MILSPEAK: Slang for military jargon, troop idioms, and Pentagonese. The perfect gift for anyone who is in the military, veterans, or who plans to serve.

Members of America’s armed forces have their own distinctive language: milspeak. Especially since WWII, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have invented and adapted their own slang vocabularies, creating a colorful insider’s lingo of bureaucratic buzzwords, acronyms, mock jargon, dark humor, and outright profanity. Milspeak gives a unique and touching insight into military life from basic training to the trenches; from the flightdeck to the cockpit.

This comprehensive field manual, complete with descriptive and humorous illustrations, includes more than 500 colorful entries including: 

Voluntold: Derisive slang for “I was ordered to volunteer.” 

Back to the taxpayers: Navy slang for where a wrecked aircraft gets sent. 

Dome of obedience: Slang for a military helmet. Also called a brain bucket or Skid Lid. 

Echelons above reality: Higher headquarters where no one has an idea about what is really happening. 

Embrace the suck: The situation is bad, deal with it. 

Embrace the Suck is the perfect gift for the soldier, sailor, marine, or airman in your life—or for the Beltway Clerk* who yearns to speak like one.  
*Derisive term for a Washington political operative or civilian political hatchet man. May refer to so-called “Washington defense experts” who’ve never served in the armed forces.