Operation Tailwind

Most of the terms, acronyms, and abbreviations here are defined the first time they’re used, but if you forget the meaning, you can come back to this glossary.

AA– an Anti-aircraft gun. 

AAA- Triple-A, for Anti-aircraft Artillery.

Acey Deucy– a dice game similar to backgammon and found in most ready-rooms.

Across the Fence– over the border, usually into Laos or Cambodia; also called across/over the wire.

AHC– Assault Helicopter Company. These units consist of unarmed Hueys, referred to as slicks plus armed Huey gunships.

AO– Area of Operations.

Arc Light– A B-52 bombing mission. Usually a three-plane formation and each aircraft, depending on model, would carry from 51 to 108 five-hundred-pound bombs.

ARVN– (pronounced Arvin) the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The good guys that the United States was helping.

Auto-rotation– a maneuver, when performed correctly, that allows a helicopter to land after the engine(s) has quit.

AWC– Aerial Weapons Company. These were the Army units that flew the AH-1 Cobra gunship.

B-40– A shoulder-fired North Vietnamese clone of the Russian Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG-2) anti-armor weapon. 

Bingo fuel– a pre-planned minimum amount of fuel that a pilot should not go below when on a mission. When a pilot calls “Bingo,” there is just enough fuel to get back to base or a refueling point.

Binh Tram– a largely self-sufficient, regimental-sized logistical unit responsible for a specific portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

BOQ– Bachelor Officer Quarters.

Bolaven Plateau– an elevated area in the southern panhandle of Laos between the Annamite Mountains and the Mekong River.

CBU– a Cluster Bomb Unit. Each unit is comprised of two parts: a dispenser and the sub-munitions within it.

CBU – 15– a downward ejecting SUU-13 dispenser that carried lethal BLU-19 GB nerve agent (sarin) bomblets.

CBU – 25– An air-dropped, anti-personnel Cluster Bomb Unit. When the weapon is dropped the casing opens and hundreds of tennis ball-sized bomblets scatter across a wide area, detonating on contact.

Charlie– a slang term for the Viet Cong or VC. Derived from the phonetic spelling Victor Charlie.

Chieu Hoi– A South Vietnamese program to get Viet-Cong soldiers to defect. The program got about 100,000 to change sides but many believe only a minority of them were genuine. Americans used the term for anyone who had defected as in “He’s a chu hoi.”

CINCPAC– Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, based in Hawaii.

CJCS– Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The military advisor to the President. 

CN– Phenacyl chloride. A non-lethal riot-control agent commonly called Mace. CN was the predecessor to CS and is less effective.

CO– Commanding Officer.

COS– Chief of Station; the senior CIA officer at an embassy.

Covey– call sign for USAF Forward Air Controller (FAC) pilot that supported cross-border operations. They always had an experienced Special Forces man onboard, called a Covey Rider, to assist the teams on the ground.

CS– 2-chlorobenzalmalononitirile. A non-lethal, riot control agent commonly called tear gas. 

CWO- Chief Warrant Officer. Warrant Officer is a category of ranks between non-commissioned officers (Sgt. To Sgt.Maj.) and commissioned officers (Lt. to Gen.). They generally had experience in a specific technical field and ranks went from W-1 to W-5. Most Army pilots were Warrant Officers.

Dega– the indigenous people of the mountains of Vietnam.

ECU– an Environmental Control Unit provided air conditioning in the AH-1G Cobras.

E&E– Escape and Evasion – getting away from the bad guys.

Extract– getting Marines off the ground. The army called it exfil, for exfiltration.

FAC– Forward Air Controller. A person controlling airstrikes from the ground or another aircraft.

Flat-hatting– flying as low and fast as possible.

Flechettes– sometimes called nails, these were little metal darts, thousands of which would be packed in a rocket warhead. A good weapon against troops in the open.

FM– the frequency of the radios carried by troops on the ground. Usually referred to phonetically as Fox Mike. 

FNG– A new person at a unit, a “fucking new guy.”

FOB– Forward Operating Base.

Fog of War– The uncertainty and confusion experienced on the battlefield. It is minimized through training, planning and communication but just about always exists to some degree.

Gook– a derogatory term for the enemy. There’s an age-old tradition of making out your enemy to be evil or less human. Unfortunately, many used the term to refer to all Vietnamese or even all Asians. 

FULRO– Forces United for the Liberation of Oppressed Races. The political arm of the Montagnard independence movement. Based in Cambodia and officially neutral during the war.

HEFOE– hand signals used when radios are out to indicate the status of Hydraulic, Electrical, Fuel, Oxygen and Engine systems. Hold up one finger for hydraulics, two for electrical, etc.

Hooch– living quarters.

Huey– a UH-1 helicopter, the quintessential helicopter of the war in Vietnam.

“In Country”– Vietnam.

