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“This is an acronym for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. ‘Intercontinental’ means it has to have a range of at least 3,400 miles. Turns out there are other categories: Short Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBMs) go up to 600 miles Medium Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBMs) go up to 1,900 miles…”
“This is method of navigation that doesn’t rely on external waypoints or input. If starting from a known position, with known speed and direction at all times, you can theoretically look at a map and figure out where you are. It’s like a pirate map that says something like, ‘Walk 40 paces north from…”
Actual
“It means the commander or officer-in-charge of the unit. Each combat unit has a radioman (who is not the commander). That unit also has a call sign – for example, ‘Unit Bravo.’ That call sign refers to the unit in aggregate, not any one person. The radioman would say, ‘This is Unit Bravo,’…”
“This is sometimes used as a predecessor term to ‘cavalry,’ though in my research, it mostly referred to foot soldiers who were transported to battle on horseback. The name comes from a common weapon in 17th Century Britain – a musket called the ‘dragon’ – which was carried by these troops. Today,…”
“ This is from the literal Latin. It’s related to the ‘just war doctrine,’ meaning it refers to an act in which war is a (subjectively) justified response. ”
“This refers to who has physical control of a vessel at any particular time. To ‘have the conn’ means you are in final control of the navigation of a seagoing (or spacefaring) vessel. The captain of a ship assigns the conn. They can give it to a junior officer and take it back at their discretion….”
Daisy Cutter
“This term seems to have originated in early baseball or cricket, referring to a ball that travels low across the ground – either a cricket bowl or a baseball hit. Presumeably, the name comes from the idea that the ball was low enough to ‘cut daisies’ as it traveled. From there, it morphed into…”
“It’s for the National Guard. Many cities have buildings that were built to house the local National Guard’s equipment (including weapons). Hence, this became known as ‘the armory.’ In many cases, these buildings are no longer used for those purposes – the National Guard unit has moved into other…”
“This is literally French for ‘aid in the [military] camp’ or ‘camp assistant.’ It’s a title for the assistant of someone with high rank. Almost all references I saw had a military or royal context to them. The civilian title would be ‘administrative assistant’ or ‘chief of staff.’ The pronunciation…”
“ This literally means ‘before war’ in Latin. It’s most often used to discuss the period of Southern life prior to the American Civil War. Less known is the antonym ‘postbellum,’ which means the period after a war. ”
“In general, no. However, there are two separate things here: (1) WMDs themselves, and (2) a WMD development program. Saddam Hussein did have older WMDs, dating back to the 1960s. In fact, he used chemical weapons extensively on his own people in the 1980s. However, he was ordered to stop all WMD…”
“The larger concept here is the U.S. Navy’s ‘hull classification system.’ The Navy needs to keep track of its ships, so each one has a ‘hull number.’ This is a code for the type of ship, then a number. No two hull numbers repeat for ships in active service. Some common hull type designations: BB:…”
“This is military slang meaning ‘all good.’ It comes from how they used to measure radio signal (1) strength and (2) clarity on a scale of 1 to 5. So, a strong signal that was distorted would be ‘five-by-one’ and a weak, clear signal would be ‘one-by-five.’ A strong clear signal would be…”
“ This is a military term that means weapons can be fired down the longest axis of an enemy formation. If you’re at the flank of a firing line, you can fire down the entire line. If you’re in a plane flying along the length of a trench, you can fire entire the trench, following its line. ”
“Yes, this is still a thing. DEFCON is short for ‘defense condition,’ and it refers to the general state of readiness and alert for the American military. It’s actually in reverse order: DEFCON 5 is the most relaxed, and DEFCON 1 is almost at war. The levels were established in 1959: DEFCON 1:…”
Shellshock
“This is a form of very acute Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), coined during World War 1. Soldiers suffering from shellshock acted as if they suffered head wounds, but were not visibly wounded in any way. Yet they had extreme effects on their ability to reason, their general demeanor, and even…”