List of U.S. Air Force acronyms and expressions

This is a list of acronyms, expressions, euphemism

Euphemism

A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...

s, jargon

Jargon

Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...

, military slang

Military slang

Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. It often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or derivations of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, or otherwise incorporates aspects of...

, and sayings in common or formerly common use in the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

. Many of the words or phrases have varying levels of acceptance among different units or communities, and some also have varying levels of appropriateness (usually dependent on how senior the user is in rank). Many terms also have equivalents among other service branches that are not acceptable amongst Marines, but are comparable in meaning. Many acronyms and terms have come into common use from voice procedure

Voice procedure

Voice procedure includes various techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the military, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens' band radio , etc....

use over communication channels, translated into the NATO phonetic alphabet, or both.

The scope of this list is to include words and phrases that are unique to or predominantly used by the United States Air Force. For other military slang lists, see the "See also" section.

0–9

1st Lt - First Lieutenant
2d Lt - Second Lieutenant
3C - Cross Cultural Competence

A

A1C - Airman First Class
Airman First Class
Airman first class is the third enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman and below senior airman. The rank of airman first class is considered a junior enlisted rank, with the non-commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers above it.Airman first class is a...

(from 1952 to 1967 it was A2C)
A2C - Airman Second Class (from 1952 to 1967 – now A1C)
A3C - Airman Third Class (from 1952 to 1967 – now Amn)
AADS - Alaskan Air Defense Sector
176th Air Control Squadron
The 176th Air Control Squadron is a part of the United States Air National Guard, which provides mission-ready personnel to operate and maintain the Alaskan Region Air Operations Center of the North American Aerospace Defense Command...
AB - Airman Basic
Airman Basic
Airman Basic is the lowest enlisted rank in the United States Air Force , immediately below Airman. The pay grade for Airman Basic is E-1.As opposed to all other USAF enlisted and officer ranks, Airman Basic has no rank insignia affiliated...
ABM - Air Battle Manager
Air Battle Manager
Air Battle Manager is a rated flying position in the United States Air Force.-History:Air Battle Manager has been a rated career field since October 1, 1999. This means that ABMs are career aviators who receive flight pay and must actively fly a certain number of months to maintain their rating...
ABU - Airman Battle Uniform
Airman Battle Uniform
The Airman Battle Uniform is a service-distinctive camouflage battledress uniform for the United States Air Force. It is currently in full production and replaced the Battle Dress Uniform November 1st, 2011 after a four year phase-in period...
ACA - Airspace Control Authority
ACC - Air Combat Command
Air Combat Command
Air Combat Command is a major command of the United States Air Force. ACC is one of ten major commands , reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force ....
ACOT - Advanced Communications Officer Training
ACSC - Air Command and Staff College
Air Command and Staff College
The Air Command and Staff College is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and is the United States Air Force's intermediate professional military education school. It prepares field grade and equivalent officers of all U.S...
ADC - Area Defense Council
ADCON - Administrative Control
ADP - Airman Development Plan
ADPE - Automated Data Processing Equipment
ADSC - Active Duty Service Commitment
AEF - Aerospace Expeditionary Force
AETC - Air Education and Training Command
Air Education and Training Command
Air Education and Training Command was established July 1, 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University. It is one of the U.S. Air Force's ten major commands and reports to Headquarters, United States Air Force....
AEW - Air Expeditionary Wing
AFA - Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
AFA - Air Force Association
Air Force Association
The Air Force Association is an independent, 501 non-profit, civilian education organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia...
AFAA - Air Force Audit Agency
Air Force Audit Agency
The Air Force Audit Agency is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force that provides all levels of Air Force management with audit services and assesses Air Force financial stewardship and the accuracy of financial reporting....
AFAMS - Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation
Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation
The United States Air Force established the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation in June 1996. Its mission is to coordinate the growing requirement for modeling and simulation across the Air Force...
AFB - Air Force Base
Air Force Base
An Air Force Base is a military airbase of any of a number of air forces, such as the United States Air Force or South African Air Force ....
AFCA - Air Force Communications Agency
Air Force Communications Agency
The Air Force Network Integration Center , located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is a direct reporting unit of the Air Force Space Command...
AFCAA - Air Force Cost Analysis Agency
Air Force Cost Analysis Agency
The Air Force Cost Analysis Agency performs independent component cost analyses for major space, aircraft, and information system programs as required by public law and Department of Defense policy, or those of special interest. It is responsible for cost estimating and for enhancing the...
AFCAT - Air Force Catalog
AFCEE - Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment
AFCENT - Air Forces Central
AFCESA - Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency
Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency
The Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force. The agency manages contracts that provide civil engineer support to help restore and modernize buildings and infrastructure at Air Force bases around the world.-History:The AFCESA began as the...
AFCLC - Air Force Culture and Learning Center
AFFMA - Air Force Frequency Management Agency
Air Force Frequency Management Agency
The Air Force Spectrum Management Office plans, provides, and preserves access to the electromagnetic spectrum for Air Force and selected Department of Defense activities in support of national policy objectives, systems development, and global operations. It develops and implements spectrum...
AFFSA - Air Force Flight Standards Agency
Air Force Flight Standards Agency
The Air Force Flight Standards Agency maximizes the effectiveness of Air Force global air operations by ensuring access to worldwide airspace in all weather conditions. AFFSA does this by providing accurate, relevant, and timely flight information and support services to Department of Defense,...
AFFSC - Air Force Financial Services Center
Air Force Financial Services Center
The Air Force Financial Services Center is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force. The center is located at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota...
AFGSC - Air Force Global Strike Command
AFH - Air Force Handbook
AFHRA - Air Force Historical Research Agency
Air Force Historical Research Agency
The Air Force Historical Research Agency is the repository for United States Air Force historical documents.The Agency's collection, begun during World War II in Washington, D.C., moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional...
AFI - Air Force Instruction; as a duty status, awaiting further instructions
AFIA - Air Force Inspection Agency
Air Force Inspection Agency
The Air Force Inspection Agency operates as an Air Force Field Operating Agency under the direction of the Air Force Inspector General. It provides independent assessments of acquisition, nuclear surety, operations, logistics, support, and healthcare to Air Force senior leadership...
AFIAA - Air Force Intelligence Analysis Agency
AFISRA - Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency
AFIT - Air Force Institute of Technology
Air Force Institute of Technology
The Air Force Institute of Technology is a graduate school and provider of professional and continuing education that is part of the United States Air Force. It is located on Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. A component of Air University and Air Education and Training Command, AFIT has been...
AFLMA - Air Force Logistics Management Agency
Air Force Logistics Management Agency
The Air Force Logistics Management Agency improves agile combat support capabilities by generating enterprise supply chain solutions supporting logistics transformation through research, war games and literature...
