The Irate Nation Est. 2001

Military Slang Downrange

clipped from www.foxnews.com

Like their fellow soldiers in Germany, Vietnam or Korea, those deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a language all their own, filled with black humor, cultural references and even the occasional crudity.

Most of us have heard of RADAR -- originally a military acronym standing in for the cumbersome term "Radio Detection and Ranging."

We may even have encountered, or experienced, the occasional SNAFU, for "Situation Normal: All (Fouled) Up."

But what on Earth is a "death blossom?" Or a "fobbit," for that matter?

Slang terms referring to features of a base are also common, for example, a sign someone put next to an oil-filled puddle on a base in Afghanistan reading, "Rainbow Lake."