Eye of the Storm (58 page)

AAM
   
see
AIM

adoo
   Arabic for enemy: Marxist-backed rebels of the People’s Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG), operating in Oman, principally Dhofar, to overthrow the Sultan and his government. The adoo were mainly based in, and were supplied and supported by, Oman’s neighbour, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen

Aermacchi MB-339
   Italian-designed and built twin-jet, single-seat light ground-attack aircraft, based on the Aermacchi MB326 twin-seat trainer, and deployed by the Argentinian Air Force and the air arm of the Argentinian Navy during the Falklands campaign

AIM
   air-intercept missile (or air-to-air missile – AAM)

AK-47
   Soviet-designed, magazine-fed 7.62mm automatic assault rifle, produced in many variants; built under licence in other communist states, notably China, the former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the former Yugoslavia, it is one of the most numerous shoulder weapons in the world. Also known as the Kalashnikov Model 1947, the ‘AK’ stands for
Avtomat Kalashnikova
(Russian: Kalashnikov automatic) after its designer, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (1919–)

AP
   armour-piercing

ASM
   air-to-surface missile

badged
   to be accepted into the SAS, the point at which newly joined members, having passed
Selection
(q.v.), receive their sand-coloured berets with the famous ‘winged dagger’ badge

bait
   Dhofari house or native hut (Arabic)

basha
   shelter for sleeping; hence ‘to basha’ meaning to get some sleep

belt kit
   soldier’s webbing and attachments, holding much of his personal equipment, ammunition, water bottle etc.

bergen
   soldier’s rucksack

berm
   man-made sandbank or dune, usually from 6 to 16 feet high, often with a ditch on the side facing enemy or unfriendly territory. The berm along the Iraqi/Saudi-Arabian border extended in places for many miles

blue-on-blue
   an incident in which friendly forces mistakenly fire upon each other; a casualty resulting from such an incident. Also known by the euphemism ‘friendly fire’

Boss
   slang for anyone in command, whether of a patrol, a troop, or a squadron or larger unit

Browning M2
   US-designed, Second World War-vintage 0.5-inch heavy machine-gun, mounted on some SAS
110
s (q.v.) in the Gulf campaign. An air-cooled, belt-fed weapon with a rate of fire of 450–575 rounds per minute, it is capable of penetrating over 40mm of armour at ranges of more than 800 metres. Also known as the ‘50-cal’, the weapon first saw service with the Regiment in the Western Desert in 1942

Browning High Power
   9mm semi-automatic pistol built by the Belgian arms company FN. With a 13-round magazine and considerable stopping power, it has long been the SAS’s handgun of choice

burmoil
   45-gallon steel drum used to transport fuel; often reused for water

burnous
   native goatskin coat; also known to the SAS in the Gulf War as a ‘bedou’ or ‘Al Jouf coat’

C-130 Hercules
   long-serving 4-turboprop transport aircraft of great ruggedness, reliability and adaptability, and capable of short takeoffs and landings from grass, scrub, desert and other surfaces besides tarmac. Designed and built by Lockheed in the USA, and in service with, among many others, one of the RAF’s Special Forces squadrons (No. 47 Squadron)

C-5 Galaxy
   giant American-designed and built transport aircraft of the USAF, manufactured by Lockheed. Powered by four jets, the Galaxy is capable of carrying, among other payloads, six Apache strike helicopters or three light tanks, as well as large numbers of troops, at jet speeds

casevac
   military abbreviation for casualty evacuation

chaff
   clouds of metal-foil fragments fired from a discharger by a ship, aircraft or other potential target, to confuse the radar of an enemy missile, aircraft, ground station etc.