AFLOA - Air Force Legal Operations Agency
Air Force Legal Operations Agency
The Air Force Legal Operations Agency includes all senior defense counsel, senior trial counsel, and appellate defense and government counsel in the Air Force, as well as all Air Force civil litigators defending the Air Force against civil law suits claiming damages and seeking other remedies in...
AFMA - Air Force Manpower Agency
Air Force Manpower Agency
The Air Force Manpower Agency provides United States Air Force leaders assistance in identifying manpower requirements for the effective and efficient accomplishment of the Air Force mission. The agency, through its four major divisions and five subordinate manpower requirement squadrons, develops...
AFMAN - Air Force Manual
AFMC - Air Force Material Command
AFMOA - Air Force Medical Operations Agency
Air Force Medical Operations Agency
The Air Force Medical Operations Agency oversees execution of the Air Force Surgeon General policies supporting Air Force expeditionary capabilities, healthcare operations, and national security strategy...
AFMS - Air Force Manpower Standards
AFMSA - Air Force Medical Support Agency
Air Force Medical Support Agency
The Air Force Medical Support Agency provides comprehensive consultative support and policy development for the Air Force Surgeon General in medical force management...
AFNIC - Air Force Network Integration Center
AFNOC - Air Force Network Operations Center
AFNORTH - Air Forces Northern
AFNSEPO - Air Force National Security Emergency Preparedness Office
AFNWCA - Air Force Nuclear Weapons and Counterproliferation Agency
AFOG - Air Force Operations Group
AFOQT - Air Force Officer Qualifying Test
AFPAA - Air Force Public Affairs Agency
Air Force Public Affairs Agency
The Air Force Public Affairs Agency is a United States Air Force agency. It provides agile and responsive multimedia capabilities to the Air Force, as well as enhancing the future capabilities of the Public Affairs career field....
AFPAM - Air Force Pamphlet
AFPC - Air Force Personnel Center
Air Force Personnel Center
The Air Force Personnel Center is a field operating agency of Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel.AFPC operates the Air Force Contact Center, where personnel experts provide customer service...
AFPCA - Air Force Pentagon Communications Agency
AFPD - Air Force Policy Directive
AFPEO - Air Force Program Executive Office
AFPET - Air Force Petroleum Agency
AFPOA - Air Force Personnel Operations Agency
Air Force Personnel Operations Agency
The Air Force Personnel Operations Agency serves as the single Air Force focal point for submission and acceptance of total force human resources information technology requirements...
AFRBA - Air Force Review Boards Agency
Air Force Review Boards Agency
The Air Force Review Boards Agency provides management of various military and civilian appellate processes for the Secretary of the Air Force...
AFRC - Air Force Reserve Command
Air Force Reserve Command
The Air Force Reserve Command is a major command of the U.S. Air Force with its headquarters at Robins AFB, Georgia.It stood up as a major command of the Air Force on 17 February 1997....
AFRL - Air Force Research Lab
AFRPA - Air Force Real Property Agency
Air Force Real Property Agency
The Air Force Real Property Agency acquires, disposes and manages all Air Force-controlled real property worldwide. It is an agency within the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics....
AFSA - Air Force Sergeants Association
Air Force Sergeants Association
The Air Force Sergeants Association is a non-profit organization representing the professional and personal interests of nearly 111,000 active, retired and veteran total enlisted members of the United States Air Force and their families....
AFSC - Air Force Safety Center
Air Force Safety Center
The Air Force Safety Center attempts to prevent mishaps and preserve combat readiness by developing, implementing, executing, and evaluating Air Force aviation, ground, weapons, nuclear surety, space, and system programs. It conducts research to promote safety and awareness and mishap prevention...
AFSC - Air Force Specialty Code
Air Force Specialty Code
The Air Force Specialty Code is an alphanumeric code used by the United States Air Force to identify an Air Force Specialty . Officer AFSCs consist of four characters and enlisted AFSCs consist of five characters. A letter prefix or suffix may be used with an AFSC when more specific identification...
AFSFC - Air Force Security Forces Center
Air Force Security Forces Center
The Air Force Security Forces Center organizes, trains, and equips Air Force security forces worldwide. It develops force protection doctrine, programs, and policies by planning and programming resources to execute the missions of nuclear and non-nuclear weapon system security, physical security,...
AFSO 21 - Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century
AFSOC - Air Force Special Operations Command
Air Force Special Operations Command
Air Force Special Operations Command is the Special Operations component of the United States Air Force and the US Air Force component command to the United States Special Operations Command , a unified command located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida...
AFSOUTH - Air Forces Southern
Air Forces Southern
The Twelfth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona....
AFSPC - Air Force Space Command
Air Force Space Command
Air Force Space Command is a major command of the United States Department of the Air Force, with its headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. AFSPC supports U.S. military operations worldwide through the use of many different types of satellite, launch and cyber operations....
AFSVA - Air Force Services Agency
Air Force Services Agency
The Air Force Services Agency conducts research and development, policy implementation, and provides technical expertise in support of the bases, major commands, and Air Staff...
AFTO - Air Force Technical Order
AFVA - Air Force Visual Aids
AFWA - Air Force Weather Agency
Air Force Weather Agency
The Air Force Weather Agency is a Field Operating Agency and the lead military meteorology center of the United States Air Force...
AGSM - Ainti-G Straining Maneuver
AKRAOC - Alaska Region Air Operations Center
176th Air Control Squadron
The 176th Air Control Squadron is a part of the United States Air National Guard, which provides mission-ready personnel to operate and maintain the Alaskan Region Air Operations Center of the North American Aerospace Defense Command...
ALO - Air Liaison Officer
ALS - Airman Leadership School
Airman Leadership School
Airman Leadership School is a five week-long United States Air Force program designed to develop airmen into effective front-line supervisors. It is the first professional military education that enlisted Air Force members encounter...
AMC - Air Mobility Command
Air Mobility Command
Air Mobility Command is a Major Command of the U.S. Air Force. AMC is headquartered at Scott AFB, Illinois, east of St. Louis....
Amn - Airman
Airman
An airman is a member of the air component of a nation's armed service. In the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force , it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank...
AMMO Troop - Munitions Systems Technician AMMO (U.S. Air Force)
AMMO (U.S. Air Force)
The Munitions Systems Specialist career field , commonly referred to as AMMO, is the munitions and weapons branch of the U.S. Air Force.-Career Field Description:...
AMS - Academy of Military Science
AMW - Air Mobility Wing
AMXS - Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
ANG - Air National Guard
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...
ANR - Alaskan NORAD Region
AOC - Air and Space Operations Center
Air Operations Center
An Air and Space Operations Center is a type of command center used by the United States Air Force. It is the senior agency of the Air Force component commander to provide command and control of air and space operations....
AOG - Aircraft On Ground
APS - Aerial Port Squadron
AS - Airlift Squadron
ASBC - Air and Space Basic Course
ATC - Air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
ATO - Air Tasking Order
Air tasking order
An air tasking order is a means by which the Joint Forces Air Component Commander controls air forces within a joint operations environment. The ATO is a large document written in United States Message Text Format that lists air sorties for a fixed 24-hour period, with individual call signs,...
AU - Air University
AW - Airlift Wing
AWACS - Airborne Warning and Control System
AWACS - A War Against Common Sense
AWC - Air War College
Air War College
The Air War College is a part of the United States Air Force's Air University, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Air University's higher headquarters is Air Education and Training Command headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The Air War...
AWOL - Absent Without Leave
AWP - Awaiting Parts

