Hostile Fire (41 page)

NSVHURAWN:
Iranian Marines.

NUCFLASH:
An alert for any nuclear problem.

NVG One Eye:
Litton single-eyepiece Night-Vision Goggles. Prevents NVG blindness in both eyes if a flare goes off.

NVGs:
Night-Vision Goggles. One eye or two. Give good night vision in the dark with a greenish view.

OAS:
Obstacle Avoidance Sonar. Used on many low-flying attack aircraft.

OD:
Officer of the Day.

OIC:
Officer In Charge.

Oil Tanker:
One is: 885 feet long, 140 foot beam, 121,000 tons, 13 cargo tanks that hold 35.8 million gallons of fuel, oil, or gas. 24 in the crew. This is a regular-sized tanker. Not a supertanker.

OOD:
Officer Of the Deck.

OP:
Outpost. A spot near the front of friendly lines or even beyond them where a man or a unit watch the enemy’s movements. Can be manned by an FO from artillery.

Orion P-3:
Navy’s long-range patrol and antisub aircraft. Some adapted to ELINT roles. Crew of 10. Max speed loaded 473 mph. Ceiling 28,300 feet. Arms: internal weapons bay and 10 external weapons stations for a mix of torpedoes, mines, rockets, and bombs.

Passive Sonar:
Listening for engine noise of a ship or sub. It doesn’t give away the hunter’s presence as an active sonar would.

Pave Low III:
A Navy chopper.

PBR:
Patrol Boat River. U.S. has many shapes, sizes, and with various types of armament.

PC-170:
Patrol Coastal-Class 170-foot SEAL delivery vehicle. Powered by four 3,350 hp diesel engines, beam of 25 feet and draft of 7.8 feet. Top speed 35 knots, range 2,000 nautical miles. Fixed swimmer platform on stern. Crew of 4 officers and 24 EM, carries 8 SEALs.

PD:
Point of Departure. A given position on the ground from which a unit or patrol leaves for its mission.

Plank Owners:
Original men in the start-up of a new military unit.

Polycarbonate material:
Bullet-proof glass.

PRF:
People’s Revolutionary Front. Fictional group in
NUCFLASH
, a SEAL Team Seven book.

Prowl & Growl:
SEAL talk for moving into a combat mission.

Quitting Bell:
In BUD/S training. Ring it and you quit the SEAL unit. Helmets of men who quit the class are lined up below the bell in Coronado. (Recently they have stopped ringing the bell. Dropouts simply place their helmet below the bell and go.)

RAF:
Red Army Faction. A once-powerful German terrorist group, not so active now.

Remington 200:
Sniper rifle. Not used by SEALs now.

Remington 700:
Sniper rifle with Starlight Scope. Can extend night vision to 400 meters.

RIB:
Rigid Inflatable Boat. 3 sizes, one 10 meters, 40 knots.

Ring Knocker:
An Annapolis graduate with the ring.

RIO:
Radar Intercept Officer. The officer who sits in the backseat of an F-14 Tomcat off a carrier. The job: find enemy targets in the air and on the sea.

Roger That:
A yes, an affirmative, a go answer to a command or statement.

RPG:
Rocket Propelled Grenade. Quick and easy, shoulder-fired. Favorite weapon of terrorists, insurgents.

S & R:
Search and Rescue. Usually a helicopter.

SAS:
British Special Air Service. Commandos. Special warfare men. Best that Britain has. Works with SEALs.

SATCOM:
Satellite-based communications system for instant contact with anyone anywhere in the world. SEALs rely on it.

SAW:
Squad’s Automatic Weapon. Usually a machine gun or automatic rifle.

SBS:
Special Boat Squadron. On-site Navy unit that transports SEALs to many of their missions. Located across the street from the SEALs’ Coronado, California, headquarters.

SD3:
Sound-suppression system on the H & K MP5 weapon.

SDV:
Swimmer Delivery Vehicle. SEALs use a variety of them.

Seahawk SH-60:
Navy chopper for ASW and SAR. Top speed 180 knots, ceiling 13,800 feet, range 503 miles, arms: 2 Mark 46 torpedoes.

SEAL Headgear:
Boonie hat, wool balaclava, green scarf, watch cap, bandanna roll.

Second in Command:
Also 2IC for short in SEAL talk.

SERE:
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training.