CH-47
   
see
Chinook

Chinese parliament
   discussion among a group of soldiers, regardless of rank, to agree a course of action

Chinook
   giant twin-turboshaft, twin-rotor transport helicopter, widely in service with the USAF and RAF, and used by RAF Special Forces flights. Designed and built by Boeing in the USA, its official designation is CH-47; its RAF designation was originally HC1, with the uprated aircraft designated HC2 and dedicated Special Forces aircraft HC3

CINCFLEET
   Commander-in-Chief, Fleet. During the Falklands War this was Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse, and the term was used to apply either to him or to CINCFLEET HQ at Northwood, on the north-western outskirts of London

click
   slang for kilometre

cross-deck
   to move personnel and/or stores from one ship to another by helicopter

CO
   commanding officer

CSM
   company sergeant-major

CTR
   close-target reconnaissance: the final recce carried out just before an operation or assault is launched

Delta Force
   US First Special Forces Operations Detachment Delta – formed in the 1970s, Delta Force is the US armed services’ equivalent of the SAS, and the two units maintain close contacts

DPM
   disruptive-pattern material: cloth printed with camouflage shades and patterns and made up into uniforms etc.

DS
   directing staff: those permanent members of a training establishment or course responsible for the programme and for those attending it

DZ
   drop zone: the designated area for a parachute landing

EW
   electronic warfare; early warning

F-15E Strike Eagle
   fighter-bomber variant of the F-15 Eagle twin-jet, single-seat fighter. Designed and built in the USA by McDonnell Douglas, the F-15E version first flew in 1986, and saw much service in the Gulf campaign. A front-line aircraft of the USAF, it is also in service with the Israeli and Saudi Arabian air forces

F-16 Fighting Falcon
   fast and versatile single-jet, single-seat multi-role fighter aircraft designed by General Dynamics in the USA in the early 1970s, but now built by Lockheed after its takeover of the former. Extremely agile in combat, the F-16 has excellent visibility from the cockpit, and is equipped with advanced avionics; like the F-15, it was widely deployed during the Gulf campaign

FAC
   forward air control or controller: soldier or soldiers equipped with radio to guide supporting aircraft on to their target

FAV
   fast attack vehicle

firqat
   Arabic name (literally, ‘company’) for an irregular unit formed, mainly from
SEP
s (q.v.), to combat the
adoo
(q.v.), the Marxist-backed insurrectionists of the
PFLOAG
(q.v.) operating in Oman, and especially Dhofar

flash bang
   an SAS invention, on detonation these devices emit a blinding flash of magnesium coupled with a loud report, temporarily stunning and disorienting opponents, but without causing shrapnel or blast damage. Also known as a stun grenade

forward mounting base
   a unit’s main base during an operation, from which it will move forward to the
FOB
(q.v.); for the SAS in the Gulf War the forward mounting base was at Victor in the
UAE
(q.v.)

FOB
   forward operating base; for the SAS in the Gulf War, this was at Al Jouf in north-western Saudi Arabia

FOP
   forward observation point

friendly fire
   
see
blue-on-blue

Gazelle
   a Franco-German design, the Eurocopter SA341 Gazelle is a single-turboshaft, single-rotor light helicopter used mainly for army/air cooperation, reconnaissance and light support duties

geysh
   Arabic word meaning ‘army’, used in Oman of the regular troops of the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces. A high proportion of the geysh were Baluchis, and effectively mercenaries in the Sultan’s employ

glasshouse
   British Army gaol

GPMG
   general-purpose machine-gun: the British version of the Belgian-designed and built FN MAG, the ‘gimpy’ (as it is affectionately nicknamed) is a 7.62mm belt-fed, air-cooled machine-gun designated L7 in the British Army, and with a cyclic rate of fire of 750–1,000 rounds per minute; rugged and reliable, it has been in service for many years

GPS
   global positioning system; a hand-held electronic device that receives information from a number of orbiting satellites, so allowing its operator to pinpoint his position to within a few yards at any time of day and in any conditions. An invaluable navigational aid, the SAS used the Magellan GPS during the Gulf campaign

green maggot
   sleeping bag

HALO
   high altitude, low opening: SAS-developed technique for inserting patrols by parachute, involving freefall from above 25,000 feet to about 4,000 feet at night and 3,000 in daylight