B

BAH - Basic Allowance for Housing
Basic Allowance for Housing
Basic Allowance for Housing is a United States military entitlement given to many military members. It was previously called Basic allowance for quarters .-How It Works:...
BAS - Basic Allowance for Subsistance
BCGs - Birth Control Glasses (nickname for eye glasses issued by the US military
GI glasses
GI glasses are eyeglasses issued by the American military to its service members. Dysphemisms for them include the most common birth control glasses and variants. At one time they were officially designated as "Regulation Prescription Glasses", or "RPGs". This was commonly said to mean "Rape...

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BCOT - Basic Communications Officer Training
BDU - Battle Dress Uniform
Battle Dress Uniform
The Battle Dress Uniform were the fatigues that the armed forces of the United States used as their standard uniform for combat situations from September 1981 to April 2005. Since then, it has been replaced in every branch of the U.S. military. Only the U.S. Navy currently authorizes wear of the...
BITS - Base Information Transfer System
BFM - Basic Fighter Maneuvers
Basic fighter maneuvers
Basic fighter maneuvers are tactical movements performed by fighter aircraft during air combat maneuvering , in order to gain a positional advantage over the opponent. BFM combines the fundamentals of aerodynamic flight and the geometry of pursuit with the physics of managing the aircraft's...
BFT - Blue Force Tracking
Blue Force Tracking
Blue Force Tracking is a United States military term used to denote a GPS-enabled system that provides military commanders and forces with location information about friendly military forces....
BONE - Nickname for the B-1 Lancer
B-1 Lancer
The Rockwell B-1 LancerThe name "Lancer" is only applied to the B-1B version, after the program was revived. is a four-engine variable-sweep wing strategic bomber used by the United States Air Force...
BOQ - Bachelor Officer Quarters
Brig Gen - Brigadier General
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
BS - Bomb Squadron
BSA - Basic Surface Attack
BUFF -Big Ugly Fat Fucker, nickname for a B-52 Stratofortress
B-52 Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, who have continued to provide maintainence and upgrades to the aircraft in service...
Butterbar - Slang expression for the rank of second lieutenant; refers to the distinctive gold color of the rank insignia.
BW - Bomb Wing
BX - Base Exchange

