backfill n.— «I was mobilized to a stateside assignment at Fort Eustis in Virginia, where I would administer anesthesia at the McDonald Army Community Hospital. I was known as “backfill,” a term for identifying someone who...
bullet sponge n.— «Others in the Army call them grunts, or trigger pullers, or crunchies, for the sound of a tank rolling over a dead soldier. Sgt. Allan Toney has heard them all. “Bullet taker, bullet sponge, bullet stopper,”...
bullet sponge n. a person, especially a soldier, who takes the brunt of weapons fire. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
stove-pipe n.— «Soldiers call it a “stove-pipe.” It happens rarely, and usually in the very worst of combat circumstances: the soldier is fatally hit just as he is firing his handgun. In the split second when his weapon fires...
vertical drinking n.— «Police in Preston want to call time on drinkers who stand at the bar, or as they call it “vertical drinking.” According to the Times, they believe that drinking while standing in pubs and bars is one of...
x-fill v.— «They were being extracted—or “X-filled” in military parlance—from the mission site and were loading up a Chinook helicopter with their gear.» —“Fortunate soldier home to celebrate 19th birthday” by...