IRREGULARS - armed individuals and groups not members of the regular armed forces, police, or other internal security forces
K.I.A. - Killed In Action
KLICK, K - short for kilometer (0.62 miles)
LAY CHILLY - lie motionless
LEATHERNECK - term for a Marine (Marines wore leather neckbands from 1798-1880 for protection of the neck during sword combat)
LIFER - career soldier
LIGHT UP - to fire on the enemy
LZ - landing zone
MAD MINUTE - concentrated fire of all weapons for a brief period of time at maximum rate
M.I.A. - Missing In Action
NEWBIE - any person with less time in Vietnam than the speaker
NUMBER ONE - good
NUMBER TEN - bad
NUMBER TEN-THOUSAND - very bad
OUT-COUNTRY - the Southeast Asian conflict outside South Vietnam (i.e., Laos and North Vietnam, sometimes Thailand, Cambodia, and China)
PLATOON - approximately 45 men belonging to a company. Commanded by a lieutenant, a platoon is an organizational unit composed of two or more squads.
P.O.W. - Prisoner of War
P.T.S.D. - post-traumatic stress disorder
PUCKER FACTOR - assessment of the "fear factor", the difficulty or risk involved in an upcoming mission
RECON - reconnaissance
RED LZ - landing zone under hostile fire
ROCK 'N' ROLL - to put an M16-A1 rifle on full automatic fire
R & R - rest-and-recreation vacation taken during a one-year duty tour in Vietnam. Out-of-country R & R might be in Bangkok, Hawaii, Tokyo, Australia, Hong Kong, Manila, Penang, Taipei, Kuala Lampur, or Singapore. In-country R & R locations were at Vung Tau or China Beach.
R.V.N. - Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
SAPPERS - North Vietnamese Army or Vietcong demolition commandos
SAR - search and rescue
SEARCH AND CLEAR - offensive military operations to sweep through areas to locate and attack the enemy
SEARCH AND DESTROY - offensive operations designed to find and destroy enemy forces rather than establish permanent government control; also, called "Zippo missions"
SHAKE 'N' BAKE - officer straight out of OCS (Officer Candidate School) without any combat experience
SHORT, SHORT-TIME, SHORT-TIMER - individual with little time remaining in Vietnam
SKATE - goof off
SLEEPER - an undercover agent or a mole
SORTIE - one aircraft making one takeoff and landing to conduct the mission for which it was scheduled
STAND-DOWN - period of rest and refitting in which all operational activity, except for security, is stopped
VC, CONG - Vietcong
VIETCONG - Communist forces fighting the South Vietnamese government
VIETMINH - Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, the Vietnamese Independence League
WHITE MICE - South Vietnamese police; the nickname came from their uniform white helmets and gloves
W.I.A. Wounded In Action
(THE) WORLD - United States
ZIPPO - flamethrower; also the brand name of a popular cigarette lighter
ZIPPO MISSION - search and destroy mission
ZULU - casualty report, also the phonetic pronunciation of the