Newsday (New York) March 26, 2003
How to Speak Military
By Linda McKinney
Can't tell the difference between an RPG and a WMD? Here's an explination of war terms that have crept into the language of military briegings and TV reports:
CENTRAL COMMAND, or CENTCOM: Area of military jurisdiction that covers Iraq and much of the Mideast. Gen. Tommy Franks is commander.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE: Unintentional injury or damage to civilians or civilian property. Lawful as long as it is not excessive.
COLUMN: Formation )of vehicles, for example) in which the elements are placed behind one another.
ELECTRONIC WARFARE: A kind of attack that uses electromagnetic energy to jam the system of enemy planes, missles, bombs or radar. Some Navy planes use jammers. Also, Russia has been accused of selling this technology to Iraq.
EMBEDDING: A new arrangement between the Pentagon and the media in which journalists "join" the troop units they cover. The idea is they eat, march, sleep and face danger with the men and women in their stories. There are restrictions: Some details, including certain times, places or names, cannot be reported.
FORWARD: Near the combat (Example: forward position, deployed forward).
FRAGMENTATION: Explosion that propels shrapnel, as in a grenade.
GPS: Stands for "global positioning system," a network of satellites that provieds location, speed and direction of an object. In military applicatiosn, GPS is used for intelligence gathering and munitions-targeting bombs.
JDAM: Stand for "joint direct attack munition." Basically, a tail kit that upgrades an unguided bomb into a guided weapon.
LASER-GUIDED MISSILE: A munition in which the operator "tags" an enemy with a laser, and, once fired, the missile follows the laser to the target.
MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE: The largest Marien task force, typically used for large crises. Comprises troop units, aircraft squadrons and support forces,t eh expeditionary force is essentially an army of its own, self-sufficient and capable of tackling a variety of missions on lalnd and sea for sustained periods.
MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT: Small division within the expeditionary force.
PRECISION BOMBING: Air attack on specific military targets, usually cararied out by GPS-or laser-guided weaposn to minimize collateral damage.
PSYOPS: Stands for "psychological operatiosn," or the use of propaganda to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes and behavior of enemy troops and civilians.
RPG: Stands for "rocket-propelled grenade," typically fired from a shoulder-mounted weapon.
SAFIRE: Stands for "surface-to-air fire."
UAV: Stands for "unmanned aerial vehicle," an airplane drone operated by a ground crew aided by satellites and flight cameras. Used for reconnaissance, though UAVs can be armed with missiles. Iraq has been accused of equipping UAVs with chemical weapons.
URBAN WARFARE: Combat that takes place in tightly packed quarters, often near civilians, in areas such as cities.
WMD: Stands for weapons of mass destruction, arms that inflict massive and often uncontrollable damage indiscriminately on military and civilian targets. WMDs biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
SOURCES: Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms; GlobalSecurity.org; usmilitary.about.com
GRAPHIC: Getty Images Photos - 1) Gen. Tommy Franks 2) PSYOPS: Progaganda is the tool of psychological operations. 3) JDAM: An upgrade for a dumb bomb 4) U.S. Air Force Photo - UAV: The Global Hawk is an example of an unmanned aerial vehicle.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