Insert– putting Marines on the ground. The army referred to it as infil, for infiltration.

Kingbee– call sign for ARVN H-34 pilots, famous for their courage and daring on missions across the fence.

Klick– short for a kilometer. One kilometer is about 6/10 of a mile. The maps we used were laid out in 1,000-meter x 1,000-meter grid squares.

Knot– one nautical mile which is 6,076 feet or 115% of a statute mile. Flying at 100 knots would be equal to 115 miles per hour.

Leg– see “Straight leg.”

Little People– Montagnards, Vietnamese, South Koreans and other Asians.

LOC– A “Line of Communication” is not about message traffic. A LOC is usually the route between a military and its supply base. It can be by sea (SLOC) or air (ALOC). Today it also refers to commerce among nations. It may help to think of them as a “Lines of Commerce.”

Long Shadows– Americans and other Westerners; also called “round eyes.”

LZ – landing zone.

MACV– (pronounced Mac vee) The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was the overall headquarters for the war effort.

MAG– a Marine Air Group, made up of squadrons and other support units.

MAW– a Marine Air Wing, the largest unit in Marine aviation, is composed of several MAGs plus support units.

NPIC– the National Photographic Interpretation Center was a joint project of the CIA and DOD and specialized in imagery analysis.

NVA– The common term used when referring to the North Vietnamese Army. Their official name was People’s Army of Vietnam (see PAVN).

O’Club– the Officer’s Club. There were also Staff NCO Clubs (Staff Club) and Enlisted Clubs (E’Club).

PAVN– The People’s Army of Vietnam that originated in North Vietnam.

Pickle– To drop a load, either a wing store or external load slung under a helicopter.

Plain of Jars– Named Plaines des Jarres by the French, and called PDJ by the Americans, it is an archeological landscape in the central plain of northern Laos that contains thousands of stone jars dating back to prehistoric times.

POW– Prisoner of War

Prairie Fire– The term had two meanings. It was an area across the border in Laos where SOG operated. (The area in Cambodia was called Salem House.) If a team called a “Prairie Fire Emergency,” it meant they were in extremis and all assets were made available to get them out. The words “Prairie Fire” were also used on the Vietnam side of the border to declare an emergency situation even though they were not across the fence.

PS– Pakse Site. CIA outposts on and around the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos.

Pucker Factor– An unofficial measure of a crewmember’s stress in combat. Imagine you’re eating a lemon. Your mouth puckers. It’s just like that, except under life-threatening stress it’s the other end of the alimentary canal that puckers. In other words, how tightly you squeeze your butt muscles when the shit hits the fan. Usually given as a percentage or on a scale of one to ten.

Recon Team– called RT, or sometimes Spike Team, was a small team inserted to spy on the enemy.

REMF– Rear Echelon Mother Fuckers; anyone not on the front lines.

R&R – Rest and Relaxation. During a combat tour everyone got a week off from the war. Most married troops went to Hawaii to hook up with their spouses. Most single guys went to Australia or Bangkok to hook up.

RON– “Remain Over Night.” Any place you spend the night is a RON site.

RPG– Rocket Propelled Grenade. A shoulder fired anti-tank weapon, also called a B-40.

RTB– return to base

Round Eyes– Westerners; also called “long shadows.”

SAR– Search and Rescue

Salty– As in an old salt, this refers to a seasoned and experienced person. Sometimes called crusty. 

SCU– Special Commando Unit (pronounced soo). These were the indigenous Montagnard soldiers trained by SOG forces. Often referred to as indig troops.

Scud Running– Scud refers to low clouds and scud running is the practice of flying low enough to stay beneath them.

Sekong River– also spelled Xekong, it flowed south along the eastern edge of the Bolavens Plateau and joined the Mekong River in Cambodia.

SF– the Army Special Forces, also known as Green Berets.

Skinny– insider information such as “Give me the skinny on the flight check.” Also called the gouge or the poop. Many units had newsletters called the Poop Sheet.

SOG– Studies and Observations Group. A top secret, clandestine military organization that conducted cross-border operations.

Straight Leg– Paratroopers tucked their trousers into their boots so non-paratroopers, who wore their creased pants in the normal fashion, were called straight legs or simply legs.

TACAN– used for navigation, the Tactical Air Navigation system provided pilots electronic bearing and distance to/from a TACAN transmitter on the ground.

Vang Pao– Lao general and leader of the Hmong people. Known as VP to many Americans.

XO – Executive Officer, the number two person in a squadron chain of command. 

Warrant Officer(WO) – see CWO 

WSAG– the Washington Special Action Group was headed by Henry Kissinger and included representatives from State, Defense, CIA, and the National Security Council.

Willy Pete– White phosphorous rockets and grenades. Used to mark targets or provide a smoke screen.

Winchester– out of ammunition.