War Stories (57 page)

HMM:
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron

       
Flies CH-46 “Sea Knight” helicopters.

HUMINT:
Human intelligence—as contrasted with electronic, satellite, or other intelligence gathering.

HVT:
High-Value Target

ICM:
Improved Conventional Munitions

ID:
In the context of a military unit,
Infantry Division
. Also an abbreviation for identification.

IED:
Improvised Explosive Device

IFB:
Interruptible Feedback Line

       
Allows a television producer, director, talent, and others to communicate with each other during a program; usually through an earpiece.

IFF:
Identification Friend or Foe

I-MEF:
1st Marine Expeditionary Force

JDAM:
Joint Direct Attack Munition

       
An unpowered, GPS-guided, one-thousand or two-thousand pound, glide bomb.

Jihaz Haneen:
Clandestine Baath intelligence and security organization.

JSTARS:
Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System

LAR:
Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion

       
Marine unit equipped with LAVs for rapid ground reconnaissance forward and on the flanks of a larger force.

LAV:
Light Armored Vehicle

       
LAV-25, wheeled light armored vehicle employed by Marine LAR Battalion. Carries six troops; armament: 25mm chain gun.

LVT:
Landing Vehicle, Tracked;
See also
AAV.

LVTC:
Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Command

       
An LVT equipped with communications equipment and configured so that a commander can use an LVTC-7 as his command. Armament: .50-caliber machine gun.

LZ:
Landing Zone

MAG:
Marine Air Group

MAW:
Marine Aircraft Wing

       
The 3rd MAW served as the Air Combat Element of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

MAWTS:
Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron

MEU:
Marine Expeditionary Unit

       
The smallest air-ground task force, consisting of a reinforced infantry battalion, a composite helicopter squadron, and a logistics support element.

MIA:
Missing In Action

MOPP:
Mission Oriented Protective Posture

       
Designation for the protective suit, mask, and other equipment worn to shield troops from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
See also
NBC suit.

MP:
Military Police

MPS:
Maritime Prepositioning Ship

       
Large “roll-on roll-off” vessels full of military equipment, weapons, and ammunition; strategically placed to expedite the deployment of U.S. military units.

MRE:
Meal, Ready-to-Eat

Mukhabarat:
The foreign intelligence service of Iraq

NBC suit:
Nuclear, biological, and chemical protective gear

NCO:
Non-commissioned officer in the military services

NOK:
Next of Kin

NVG:
Night-Vision Goggles

OGA:
Other Government Agency

       
Euphemism for CIA or other intelligence service personnel operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places.

Overwatch:
A base of fire from heavy weapons in support of a maneuver

PAO:
Public Affairs Officer

PAX:
U.S. military abbreviation for
passengers
, usually in an aircraft. Also “packs.”

PFC:
Private First Class

POW:
Prisoner of War

QRF:
Quick Reaction Force

RAP:
Rocket-Assisted Projectiles

RCT:
Regimental Combat Team

Rein.:
Reinforced

ROE:
Rules of Engagement

RPG:
Rocket-Propelled Grenade

RPV:
Remotely Piloted Vehicle

       
Radio controlled aircraft used to conduct reconnaissance and/or intelligence collection.
See also
UAV.

S-1:
Staff officer that performs administrative record-keeping and personnel function for a battalion or regiment.

S-2:
Staff officer that performs intelligence and counter-intelligence function for a battalion or regiment.

S-3:
Staff officer performing operations plans and training functions for a battalion or regiment.

S-4:
Staff officer who performs logistics, maintenance, and supply function for a battalion or regiment.

SAM:
Surface-to-Air Missile

SAW:
Squad Automatic Weapon

       
Carried by one member of each Marine infantry fire team.

SERE:
Survival, Escape, Resistance, and Evasion

       
Plan followed in the event a pilot or other Armed Forces member is down or lost behind enemy lines.

sharqi:
Iraqi sandstorm

Sit Rep:
situation report

SOP:
Standard Operating Procedure

TAA:
Tactical Assembly Area

TF:
Task Force

TOC:
Tactical Operations Center

TOT:
Time on Target

TOW:
Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided

       
Is the primary anti-tank missile used by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.

UAV:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

       
Reconnaissance aircraft operated by remote radio control and/or GPS.

