down-range adv.— «The only time the Zaragoza clubs made any sort of profit at all was during the run-up to Gulf War I. All the troops passing through on their way to Saudi Arabia (otherwise referred to as “down-range”) were confined to...
plaza n.— «It has traditionally controlled access to the Nuevo Laredo-Laredo smuggling routes, referred to as “plazas.”…The Sinaloa Cartel redoubled its efforts to capture control of the Nuevo Laredo plaza from the Gulf...
Katrina crud n.— «Harold “Buz” Olsen, the city’s community and economic development director, said between 40 and 80 patients a day visit the clinic for a variety of injuries and illnesses, including the nagging respiratory...
Suck n.— «The tagline for Sam Mendes’ war movie ”Jarhead” is ”Welcome to the Suck.” ”The Suck” in this case is happily not the movie. Like the film’s title, which is slang for a Marine grunt, ”the Suck” is Marine slang for...
dirt Navy n.— «I’m not likely to end up back on a ship anytime soon (if ever).…You could say I’ve gone from the “blue-water” Navy to the “dirt” Navy—or the “sand” Navy in this case.» —“Looks...
mobile-minium n.— «Brewer said she had been helping to arrange for evacuees to move into what are being called “mobile-miniums,” a sprucier name for what are commonly called trailers» —“Peace Corps Deployed to Gulf...