C

C-Day - The unnamed day on which a deployment operation begins or is to begin
C2 - Command and Control
C4ISR - Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
C4ISR
C4ISR may refer to:* the C4ISR concept of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, the U.S. term for C4ISTAR* C4ISR Journal, a journal published by the Defense News Media Group...
CA - Combat Arms
CAF - Combat Air Force
CAI - Computer Aided Instruction
CAOC - Combined Air and Space Operations Center
CAMS - Core Automated Maintenance System (database behind IMDS)
CAP - Civil Air Patrol
Civil Air Patrol
Civil Air Patrol is a Congressionally chartered, federally supported, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force . CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded membership that includes people from all backgrounds, lifestyles, and...
Capt - Captain
CAS - Close Air Support
Close air support
In military tactics, close air support is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are close to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces.The determining factor for CAS is...
CAT - Crisis Action Team
CATM - Combat Arms Training and Maintenance
CBT - Computer Based Training
CBRNE - Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosives
CCAF - Community College of the Air Force
Community College of the Air Force
The Community College of the Air Force is a federal program offered by the United States Air Force which grants two year Associate of Applied Science degrees in association with Air University....
CCT - Combat Control
CDC - Career Development Course
CEG - Combat Evaluation Group
1st Combat Evaluation Group
The 1st Combat Evaluation Group , Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, was the military simulation evaluation and standardization unit of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command .-History:...
CES - Civil Engineering Squadron
CEVG - Combat Evaluation Group
1st Combat Evaluation Group
The 1st Combat Evaluation Group , Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, was the military simulation evaluation and standardization unit of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command .-History:...
CFEPT - Career Field Education and Training Plan
CFR - Crash Fire Rescue
CFT - Cockpit Familiarization Trainer
CGO - Company Grade Officer (lieutenants and captains)
CGOC - Company Grade Officers' Council
Company Grade Officers' Council
The Company Grade Officers' Council is a national organization of US Air Force Company Grade Officers . It is not an official military organization, but a council of junior grade military officers that volunteer their off-duty time to give back to the base and community and develop themselves...
CI - Counterintelligence
CMO - Civil-Military Operations
CMSAF - Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is a unique non-commissioned rank in the United States Air Force. The holder of this rank and post represents the highest enlisted level of leadership in the Air Force, and as such, provides direction for the enlisted corps and represents their interests,...
CMSgt - Chief Master Sergeant
Chief Master Sergeant
CMSgt ChevronChief Master Sergeant is the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Senior Master Sergeant, and is a senior non-commissioned officer. The official term of address is "Chief Master Sergeant" or "Chief".Attaining the rank of Chief Master Sergeant is the...
CND - Could Not Duplicate
CNO - Computer Network Operations
CNT - Counter Narco-Terror
Narcoterrorism
Narcoterrorism is a term coined by former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Peru in 1983 when describing terrorist-type attacks against his nation's anti-narcotics police...
COA - Course of Action
Col - Colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
COLA - Cost of Living Adjustment
COMINT - Communications Intelligence
CONOPS - Concept of Operations
CONS - Contracting Squadron
CONUS - Continental United States
COMAFFOR - Commander, Air Force Forces
Cop - Term for Air Force Security Forces
CPF - Civilian Personnel Flight
CPTS - Comptroller Squadron
CS - Communications Squadron
CSAF - Chief of Staff of the Air Force
CSAR - Combat Search and Rescue
CSS - Commander's Support Staff (orderly room)

D

D-Day - The unnamed day on which an operation begins or is to begin
DACBT - Dissimilar Air Combat Training
Dissimilar air combat training
Dissimilar air combat training was introduced as a formal part of US air combat training after disappointing aerial combat exchange rates in the Vietnam War.Traditionally, pilots would undertake air combat training against similar aircraft...
DEAD - Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses
DEERS - Defense Eligibility Enrollment Reporting System
DEROS - Date Estimated Return from OverSeas
DFAC - Dining Facility
DMSP - Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program monitors meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-terrestrial physics for the United States Department of Defense. The program is now run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The mission of the satellites was revealed in March 1973...
Dollar Ride - A pilot's first flight in an airframe
Doolie - nickname for a first year Air Force Academy cadet
DOR - Date of Rank
DRU - Direct Reporting Unit
Direct Reporting Unit
A Direct Reporting Unit is an agency of the United States Department of the Air Force that is outside the bounds of the standard organizational hierarchy by being exclusively and uniquely under the control of Air Force headquarters alone, rather than reporting through a Major Command...
DSCS - Defense Satellite Communications System
Defense Satellite Communications System
The Defense Satellite Communications System provides the United States with military communications to support globally distributed military users. DSCS will be replaced by the Wideband Global SATCOM system. A total of 14 DSCS III satellites were launched between the early 1980s and 2003. Two...
DSP - Defense Support Program
Defense Support Program
The Defense Support Program is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States....
DSPD - Defense Support to Public Diplomacy
DT - Development Team

E

EAD - Effective Active duty Date
EADS - Eastern Air Defense Sector
Eastern Air Defense Sector
The Eastern Air Defense Sector is a United States Air Force unit and a component of the New York Air National Guard. It is stationed at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York.-Overview:...
EELV - Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
EET - Exercise Evaluation Team
EFMP - Exceptional Family Member Program
ELINT - Electronic signals Intelligence
EGI - Embedded GPS/Inertial Navigation
EMEDS - Expeditionary Medical Support
ENJJPT - Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training
EOC - Emergency Operations Center
Emergency operations center
An emergency operations center, or EOC, is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level in an emergency situation, and ensuring the continuity of operation...
EOD - Explosive Ordinance Disposal
EPR - Enlisted Performance Report
ERCC - Engine Run Crew Change
ERO - Engine Running Onload/Offload
EW - Electronic Warfare
Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly...
EWO - Electronic Warfare Officer
Electronic Warfare Officer
In the U.S. Air Force, an Electronic Warfare Officer is a trained aerial navigator in the Air Force who has received training in enemy threat systems, electronic warfare principles and overcoming enemy air defense systems...