UN:
United Nations

UNSCOM:
UN Special Commission

       
The organization appointed by the UN to seek weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

V Corps:
U.S. Army forward-deployed headquarters for two divisions, a corps support command, and nine separate brigades totaling approximately 41,000 soldiers.

VBIED:
Vehicular-Borne Improvised Explosive Device

VMU-2:
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron Two

       
Operated RPVs over the battlefield for the Regimental Combat teams.
See also
UAV.

WIA:
Wounded In Action

WMD:
Weapons of Mass Destruction

XO:
Executive Officer

INDEX

Abazid, John,
83

Abbas, Abu,
xlvii
,
207–10

ABC,
245

Abraham,
xiii
,
xvi
,
70

Abraham Lincoln
, USS,
1–4

Achille Lauro
,
xlvii
,
207
,
209

Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq,
84
,
92
,
103
,
104
,
110
,
119
,
120
,
127–28

Afghanistan,
xxxii
,
liv
,
25
,
40
,
50
,
75
,
126
; Operation Enduring Freedom in,
2–3
,
8
,
257
; Soviet invasion of,
xxxii

Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait,
52

Ain Sifni, Iraq,
173

Al Amarah, Iraq,
199–200

Al Aziziyah, Iraq,
138–42

Al Budayr,
119

Alexander the Great,
xvii
,
204

Al Faw Peninsula,
40
,
49
,
55

Algiers,
xxx

Ali,
10–13

Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait,
26–37
,
39–42
,
48
,
67–68
,
101
,
233

Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin,
251

Al Jazeera,
47
,
75
,
81
,
85
,
176

Al Karradah, Iraq,
177

Al Khulafa Mosque,
182
,
184

Al Kut, Iraq,
84
,
85
,
103
,
110
,
116
,
138

Allah,
xvii

Al Qaeda,
xlvii

Al Qurnah, Iraq,
xlvi

Al Rasheed Air Base,
179

Al Rasheed Medical Center,
177

Altman, Robert,
251

Amman, Jordan,
228

Amn Al Khass
,
xxxi
,
xli
,
45
,
240

Amos, Jim,
52

Anderson, Joe,
240–41

Anglo-Iraq Treaty (1930),
xxii

Ankara, Turkey,
217

Annan, Kofi,
43
,
252

An Nasiriyah, Iraq,
72
,
103
; Army convoy ambush in,
77–79
; cas-evac missions in,
76
; firefight in,
76–83

Ann-Margret,
250

An Numaniyah, Iraq,
110
,
129
,
130
,
136–37
,
199–200

Antarctica,
41

anthrax,
15
,
16–17

Arafat, Yasser,
208
,
209

Arif, Abd al-Salam,
xxiv–xxv

Armstrong, Louis,
250

Arnett, Peter,
122–23

Ashby, John,
110
,
112–13

Asman, David,
68

Assad, Hafez al,
xxxi

As Sulaymaniyah, Iraq,
46

Atlanta,
110

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
,
21

Aubin, Jay Thomas,
60
,
63

Aziz, Tarik,
231

Aznar, José Maria,
34

Az Zubayr, Iraq,
54
,
67

Baathist National Council of Revolutionary Command,
xxiv

Baathists,
xxviii
,
83
,
89
,
236

Baghdad, Iraq,
xx
; 4th Infantry Division in,
liv
; coverage of war from,
74
; Dora Command Complex in,
45–47
,
53
; looting in,
195–97
; march on,
119
,
145–66
; occupation of,
167–90
,
191–97
; Task Force Tarawa and,
72

Baghdad Bob.
See
Sahhaf, Saeed al-

Baghdad International Airport,
232

Baghdad Pact,
xxiii

Baghdad University,
177
,
179

Baghdad Urban Renewal Project,
39
,
160

Bahrain,
8

Baier, Brett,
130–31

Bakr, Abu,
xvii

Bakr, Ahmed Hassan al-,
xxvi
,
xxx
,
xxxii

Baldwin brothers,
251

Balkans,
xix
,
25
,
40

Bangladesh,
23
,
168

Barry, Tom,
94–97
,
98
,
156

Barzani, Mustafa,
xxviii
,
xxx

Basco, Shawn,
188–189
,
194

Basinger, Kim,
251

Basra, Iraq,
xx
,
55
,
58
,
67
,
72
,
75
,
103
,
173
,
230

Bataan
, USS,
xlvii

Bayji, Iraq,
223
,
227
,
229

Bay of Pigs,
246

Beamer, Lisa,
251