AAA - Anti Aircraft Artillery; triple A
AGL - Above Ground Level; altitude above the ground as opposed to MSL
ARRS - Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron
Barrel Roll - The code name for the northern part of Laos including the PDJ.
Bingo - a prebriefed amount of fuel that would allow a safe return to the base of intended landing. Bad weather would force higher "bingo fuel" amounts. A radio call of "bingo fuel" would lead to an RTB.
BDA - Bomb Damage Assessment; a verbal report from the FAC regarding bombing effectiveness and target destruction
Check 6 - To look behind you to ensure there is no one sneaking up on you; six refers to the "clock position with 12 being on the nose.
Close Air Support - a tactical air mission which supports friendly ground forces and normally requires the coordination of a FAC. Also known as CAS.
DEROS - Date of Expected Return from Over Seas
DME - Distance Measuring Equipment; the distance part of the TACAN signal.
DMZ - Demilitarized Zone; the zone dividing North and South Vietnam; the 17th parallel
DOZ - see Prairie Fire.
DS - Delta Sierra; bad (canine feces)
FAC - forward air controller. Usually airborne in an O-1, O-2, OV-10, or T-28, but also could be on the ground.
Fast FAC - a fast mover used as a FAC in high threat areas; in earlier parts of war, the F-100F was used but in 71-72 they were F-4s
Fast Mover - Jet fighter or attack aircraft; as opposed to Slow Mover
FOL - Forward Operating Location
Fox Mike - slang for FM radio; the FM radio was used for interflight communication between formation flight members; the letters FM stand for frequency modulation; Fox and Mike are both part of the phonetic alphabet; as opposed to Uniform, or Victor.
GCA - Ground controlled approach. A precision instrument procedure approach to an airfield. Typically, this could take a pilot to a landing with the weather as low as 200' with visibility as low as 1 mile.
GCI - Ground Controlled Intercept
Guard - also known as guard channel; a radio frequency that is continually monitored by all aircraft; this channel is used to broadcast emergency messages and warnings.
Hard ordnance - Ordnance optimized for use against "hard" targets such as bunkers and armored vehicles; iron bombs; Mk-82 (500 lb. general purpose bomb); Not well suited as a close air support munition; as opposed to soft ordnance.
Heavy Hook - see Prairie Fire.
Ho Chi Minh trail - An informal network if roads running along the Lao-Vietnamese border used by the communists as infiltration routes into South Vietnam and Laos.
"Hot" cock - The process of preparing an aircraft for alert and a possible scramble takeoff. All normal preflight checks were accomplished up to taxi. If the aircraft checked out to include all radios functioning normally, the aircraft was shutdown, and placed on alert. The pilot would leave his flying gear at the aircraft, the ground crews would top-off the fuel tanks to replace the small amount of fuel used during the runup, and the Sandy alert birds were ready.
Interdiction - a tactical air mission which did not normally involve the direct support of friendly ground forces. It may of may not involve a FAC depending on the circumstance. (In my entire year in the A-1, except for SAR missions, I never struck a target without coordination with either a ground or airborne FAC.)
IRAN - Inspect and Repair (Replace) As Necessary; the process of complete renovation of Skyraiders conducted at Don Muang Airport in Bangkok. Among other things, aircraft coming out of this major maintenance would sport a brand new paint job.
Iron Hand - mission name for SAM and RADAR controlled AAA suppression normally performed by F-105G Wild Weasels in SEA
Jink - a series of abrupt and random maneuvers designed to prevent enemy gunners from tracking your aircraft.
Knots - the basic measure of speed (distance of travel per hour); nautical miles per hour
Land As Soon As Possible - an emergency that warranted an immediate landing at the nearest suitable field.
Land As Soon As Practical - an emergency that warranted landing at the discretion of he pilot
LORAN - acronym for Long Range Radio Navigation; a navigation system in use during the SEA war; not on Skyraiders!
MedEvac - Medical evacuation; a mission flown by helicopters to remove wounded personnel from a battle area.
Mils - Abbreviation for milliradian; Bomb/Gun sight settings were expressed in mils, an angular measurement; one degree was equal to 17.45 mils.
MSL - Mean Sea Level; altitude above sea level as opposed to AGL.
Nautical Mile - the basic unit of air navigation; abbreviated nm; one nautical mile is equal to 1.15 statute miles; each minute of latitude is 6076 feet apart which equals one nautical mile, therefore, each degree of latitude is 60 nm.
NKP - Nahkon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand
NORDO - an acronym meaning no radio.
Pathet Lao - Communist "irregular" forces operating in Laos.
PDJ - Plaine des Jarres; French for Plain of Jars for the ancient stone jars found thereon.
PJ - Pararescue Jumper; the enlisted crewman in the rescue helicopter who often was forced to ride the cable down to assist woulded or otherwise injured survivors; the PJ was trained as a paramedic and was able to effect rescues both on land and in the water; the true heroes in the SEA SAR story.
Prairie Fire - A mission that supported the insertion and extraction of friendly ground teams in enemy territory.
Play Time - slang for loiter time or the amount of time a flight could remain in the target area; one of the first things asked by a FAC, as in "Sandy 05, say play time?"
POL - Petroleum, Oil, Lubricants; a class of target
Route Package - At the end of 1965, North Vietnam was divided into a total of six areas which defined bombing responsiblity for the Navy and Air Force. Route Pack VI was further divided via a north-south line through Hanoi into VI Alpha and VI Bravo.
RTU - Replacement Training Unit
SH - Sierra Hotel; shit hot; superb, great, rad
Slow Mover - A-1s, helos, and FAC aircraft; as opposed to Fast Mover
SLUFF - Short Little Ugly Fat F_ _ _ _ _. (Fellow?); A-7D Corsair II
Soft ordnance - ordnance able to be used in close proximity of friendly ground troops (or a survivor on a SAR); ordnance optimized for anti-personnel use as opposed to hard ordnance.
StanEval - Standardization and Evaluation; a part of the squadron that administers the standsrdization program and administers flight and ground evaluations.
Steel Tiger - The code name for the southern part of Laos including the Bolovens Plateau.
TACAN - Tactical Air Navigation. A navigation system based of an aircraft's receipt of bearing and range information from ground stations. TACAN stations were referred to by their "Channel number" such as Ch 89 for NKP.
TOT - Time on Target; the scheduled time that a flight is to attack a given target; especially important to attack on time when several flights are attacking other targets in the same general area.
UHF/ADF - An piece of radio equipment that allowed one to home on another's UHF radio signal. Often used to effect an airborn rendezvous or locate a survivor's position.
Uniform - phonetic alphabet word for the letter "U"; refers to the UHF radio, as in 'call me on Uniform'; as opposed to Victor or Fox Mike
UPT - Undergraduate Pilot Training
Victor - phonetic alphabet word for the letter "V"; refers to the VHF radio; as opposed to Uniform or Fox Mike
Willy Pete - slang for White Phosphorus.