F

FAA - Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
FAC - Forward Air Controller
FAIP - First Assignment Instructor Pilot
FGO - Field Grade Officer (majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels)
FIGMO - Fuck it I Got My Orders
Fini Flight - A pilot's last flight in the aircraft before he/she leaves a squadron
FLPP - Foreign Language Profeciency Pay
FMC - Fully Mission Capable
FMS - Foreign Military Sales
Foreign Military Sales
The U.S. Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales program facilitates sales of U.S. arms, defense equipment, defense services, and military training to foreign governments...
FOA - Field Operating Agency
FOD - Foreign Object Damage or debris that can cause damage
FOUO - For Official Use Only
Four Fan Trash Can - Nickname for the C-130 Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
Four Fans of Freedom - Nickname for the C-130 Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
FRED - Fucking Ridiculous Economic Disaster (term for the C-5 Galaxy
C-5 Galaxy
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize cargos, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many...

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FS - Fighter Squadron
FSB - Force Shaping Board
FSS - Force Support Squadron
FTAC - First Term Airman's Center
FTU - Formal Training Unit
FTW - Flying Training Wing
FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition
FW - Fighter Wing

G

G-LOC - G-induced Loss of Consciousness
GBS - Global Broadcast Service
Global Broadcast Service
The Global Broadcast Service is a combined United States space and Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence system, that provides a one-way Wideband/high-Throughput of information to forces garrisoned, deployed, or on the move....

(prounounced: jibz -- IPA: dʒɪbz)
GC / GNC - Guidance and Control
GCCS - Global Command and Control System
GCIC - Global Cyberspace Integration Center
Global Cyberspace Integration Center
The Air Force Command and Control Integration Center is an Air Combat Command Direct Reporting Unit responsible for innovating, designing, developing, integrating, and sustaining command and control solutions...
GCS - Ground Control Station
Ground control station
A ground control station is a land- or sea-based control center that provides the facilities for human control of unmanned vehicles in the air or in space. A GCS could be used to control unmanned aerial vehicles or rockets within or above the atmosphere....
GDT - Ground Data Terminal
Gen - General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
GLCM - Ground Launched Cruise Missile
Ground Launched Cruise Missile
The Ground Launched Cruise Missile, or GLCM, was a ground-launched cruise missile developed by the United States Air Force in the last decade of the Cold War.-Overview:...
Gp - Group
GPC - Government Purchase Card
GPS - Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
GTC - Government Travel Card

H

HAF - Headquarters Air Force
HALO - High Altitude, Low Opening
Hanger "[#]" - A non existent hanger (i.e. if there are 4 hangers, then it would be hanger 5) heard most often over the radio that is code for the bathroom/Porta John. Example: "Get me to hanger 5!"
HARM - High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile
AGM-88 HARM
The AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile is a tactical, air-to-surface missile designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems. It was originally developed by Texas Instruments as a replacement for the AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard ARM system...
HARRT - Humanitarian Assistance Rapid Response Team
Hawg - Nickname for the A-10 Thunderbolt II
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
HO - Historians Office
HPC - Historic Properties Custodian
HTS - HARM Targeting System
HARM Targeting System
The HARM Targeting System is a pod mounted to the side of an F-16 aircraft that enables the aircraft to track the location of hostile radar systems that can then be engaged with AGM-88 HARM or other air to surface weapons....
HUD - Head-Up Display
Head-Up Display
A head-up display or heads-up display is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints...
HUMINT - Human Intelligence
HUMINT
HUMINT, a syllabic abbreviation of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT...

I

IA - Information Assurance
IAW - In Accordance With
ICBM - Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
Intercontinental ballistic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a long range typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery...
IFE - In-Flight Emergency
IFF - Identification Friend or Foe
Identification friend or foe
In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...

or Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals
IFFCC - Integrated Flight and Fire Control Computer
IFT - Introductory Flight Training
IG - Inspector General
ILS - Instrument landing system
Instrument Landing System
An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
IMDS - Integrated Maintenance Database System
IMINT - Imagery Intelligence
IMINT
Imagery Intelligence , is an intelligence gathering discipline which collects information via satellite and aerial photography. As a means of collecting intelligence, IMINT is a subset of intelligence collection management, which, in turn, is a subset of intelligence cycle management...
INOSC - Integrated Network Operations and Security Center
IP - Instructor Pilot
IPB - Intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

Preparation of the Battlespace
IO - Information Operations
IOIC - Information Operations Integration Course
39th Information Operations Squadron
The 39th Information Operations Squadron is the U.S. Air Force's premier Information Operations and Cyber Formal Training Unit, part of the 318th Information Operations Group, assigned to the 688th Information Operations Wing, headquartered at Lackland AFB, Texas, under the Twenty-Fourth Air Force...
IS - Intelligence Squadron
ISR - Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
ITT - Information, Tickets, and Travel
IYAAYAS - If You Ain't Ammo
AMMO (U.S. Air Force)
The Munitions Systems Specialist career field , commonly referred to as AMMO, is the munitions and weapons branch of the U.S. Air Force.-Career Field Description:...

