red-one report

red-one report
 n.— «An Army regiment apparently does not move an inch before knowing that everyone is accounted for. The process, known as a red-one report, is not unlike what you did in elementary school at the morning bell. And these warriors line up alphabetically about as smoothly as does a sixth grade class.» —“Long road into Iraq is only the beginning” by Bill Johnson in Baghdad, Iraq Rock Mountain News (Denver, Colo.) Nov. 6, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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2 comments
  • Dunno. It strikes me that the journalist may not have understood the term correctly, in part because to call a “report” a “process” doesn’t quite work. Also, I’m not sure of the relationship between the Army’s 1st Infantry Division and the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment.

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