“They” say english is the hardest language to learn, but I disagree. I think military-ese is the toughest. There has to be about 5,000 or so acronyms, for everything from a BDA (bomb damage assessment) to BDU (battle dress utility) or a BDU-33 (bomb dummy unit). Granted, the BDU-33 is going back about blahblah years, but it did exist.

So, if anyone is reading this and they are in the first few weeks or months of military service, don’t sweat it. You’ll pick up this stuff. You’ll remember them for years and years, especially the good ones like FIGMO (eff it got my orders) or DEROS (date estimated return over seas).