, You Ain't Shit

J

J-STARS - Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System
JA - Judge Advocate
JA/ATT - Joint Airborne/ Air Transportability Training
JAOC - Joint Air and Space Operations Center
JATO - Jet-Assisted Take-Off
JATO
JATO is an acronym for jet-fuel assisted take off. It is a system for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets....
JDAM - Joint Direct Attack Munition
Joint Direct Attack Munition
The Joint Direct Attack Munition is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs" into all-weather "smart" munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Positioning System receiver, giving them a published range of up to...
JFACC - Joint Forces Air Component Commander
JOAP - Joint Oil Analysis Program
JOPES - Joint Operation Planning and Execution System
JPATS - Joint Primary Air Training System
JPPT - Joint Primary Pilot Training
JSOW - Joint Standoff Weapon
AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon
The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is the product of a joint venture between the United States Navy and Air Force to deploy a standardized medium range precision guided weapon, especially for engagement of defended targets from outside the range of standard anti-aircraft defenses, thereby...
JSUPT - Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training

L

LAPES - Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System
LATN - Low Altitude Tactical Navigation
Lawn Dart - Nickname for F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

or any other fast, pointy aircraft.
LEAP - Language Enabled Airman Program
LGB - Laser-Guided Bomb
Laser-guided bomb
A laser-guided bomb is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser homing to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. LGBs are one of the most common and widespread guided bombs, used by a large number of the world's air forces.- Overview :Laser-guided munitions use a...
LIMFAC - Limiting Factor
LRS - Logistics Readiness Squadron
LOAC - Law of Armed Conflict
LOC - Letter of Counseling
LOR - Letter of Reprimand
LOWAT - Low Altitude Training
Lt Col - Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
Lt Gen - Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...

M

MAC - Military Airlift Command
Military Airlift Command
The Military Airlift Command is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command of the USAF which was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It was constituted on 1 January 1966 and active until the end of the Cold War, when the Air Force table of organization was revised...
MAF - Mobility Air Force
Maj - Major
Major (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
Maj Gen - Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
MAJCOM - Major Command
MANPAD - Man-Portable Air Defense
MARE - Major Accident Response Exercise
MASINT - Measurement and Signature Intelligence
Measurement and Signature Intelligence
Measurement and signature intelligence is a branch of intelligence gathering activities.MASINT, may have aspects of intelligence analysis management, since certain aspects of MASINT, such as the analysis of electromagnetic radiation received by signals intelligence are more of an analysis...
MATS - Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...
MDG - Medical Group
MEO - Military Equal Opportunity
MICAP - Mission Incapable
MIF - Maneuver Item File
MILDEC - Military Deception
Military deception
Military deception is an attempt to amplify, or create an artificial fog of war or to mislead the enemy using psychological operations, information warfare and other methods. As a form of strategic use of information , it overlaps with psychological warfare...
MILSTRIP – Military Standard Requisitioning and Issue Procedure
MLR - Management Level Review
MOAB - Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb
GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb is a large-yield conventional bomb developed for the United States military by Albert L. Weimorts, Jr. At the time of development, it was touted as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed...
MOOTW - Military Operations Other than War
Military operations other than war
Military Operations Other Than War focus on deterring war, resolving conflict, promoting peace, and supporting civil authorities in response to domestic crises. The phrase and acronym was coined by the United States military during the 1990s, but it has since fallen out of use. The UK military...
MOS - Maintenance Operations Squadron
Mosquito Wings - Nickname for the Airman rank insignia
MPF - Military Personnel Flight
MRE - Meal Ready to Eat
MSG - Mission Support Group
MSgt - Master Sergeant
Master Sergeant
A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in some armed forces.-Israel Defense Forces:Rav samal rishoninsignia IDF...
MSS - Mission Support Squadron
MTI - Military Training Instructor
MTL - Military Training Leader
Mud Hen - Nickname for the F-15E Strike Eagle
F-15E Strike Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle is an all-weather multirole fighter, derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic warfare aircraft. United States Air Force F-15E Strike...
MWS - Major Weapons System
MXG - Maintenance Group
MXS - Maintenance Squadron

N

NAF - Numbered Air Force
NCC - Network Control Center
NCO - Non-commissioned Officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
NCOA - Non-commissioned Officer Academy
NCOIC - Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge
Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge
The designation Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge, usually abbreviated to NCOIC , signifies an individual in the enlisted ranks of a military unit who has limited command authority over others in the unit....
NCW - Network-Centric Warfare
Network-centric warfare
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations, is a military doctrine or theory of war pioneered by the United States Department of Defense in the 1990's....
NEADS - Northeast Air Defense Sector
NKAWTG - Nobody Kicks Ass Without Tanker Gas
NMC - Non Mission Capable
NOSC - Network Operations and Security Center
NOTAM - Notice To Airmen
NSI - Nuclear Surety Inspection
NVG - Night Vision Goggles
NUB- New Useless Bitch (reference for new person on station)

