I'd like to get a good list of Marine Corps Jargon to post on POPASMOKE. J.D. forwarded this list, if anybody has any terms that are not listed, post them.

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SHOPTALK – Jargon common to Marines of the 50s and 60s. See just how many of them you remember.

3.2 Beer - sold at 20 cents a can at slop chute, usually Hamm's or Falstaff.

72 Hour Limits - Maximum distance permitted to travel on a 72 pass.

782 gear - Field equipment: packs, shovel, poncho, etc.

APC - Aspirin – the All Purpose Cure-all

AWOL - Absent Without Leave

Ball and AP - Ammunition

BCD - Bad Conduct Discharge

BDT Club - Bent Dog Tag Club

Bloused Boots - Use of garters to secure folded trouser bottoms near boot tops.

Boondockers - ¾ length boots

Boonies - In the field

Bore brush - Brush used in conjunction with cleaning rod to clean rifle bore.

Bore cleaner - Fluid used in cleaning a rifle bore.

Brasso - Brass cleaner still available in supermarkets

Bug juice - Fruit flavored punch

Building 19 - LeJeune’s Brig – circa 1960

Bulkhead - Jargon for a “wall”

Butt-can - A number 10 can used for cigarette butts.

Butt-kit - Cleaning gear maintained in butt of rifle.

C-3 [C-4] - Plastic explosive

Camouflage cover - Canvas cover for helmet

Cargo nets - “Hands on the vertical, feet on the horizontal, people!!!!”.

Cattlecar - Ragtag busses used to transport troops during standby operations

Chaser - Brig guard, commonly observed with a shotgun and pistol

Chiggers - Blood sucking insects that borrow under your skin.

Class “B” - Khaki uniform required to get an evening meal, at Lejeune, even 10 minutes after returning from the field. Ever wonder where all the money went that was saved on the many meals we never ate?

Cleaning Rod - Used in conjunction with bore brush, bore fluid and cleaning patches to clean rifle bores.

Collar emblem - Eagle, Globe and Anchor insignia

Combat town - Training site for urban combat training at LeJeune

Cordite - Spaghetti-like, smokeless explosive used in munitions.

Corpsmen - Unit equivalent army medics or today’s civilian paramedics

Cosmoline - Pungent grease covering weapons during long-term storage.

C-ration TP - C-Rat toilet paper tucked into the sweatband of our helmet liner.

C-rats - Combat Rations, forerunner of today’s MRE

DD - Dishonorable Discharge

Deck - Jargon for floor

Didi - Bug out

Drum out of Corps formation - At Harry Agannis field, LeJeune*

Elliot Beach On Parris Island: “A Pleasant Walk to & Overnight ‘Outing’”

Fantail - Most aft portion of ship

Field kitchen - Soapy rinse…hot rinse…cold rinse for our mess gear.

Field strip - Disassembling of a weapon

First Shirt - A unit’s highest ranking enlisted man

Focs’le (Forecastle) - Most forward portion of a ship, inside hull line.

Foxtail - Shorthandled broom

Fore and aft - Bow and stern of ship

FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition

Gangway! - Verbal alert: “Get out of the way.”

Geedunk - Shipboard ice cream “parlor”

General Orders - Standards for standing guard duty

Greens - Winter Class A Uniform

Grits - White pasty-like southern breakfast food

Guide Book - Manual of rules, standards, history and weapons of the USMC

Hanger Bay - Below main deck area of a carrier where aircraft are stored.

HE - High Explosive

Head - Toilet

Helmet Liner - Webbed portion of helmet, which laid within the steel pot.

Hogey - Sub[marine] sandwich

Irish pennants - Threads and other foreign objects to be removed from clothing

Java or Joe - Coffee

John Wayne Crackers - Dry, tasteless crackers found in C-Rations

John Wayne key - C-Ration can opener

Junk on the bunks - Display of clothing and 782 gear during inspection

Ka-bar - USMC fighting knife

Keg party - Beer party

Ladder - Jargon for staircase

Lampblack - Used on rifle range [ Name of lamp that produced it ]

Lubriplate - Yellow grease used to lubricate the sliding metal parts of weapons.