Harrier
   
see
Sea Harrier

headshed
   SAS colloquialism for any person or body in authority; thus a ‘headsheds’ meeting’ for a large mobile patrol might be a meeting of all officers and
SNCO
s (q.v.), while the ‘headshed’ at Stirling Lines would be the CO and senior
RHQ
(q.v.) officers and NCOs. The word derives from the Malayan campaign of the 1950s, and has its origins in the watersheds so frequently encountered in the Regiment’s operations against the communist insurgents there

Hercules
   
see
C-130

hexamine
   solid fuel in the form of small rectangular blocks, used in soldiers’ portable stoves

Huey
   single-turboshaft, single-rotor general-purpose helicopter designed and built in the US by Bell, and designated UH-1 (originally HU-1 hence its nickname; its actual manufacturer’s designation is Iroquois). Widely used in different variants in Vietnam as a transport, case-vac helicopter and gunship, the Huey was built in greater numbers and served with more air forces than any military aircraft since the Second World War, and is still in use throughout the world in a number of roles, including anti-submarine and command-post versions. As a transport, it can carry up to 10 troops

Hunter
   a single-seat, single-jet fast interceptor that first entered RAF service in 1954, the Hawker (now British Aerospace) Hunter saw service with the Sultan of Oman’s Air Force, and was also sold to many other countries. The aircraft’s all-round excellence and multi-role capability are borne out by the fact that it is still in service with a number of countries in Europe, South America and the Far East

I Corps
   Intelligence Corps; there is an I Corps unit permanently attached to 22 SAS

Intel, intel
   an Intelligence unit or members of that unit; intelligence in general as transmitted to troops in the field

jebali
   inhabitant of the jebel area of Dhofar

jebel
   also
djebel
: Arabic for hill or mountain; specifically, the mountain area of Dhofar in which the
adoo
(q.v.) principally operated

JNCO
   
see
SNCO/JNCO

JSIU
   Joint Services Interrogation Unit: a branch of
I Corps
(q.v.), the JSIU assists the SAS in resistance-to-interrogation (RTI) training, in certain types of exercise, and during the escape-and-evasion (E&E) phase of
Selection
(q.v.). On operations and in wartime, JSIU interrogators are attached to SAS units on active service

Katyusha
   Soviet-designed and built unguided short-range rocket, often fired from multiple launchers

Kite sight
   British-designed and built lightweight weapon-aiming system, capable of being fitted to most combat rifles and light anti-tank weapons; permits the firer to aim even in total darkness.

Klepper
   collapsible 2-man canoe used by SAS Boat Troops and the
SBS
(q.v.)

LAW
   light anti-tank weapon

LAW66
   shoulder-fired 66mm
LAW
(q.v.), carried by the SAS in the Falklands campaign. Officially designated as the M72

LAW80
   shoulder-fired 80mm
LAW
(q.v.), carried by the SAS in the Gulf War

locstat
   to record and save the actual coordinates of a fixed feature, position or target

loop line
   nylon cord, some 30 feet long, with loops at each end, and carried by SAS patrols; immensely strong, they can be quickly joined to make longer lines, and can even be used to tow vehicles

LPD
   landing platform, dock

LSL
   landing ship, logistic

LUP
   lying-up place

Lynx
   twin-turboshaft, single-rotor multi-role helicopter built by Westland in the UK, in service with both the British Army and the Royal Navy (which have their own variants, designated AH and HAS respectively), as well as the RAF. Capabilities include search-and-rescue, light support and as a troop transport, in which role it can carry up to 9 troops

M16
   the American-designed and built Colt M16 (earlier designations were Colt AR-22 or Armalite) entered service with the US armed services in the late 1950s and, like the
AK-47
(q.v.), is now one of the most widely used assault rifles in the world. A fully automatic weapon of 5.56mm calibre and built largely of aluminium and plastic, it is tough, reliable and light. It was first used by the SAS in the Borneo campaign of 1963–6, and increasingly adopted by the Regiment in the ensuing twenty years; it is now the standard-issue rifle of the SAS, which prefers it to the British-designed and built 5.56mm
SA80
(q.v.) assault rifle with which the rest of the British Army is equipped. SAS soldiers often use M16s fitted with the M203 40mm grenade launcher fitted beneath the barrel