winter soldier n.— «Why “Winter Soldier”? This harkens back to 1777-78. After suffering three terrible defeats by the much larger British force and marching hundreds of miles, the hungry, ragged, typhoid-infected, 11,000-man Continental...
Grant recommends two books that are great for giving as gifts. FUBAR: Soldier Sland of World War II by Gordon Rottman looks at the language of soldiers from different armies. Also, Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by Nicholas Ostler, which looks...
BEAR n.— «A remote-controlled robot that will rescue injured or abducted soldiers, without putting the lives of their comrades at risk, is being developed for the US army. The 1.8-metre-tall Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (Bear) will...
suspense adj.— «Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Army’s term for a deadline is a “suspense,” sometimes abbreviated simply “S:” and followed by a date. The first time I was told that I had to “meet a suspense,” I didn’t know where to...
golden thread n.— «This reluctance to sign up for the army life is being ascribed partly to the merger last year of the six Scottish regiments into one, with the consequent loss of regional identity. This identity is referred to as the...
mouseholing v.— «As part of 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers, attached to the Royal Marines” 3 Commando Brigade in Helmand province, he used his specialist explosives skills to carry out a procedure known as...