Mad minute - Uncontrolled firing of all available weapons for one minute

Messdeck - Potion of a ship used exclusively for eating

Mid-watch - 12-4 duty on the USS Gearing

MLR - Main Line of Resistance

MRE - Meals Ready to Eat which replaced the Combat Rations (C-rats)

Napalm - Flammable, gelatinous killer of all engulfed within.

NCOIC - Non-Commissioned Officer-in-Charge

OD - Officer of the Day

Office Hours - Company Discipline

Overhead - Jargon for ceiling

P38's - Field ration can opener

Peaches, Canned - Most sought after contents of C-Rat package.

Penetration however slight is sufficient" - Quote from UCMJ pertaining to the act of sodomy.

Piss and Punk - Reference to “water & bread” punishment under “Rocks & Shoals”

Piss-cutter - Khaki, Tropical worsted or green wool overseas cap.

Pogey Bait - Candy

Pogey Bait Wagon - Truck appearing nightly in barrack’s parking lot.

Port & Starboard - Alternate days of liberty, Left & Right side of ship

Porthole - Jargon for window

Rat Guard - Conical shaped device slung on hawser lines.

Rocks & Shoals - Reference to Codes used before introduction of the UCMJ

RPF - Rectal Pucker Factor rated from 1 to 10.

Rubber Lady - Air mattress

Six, six and a kick - Six months Brig, loss of pay and a Bad Conduct or Dishonorable Discharge.

Salt tablets - Pink tablets found in dispensers throughout barracks.

Scuttlebutt - Rumor

Shitcan - Garbage can

Shoes on fire - We set new shoes on fire with lighter fluid before dying them.

Short-arm inspections - Corpsman’s or Doctor’s visual exam for VD

Slop Chute - Enlisted "entertainment center," aka: beer hall.

Slop sink - Deep sink commonly used to clean the swabs.

Smells: - How many remembered? Brasso, Shoe Polish, shoe dye, lubriplate, cosmoline, spent gun powder, cordite..

SNAFU - Situation Normal, All Fuck Up

Snapping in - Preparation for rifle certification

SOS - Shit-On-the Shingle, chip beef on toast

Standby - Immediate or [ 24 or 48 (?) ] hours alert for potential mount -out

Supernumerary - Extra body for guard duty

Suspender straps - Used to hold up the heavy magazine belt of BARmen

Swab [Swabby] - Mop [Sailor]

The “Circle” - Place at Lejeune where all looking for a weekend ride met.

Thermite - Grenade Mixture of Aluminum and Iron fillings that burns at 25000F

Tie-ties - Short pieces of cord used to secure washed clothes on line

Tropicals - Summer Class A Uniform – No longer used in Corps

UCMJ - Uniform Code of Military Justice

Vomit comet Obvious

WP - White Phosphorus, required emersion in water to extinguish

• Do you remember the Regimental formation held for a young Marine in “E” Company’s weapons platoon, that had been found guilty of stealing a watch and given “six, six and a kick.” He arrived, in civvies, via the Brig wagon with two chasers. He was marched to the front of the preformed 6th Marine Regiment. The Regimental Commander thereupon called the Regiment to attention and ordered an “About face” and ordered the chasers to remove the prisoner. It might interest you to know that few in Echo Company were ever sure about the man’s guilt. He had been observed wearing a watch owned by a member of the 3rd platoon of Echo. When confronted by the Corporal of the guard, the accused explained that another member of the weapons platoon had sold it to him, but…he had no receipt. Soooo, “Six, Six and a kick” with a BCD,” topped off with probably the most horrible emotional experience of the man’s life: a “drumming out.” Do you remember any drums?