O

OAPT - Officer Awaiting Pilot Training.
OAPTer - An officer in OAPT. An OAPTer is the third lowest position of officership, only outranking a reclassifying Lt, and a Doolie. While other 2nd Lt's begin their training and leadership, OAPTers have no purpose, no knowledge, and no function other than to do the bidding of all other officers without reservation. This is an essential role for all soon to be pilots, as it begins their slow, tedious climb through their career. It is also important for all operational bases, as OAPTers are most often supplement to the Enlisted workforce.
OCONUS - Outside the Continental United States
OCR - Office of Collateral Responsibility
OG - Operations Group
OL - Operating Location
OODA - Observe Orient Decide Act
OODA Loop
The OODA loop is a concept originally applied to the combat operations process, often at the strategic level in military operations. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes...
OPCON - Operational Control
OPR - Office of Primary Responsibility
OPR - Officer Performance Report
OPSEC - Operations Security
Operations security
Operations security is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by adversary intelligence systems, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate...
OPTN - Operationalizing and Professionalizing the Network
ORI - Operational Readiness Inspection
ORM - Operation Risk Management
Operational risk management
The term Operational Risk Management is defined as a continual cyclic process which includes risk assessment, risk decision making, and implementation of risk controls, which results in acceptance, mitigation, or avoidance of risk...
OSI - Office of Special Investigation
Air Force Office of Special Investigations
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations , is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force that provides professional investigative services to commanders throughout the Air Force...
OSS - Operations Support Squadron
OT&E - Operational Test and Evaluation
OTS - Officer Training School
Air Force Officer Training School
Officer Training School is a United States Air Force commissioning program held at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. It is the Officer Candidate School for the U.S. Air Force, analogous to the OCSes operated by the other branches of the U.S. Military. It is a part of Jeanne M...

P

PA - Public Affairs
PACAF - Pacific Air Forces
PAR - Precision Approach Radar
Precision Approach Radar
Precision approach radar is a type of radar guidance system designed to provide lateral and vertical guidance to an aircraft pilot for landing, until the landing threshold is reached. After the aircraft reaches the decision height or decision altitude , guidance is advisory only...
PAS - Political Affairs Strategist
PAX - Air passengers
PCS - Permanent Change of Station
PDS - Permanent Duty Station
Perpes - Humorous nickname for PRP, take on herpes
PFE - Promotion Fitness Examination
PFM - Pure Fucking Magic; Term to refer to a technical problem that somehow resolved itself
PFT - Physical Fitness Test
PJ - Pararescueman
PMC - Partially Mission Capable
PME - Professional Military Education
Professional military education in the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force provides a continuum of professional military education at Air University with Basic Developmental Education , Primary Developmental Education , Intermediate Developmental Education , and Senior Developmental Education...
Pocket Rocket - Term for the missile badge on ICBM and cruise missile maintenance uniforms
Pop Tart - Airman who's technical career schools are 6 weeks or less
PRP - Personnel Reliability Program
Personnel Reliability Program
Personnel Reliability Program is a United States Department of Defense psychological evaluation program, designed to permit only the most trustworthy individuals to have access to nuclear weapons, chemcial weapons, biological weapons....
PSYOP - Psychological Operations
Psychological Operations (United States)
Psychological operations are planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.The purpose of United States...
PTL - Physical Training Leader

Q

QAF - Quality Air Force
Qweep - A task or duty that is completely useless and ultimately unrelated to your primary job. It is often assigned by superiors not of your career field as they assume that you have time to constantly work these tasks. Example: "I have a lot of qweep to do before I go home." "I need to finish all of this qweep before I can go fly."

R

RA - Resource Advisor
RAF - Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
RAM - Random Antiterrorism Measure
RAS - Regional Affairs Strategist
RED HORSE - Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers
Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers
United States Air Force Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers units are the Service's equivalent of the USMC Combat Engineers and Navy Seabees....
RF - Radio frequency
Radio frequency
Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
RIF - Reduction In Force
RNLTD - Report No Later Than Date
ROAD - Retired On Active-Duty
RQS - Rescue Squadron
RTB - Return To Base
RTIC - Real Time In the Cockpit
RW - Reconnaissance Wing

S

SAASS - School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
SAC - Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
SAF/SECAF - Secretary of the Air Force
United States Secretary of the Air Force
The Secretary of the Air Force is the Head of the Department of the Air Force, a component organization within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Secretary of the Air Force is appointed from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate...
SAM - Surface to Air Missile
SARC - Sexual Assault Response Coordinator
SATCOM - Satellite Communications
Communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...
SAV - Staff Assisted Visit
SBIRS - Space-Based Infrared System
Space-Based Infrared System
The Space-Based Infrared System is a consolidated system intended to meet the United States' infrared space surveillance needs through the first two to three decades of the 21st century...
SEAD - Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses
SEAD
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses , also known as "Wild Weasel" and "Iron Hand" operations in the United States, are military actions to suppress enemy surface-based air defenses , primarily in the first hours of an attack.One fourth of American combat sorties in recent conflicts have been SEAD...
SEADS - Southeast Air Defense Sector
Southeast Air Defense Sector
The Southeast Air Defense Sector , was a unit of the US Air Force located at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida. It provided air defense and surveillance of the southeastern region of the US...
Secret squirrel stuff - Material classified above secret or compartmentalzed information.
SERE - Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape
SF - Security Forces
SFS - Security Forces Squadron
Shirt - A unit first sergeant
SIGINT - Signals Intelligence
SKT - Specialty Knowledge Test
Slick Sleeve - Nickname for an Airman Basic (owing to the absence of rank insignia on an individual's sleeve)
SMSgt - Senior Master Sergeant
Senior Master Sergeant
Senior Master Sergeant is the eighth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Master Sergeant and below Chief Master Sergeant and is a senior non-commissioned officer ....
SNCO - Senior Non-commissioned Officer
SNCOA - Senior Non-commissioned Officer Academy
Snacko - A highly underestimated, mission critical position held most often by Lieutenants in a new flying squadron. Doing well at the Snacko position will prompt one for a laudable career. Failing at such a job will often entail severe ridicule and, if necessary, replacement and retraining by the flying squadron.
SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
SOPS - Space Operations Squadron
SOS - Squadron Officer School
Squadron Officer School
Squadron Officer School , is a five-week long Professional Military Education course for U.S. Air Force Captains. It fulfills the U.S. Air Force's requirement for primary developmental education . SOS is based at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and the in-residence version of the course is taught there...