Shipped for Six:
Enlisted for six more years in the Navy.

Shit City:
Coronado SEALs’ name for Norfolk.

Show Colors:
In combat put U.S. flag or other identification on back for easy identification by friendly air or ground units.

Sierra Charlie:
SEAL talk for everything on schedule.

Simunition:
Canadian product for training that uses paint balls instead of lead for bullets.

Sixteen-Man Platoon:
Basic SEAL combat force. Up from 14 men a few years ago.

Sked:
SEAL talk for schedule.

Sonobuoy:
Small underwater device that detects sounds and transmits them by radio to plane or ship.

Space Blanket:
Green foil blanket to keep troops warm. Vacuum-packed and folded to a cigarette-sized package.

SPIE:
Special Purpose Insertion and Extraction rig. Essentially a long rope dangled from a chopper with hardware on it that is attached to each SEAL’s chest right on his lift harness. Set up to lift six or eight men out of harm’s way quickly by a chopper.

Sprayers and Prayers:
Not the SEAL way. These men spray bullets all over the place hoping for hits. SEALs do more aimed firing for sure kills.

SS-19:
Russian ICBM missile.

STABO:
Use harness and lines under chopper to get down to the ground.

STAR:
Surface To Air Recovery operation.

Starflash Round:
Shotgun round that shoots out sparkling fireballs that ricochet wildly around a room, confusing and terrifying the occupants. Non-lethal.

Stasi:
Old-time East German secret police.

Stick:
British terminology: 2 4-man SAS teams.

Stokes:
A kind of navy stretcher. Open coffin shaped of wire mesh and white canvas for emergency patient transport.

STOL:
Short TakeOff and Landing. Aircraft with high-lift wings and vectored-thrust engines to produce extremely short takeoffs and landings.

Sub Gun:
Submachine gun, often the suppressed H & K MP5.

Suits:
Civilians, usually government officials wearing suits.

Sweat:
The more SEALs sweat in peacetime, the less they bleed in war.

Sykes-Fairbairn:
A commando fighting knife.

Syrette:
Small syringe for field administration often filled with morphine. Can be self-administered.

Tango:
SEAL talk for a terrorist.

TDY:
Temporary duty assigned outside of normal job designation.

Terr:
Another term for terrorist. Shorthand SEAL talk.

Tetrahedral reflectors:
Show up on multi-mode radar like tiny suns.

Thermal Imager:
Device to detect warmth, as a human body, at night or through light cover.

Thermal Tape:
ID for night-vision-goggle user to see. Used on friendlies.

TNAZ:
Trinittroaze Tidine. Explosive to replace C-4. 15% stronger than C-4 and 20% lighter.

TO&E:
Table showing organization and equipment of a military unit.

Top SEAL Tribute:
“You sweet motherfucker, don’t you never die!”

Trailing Array:
A group of antennas for sonar pickup trailed out of a submarine.

Train:
For contact in smoke, no light, fog, etc. Men directly behind each other. Right hand on weapon, left hand on shoulder of man ahead. Squeeze shoulder to signal.

Trident:
SEALs’ emblem. An eagle with talons clutching a Revolutionary War pistol, and Neptune’s trident superimposed on the Navy’s traditional anchor.

TRW:
A camera’s digital record that is sent by SATCOM.

TT33:
Tokarev, a Russian pistol.

UAZ:
A Soviet 1-ton truck.

UBA Mark XV:
Underwater life support with computer to regulate the rebreather’s gas mixture.

UGS:
Unmanned Ground Sensors. Can be used to explode booby traps and claymore mines.

UNODIR:
Unless otherwise directed. The unit will start the operation unless they are told not to.

VBSS:
Orders to “visit, board, search, and seize.”

Wadi:
A gully or ravine, usually in a desert.

White Shirt:
Man responsible for safety on carrier deck as he leads around civilians and personnel unfamiliar with the flight deck.

WIA:
Wounded In Action.

WP:
White Phosphorus. Can be in a grenade, 40MM round or in a 20MM round. Used as smoke and to start fires.

Zodiac:
Also called an IBS, Inflatable Boat Small. 15 × 6 feet, weighs 265 pounds. The “rubber duck” can carry 8 fully equipped SEALs. Can do 18 knots with a range of 65 nautical miles.

Zulu:
Means Greenwich Mean Time, GMT. Used in all formal military communications.