25 phrases that only people in the military will understand

Only in the service is it OK to refer to one of your coworkers or (worse yet and most frequently) a person working for you in a section you manage as "a good piece of gear."

A Blue Falcon is someone who blatantly throws another Marine/soldier/sailor/airman under the bus. You don't want to be called a Blue Falcon.

A "wake-up" refers to the last day you will be some place (generally while deployed). So, if a service member is getting ready for bed on a Sunday, and flying out on a Friday, he'll say "four days and a wake-up."

When personnel or materiel are obtained through unofficial channels.

Military service isn't all fun. In fact, it is mostly suck.

For every five seconds of hanging out of a helicopter, there are countless eternities spent enduring safety briefs and doing mundane tasks (picking up cigarette butts, buffing floors, toilets, etc.). And then there is the unpleasantness of being pinned beneath an inescapable and ever-present rank structure.

Troops are encouraged to embrace this sad reality.

Literally refers to taking apart weapons to the extent authorized for routine cleaning, lubrication, and minor repairs while in "the field."

Field stripping can also be used informally to describe taking apart anything.

If a Humvee becomes stuck or broken outside of base, troops will field strip it of anything classified or of value before leaving it behind.

If you park your car in a bad part of town, it may be on cinder blocks by the next morning, completely field stripped.

This phrase refers to all the gear servicemen and women are required to carry outside the wire. Generally: flak jacket with protective plates, Kevlar, 180 rounds of ammunition, water, rations, rifle.

It's called "battle rattle" because — unless we're talking about Navy SEALs — walking with all this stuff usually makes noise.

When a problem needs to be solved but the selected means of solving the problem is itself more problematic.

Generally, it shows "good initiative" because the problem might have been above the pay grade of person trying to solve it.

Often used as a compliment in the Marine Corps to describe someone who does not have the official qualification in an infantry field, but has worked on a daily basis with the infantry.

It's usually used for artillerymen or drivers, people who are deployed for extended periods of time with the infantry.

Office dinner parties or get togethers that are mandatory. Sometimes these are just understood as mandatory, other times the order is given expressly.

Military-issued eyeglasses known for their lack of aesthetic appeal.

If a shooter on the range is so far off target that spotters don't see an impact. Used loosely to mean that the speaker doesn't understand an idea, or that someone is totally clueless.

Similar to "high and off to the right," which is the military equivalent of "out of left field" — a personality type gone crazy, or an idea that no one saw coming.

An Air Force-specific term for personnel who never fly planes, but instead spend their time "flying a desk." Those in the Chair Force do office work.

"Chair Force" is also used as a pejorative against the Air Force by the other services.

Like a member of the Chair Force, a "PowerPoint ranger" is a service member tasked primarily with creating Power Points for briefings.

PowerPoint rangers can be notorious for creating overly complicated briefs that feature too many animations or sound effects.

Clothes a member of the military wears off-duty, just like a normal civilian would wear on the street.

A police call is when an entire unit lines up and walks across a certain area looking for trash.

"Policing," on the other hand, is when a unit internally checks the behavior of its members, or when people are ordered to take care of their own outward deficiencies (e.g., "Police that mustache!").

Something that is really awesome, hardcore, or tactically skilled. For example, you can be "s--- hot" at your job. An operation that was carried out well would also be "s--- hot."

Giving a salute to an officer in the field. Salutes given to an officer are normally prohibited in the field since they would identify an officer to an enemy, making the officer the possible target of a sniper.

Believe it or not, the military is government, and government isn't always efficient.

"Standby" is a "preparatory command." Usually the order to standby alerts a unit that it will receive some kind of marching orders — "standby to launch."

Unofficially, it's used to tell junior members to be ready and wait. Often, troops find themselves waiting for long periods of time because of logistics or command indecisiveness.

Said sarcastically, "standby to standby" means that a unit is waiting to wait some more.

"Hurry up and wait," also said sarcastically, pokes fun at the military's propensity to perform tasks quickly, and then sit idly for long periods of time.

There are two different kinds of voluntold:

A. The gunny walks into the office and says, "Man, wouldn't the floor look nice if somebody buffed it?" Which means,"Buff the floor."

B. "I need two volunteers to stand out in front of Best Buy this Saturday collecting Toys for Tots."

" ... "

"Jones, Smith, you're collecting Toys for Tots this weekend."

Being unproductive, horsing around, or literally smoking and joking.

Intelligence personnel, secret communications, classified ops, or someone with higher classification.

"Make a hole" is the preferred method to tell a group of people to get out of your way.

An Air Force term for "watch out behind you" based on looking for enemy aircraft or missiles to the rear at the 6 o'clock position.

"Check your six" is also used in bars or other crowded areas to discretely tell a friend to check out someone behind them.