dropped, shot, and even lit on fire, but it won’t explode without a detonator. Often used in place of Sterno to heat coffee. Originally called Composition C, it was developed during World War II by the British.

CAMMIES: Military uniforms in various camouflage print patterns, including woodland, jungle, desert, and urban.

CDRNAVSPECWARCOM: Commander of Naval Special Warfare.

CHARLIE-FOXTROT: Radio call signs for the letters C and F, charlie-foxtrot is a more polite name for clusterfuck. (See also clusterfuck.)

CHIT: A permission slip, usually for leave.

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency.

CLUSTERFUCK: A total screwup or disaster, usually caused by incompetence, ignorance, or sheer stupidity. This term makes good use of a word that is a favorite among sailors. (See also goatfuck.)

CNO: Chief of Naval Operations.

CO: Commanding Officer. (SEAL Team Sixteen’s CO was originally Tom Paoletti. Lt. Commander Lewis Koehl is the current CO of the team.)

COMPANY: A unit of 150 to 200 troops.

COMSPESH: Computer specialist. Tess Bailey is Troubleshooters Incorporated’s Comspesh.

CONUS: Continental United States. (See also OCONUS.)

COVER: Hat.

DADT: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell—a misguided and obsolete law that forced LGBTQ servicemen and -women to lie about their sexual orientation.

DECK: A floor of a building or ship.

DEFCON: DEFense CONdition. The USA’s graduated security alert system. DEFCON 1 is the highest level of alert, DEFCON 5 is the lowest.

DIVISION: A unit of 10,000 to 15,000 troops.

DOD: Department of Defense.

DRESS WHITES: The U.S. Navy’s white, lightweight summer uniform. Can be the Class-A uniform or Service Dress Whites, or formal attire. Also known as an ice-cream suit.

DZ: Drop Zone.

E&E: Escape and Evasion.

EXFILTRATE: Departure of SEALs, usually with stealth, from an area of operations.

EXTRACTION: To be removed from an area of operations, usually by air. SEALs often extract by sea.

FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigations.

FIREFIGHT: A skirmish involving the exchange of gunfire.

FOB: Forward Operating Base.

FROGMEN: Nickname for U.S. Navy UDT operators. (See also UDT.)

GEEDUNK: A vending machine or ship’s store selling soda and/or junk food. Geedunk can also be the soda/junk food itself. The name comes from the sound of a can of soda falling from a vending machine.

GOATFUCK: A total screwup, a mission gone bad, a disaster. (See also clusterfuck.)

Note from Suz: In compiling and researching this glossary, I think I may have found clues leading us closer to the answer for that timeless question “What is the difference between a goatfuck and a clusterfuck?” I recently found a military definition site that proclaimed the definition of “goat” to be similar to “loser.” This site identified a goat as the lowest-ranking man in a group of service personnel, but a goat could also be those officers from the very bottom of a military school’s graduating class. (Joke: What do you call a goat who graduates bottom of the class from West Point? You call him “Sir.”) So it’s possible that a goatfuck is a slightly more inevitable screwup caused by the incompetence or stupidity of the participating officers. But, if goat is interchangeable with loser, then anyone caught in a disastrous situation could, in a true military manner, with glass-half-empty thinking, consider themselves to be the loser or goat who is getting, you know, disastered. Whereas “cluster” seems to imply a more impromptu screwup on a far grander scale …

GRINDER: The assembly area at the Coronado Naval Base, designated for PT.

GWOT: Global War on Terror.

HALO JUMP: High Altitude Low Opening parachute jump.

HEAD: Toilet or bathroom onboard a ship.

HELO: Helicopter.

HK-MP4: Heckler & Koch submachine gun—a favorite of the SEALs. A compact 9mm weapon that is reliable even after saltwater immersion.

HK-MP5: Heckler & Koch submachine gun, even smaller than the MP4, also known as a “room broom.” Also a 9mm, it’s often used for close combat urban situations. Small enough to conceal under a jacket. (If you’re a SEAL, that is, but probably not if you’re Lindsey Fontaine.)

HOT BUNKING: Sharing a bed, but sleeping at different times. Used in cases of limited billeting or housing, usually onboard a ship. If Sam Starrett and Kenny Karmody were hot bunking, Sam would sleep for the first shift. Kenny would wake him when it was his turn to sleep. Sam would roll out of the bunk and Kenny would roll in—and the bunk would still