or Special Operations Squadron
SOW - Special Operations Wing
Spirit Mission - A good natured act, commonly in the form of a prank, banner, or...reacquisition...of a person/thing, to show pride for a group of individuals. Usually harmless.
Sq - Squadron
SrA - Senior Airman
Senior Airman
Senior airman is the fourth enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman first class and below staff sergeant. It has a pay grade of E-4...
SRC - Solid Rock Cafe (new as of 2011, found @ Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls TX - unofficial anogram that is used by officers as well as students)
SSgt - Staff Sergeant
STEP - Stripe Through Exceptional Performance
Stink Bug - Nickname for the F-117 Nighthawk
F-117 Nighthawk
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force . The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983...
STS - Special Tactics Squadron
SVS - Services Squadron
SW - Space Wing
SWA - Southwest Asia
Southwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia...
SWAG - Scientific Wild-Ass Guess

T

TAC - Tactical Air Command
Tactical Air Command
Tactical Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 being headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia...
TAC-P - Tactical Air Control Party
Tactical Air Control Party
The Tactical Air Control Party, commonly abbreviated TACP, is a small team of Army, Marine or Air Force personnel who provide airspace deconfliction and terminal control of Close Air Support at battle group level or below...
TACON - Tactical Control
TAFCSD - Total Active Federal Commission Service Date
TAFMSD - Total Active Federal Military Service Date
Tail-End Charlie - Person bringing up the rear of a formation or a tail gunner
Tail gunner
A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun emplacement on either the top or tail end of the aircraft with a generally...
TCNO - Time Compliance Network Order
TCTO - Time Compliance Technical Order
TDY - Temporary Duty
TDY
A temporary duty assignment , also known as "temporary additional duty" , "temporary duty travel" or "temporary duty" , refers to a United States Government employee travel assignment at a location other than the employee's permanent duty station. They are usually of relatively short duration,...
TFCSD - Total Federal Commissioned Service to Date
TGP - Targeting Pod
TLAR - That Looks About Right
TLF - Temporary Living Facility
TO - Technical Order
TRW - Training Wing
TSgt - Technical Sergeant
Technical Sergeant
Technical Sergeant is the name of one current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States military.-United States Air Force:Technical Sergeant, or Tech Sergeant, is the sixth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant. A technical sergeant is...
TST - Time-Sensitive Target
TTP - Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

U

UAS - Unmanned Aircraft System
UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
UCI - Unit Compliance Inspection
UNWT - Undergraduate Network Warfare Training
39th Information Operations Squadron
The 39th Information Operations Squadron is the U.S. Air Force's premier Information Operations and Cyber Formal Training Unit, part of the 318th Information Operations Group, assigned to the 688th Information Operations Wing, headquartered at Lackland AFB, Texas, under the Twenty-Fourth Air Force...
UPT - Undergraduate Pilot Training
USAF - United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
USAFA - United States Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
USAFE - United States Air Forces in Europe
United States Air Forces in Europe
The United States Air Forces in Europe is the United States Air Force component of U.S. European Command, a Department of Defense unified command, and is one of two Air Force Major Commands outside of the continental United States, the other being the Pacific Air Forces...

V

Viper - Nickname for the F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...
VML - Vulnerable to Move List
VSP - Voluntary Separation Pay

W

WADS - Western Air Defense Sector
Western Air Defense Sector
The Western Air Defense Sector is a United States Air Force unit and a component of the Washington Air National Guard. It is stationed at McChord Field, Washington-Overview:...
WAF - Women in the Air Force
Women in the Air Force (WAF)
Women in the Air Force was a United States Air Force program which served to bring women into limited roles in the Air Force. WAF was formed in 1948, when President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve directly in the military.WAF was distinct from the...
WAG - Wild-Ass Guess
WAPS - Weighted Airman Promotion System
Weighted Airman Promotion System
The Weighted Airman Promotion System is a United States Air Force program that determines who will be promoted to the ranks of Staff Sergeant through Master Sergeant and provides feedback score sheets to enlisted members considered for promotion. These score sheets help the individual determine...
WASP - Women Airforce Service Pilots
Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots and its predecessor groups the Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron were pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces...
WG - Wing
WIC - Weapons Instructor Course
WSO - Weapon Systems Officer
Weapon systems officer
A Weapon Systems Officer is an air Flight Officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of the fighter in the United States Navy. A Weapon Systems Officer ("WSO", pronounced "wizzo") is an air Flight Officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of the...
WX - Weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

Z

Zoo - Nickname for the Air Force Academy
Zoomie - Nickname for an Air Force Academy graduate or cadet

External links

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