Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the Vietnam War U-Z

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Go to: Numbers, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

unbloused

pants not tucked into boot tops

UH-1H

a Huey helicopter

UNIFORM

military phonetic for the letter 'U'

US

prefix to serial number of Army draftees

USAF

United States Air Force

USARV

U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam. Command of operations unit for all U.S. military forces in Vietnam, based in Long Binh.

USO

United Service Organization. Provided entertainment to the troops, and was intended to raise morale.

USOM

U.S. Operations Mission. Funded U.S. programs during the early American involvement in Vietnam.

V

a type of ambush set-up, shaped like the letter.

VA

Veterans Administration

VC

Viet Cong, the National Liberation Front

VCI

Viet Cong infrastructure. It was the aim of the Viet Cong to have a complete government in place when their victory was finally won. Thus, where manpower allowed, Communist cadres were secretly assigned positions as village chiefs, police officers, postment, District-level officers, Province-level officers, and National-level officers. The VCI were the "shadow government" of the National Liberation Front and were awaiting the day they could step forward and claim their offices.

VFW

Veterans of Foreign Wars. An American service organization.

VICTOR

military phonetic for the letter 'V'

Victor Charlie

the Viet Cong; the enemy.

Viet Cong

the Communist-led forces fighting the South Vietnamese government. The political wing was known as the National Liberation Front, and the military was called the People's Liberation Armed Forces. Both the NLF and the PLAF were directed by the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), the southern branch of the Vietnamese Communist Party, which received direction from Hanoi through COSVN, which was located in III Corps on the Cambodian border. After 1968, as negotiations began in Paris, the NLF established the Provisional Revolutionary Government.

Viet Minh

Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, or the Vietnamese Allied Independence League. A political and resistance organization established by Ho Chi Minh before the end of World War II, dominated by the Communist Party. Though at first smaller and less famous than the non-Communist nationalist movements, the Viet Minh siezed power through superior organization skill, ruthless tactics, and popular support.

Vietnamese Popular Forces

South Vietnamese local military forces.

Vietnamization

U.S. policy initiated by President Richard Nixon late in the war to turn over the fighting to the South Vietnamese Army during the phased withdrawal of American troops. The term was coined by Nixon's Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird to replace the policy of "de-Americanization" first enunciated by Nixon on June 8, 1969.

ville

Vietnamese hamlet or village

VNAF

South Vietnamese Air Force

VNQDD

Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, or Nationalist Party of Vietnam. A non-Communist movement formed in 1926, based on the doctrines of Sun Yat-sen. The VNQDD conducted the Yen Bai uprising in 1930, which began the modern struggle for Vietnamese independence. During World War II the VNQDD staged in southern China and were instrumental in gaining Ho Chi Minh's release from a Chinese prison to help with the resistance fight against the Japanese. Ho later broke with the VNQDD. By 1950, having lost their bases in southern China when Mao came to power, the VNQDD ceased to exist as an effective organization.

VSI

very seriously ill. Army designation for those troopers who may die without immediate and definitive medical care.

VVA

Vietnam Veterans of America. Veterans organization not affiliated with the Veterans Administration.

VVAW

Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Organization formed by Vietnam veterans who gathered to protest American involvement in Vietnam.

wake-up

as in "13 and a wake-up" -- the last day of a soldier's Vietnam tour.

walking wounded

wounded who are still able to walk without assistance.

Walter Wonderful

Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

wasted

killed

Water Taxi

small engine-powered boat with a sheltered passenger compartment. These native craft plied the major canals and rivers of Vietnam and provided a means of transportation from one village to the next.

web gear

canvas belt and shoulder straps for packing equipment and ammunition on infantry operations.

weed

marijuana

WHISKEY

military phonetic for the letter 'W'

white bird

a LOH

white mice

derogatory name for South Vietnamese police. The nickname came from their uniform white helmets and gloves.

white phosphorus

a type of explosive round from artillery, mortars, or rockets. Also a type of aerial bomb. The rounds exploded with a huge puff of white smoke from the hotly burning phosphorus, and were used as marking rounds or incendiary rounds. When white phosphorus hit the skin of a living creature it continued to burn until it had burned through the body. Water would not extinguish it.

WIA

wounded in action

widow maker

a MA

Willy Peter

white phosphorus

wood line

a row of trees at the edge of a field or rice paddy

World, the

the United States

WP

white phosphorus

X

a type of ambush set up, shaped like the letter

xin loi

a Vietnamese idiom meaning "sorry about that"

XO

executive officer; the second in command of a military unit

X-RAY

military phonetic for the letter 'X'

YANKEE

military phonetic for the letter 'Y'

YD

the grid 100,000 meters by 100,000 meters square from the Universal Transmercator (UTM) Grid Zone 48Q. The UTM map of the world dispenses with latitude and longitude in favor of a system of metric coordinates (usually six digits) which enable the user of the map to specify a location within 100 meters.

zipperhead

derogatory term used to describe Vietnamese

Zippo raids

military operations which involved burning down Vietnamese villages. Often Zippo cigarette lighters were used to ignite the huts.

zapped

killed

zit

derogatory term for Vietnamese people

ZULU

military phonetic for the letter 'Z'

zulu

a casualty report