SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper (44 page)

Macawi:
A colorful Somali kiltlike garment.

NOD:
Night Optical Device.

NVA:
North Vietnamese Army—the regular Communist military that fought the South Vietnamese and Americans during the Vietnam War.

OP:
Observation post.

Op:
Operation.

Ouija board:
Flat surface on which miniature airplanes or other objects are moved around to indicate position and status of aircraft on the deck of a carrier.

P-3 Orion:
Navy spy plane.

PJ:
Air force pararescue special operations unit focused on rescuing pilots downed in enemy territory and providing emergency medical treatment.

PLO:
Palestine Liberation Organization. A political, paramilitary, and terrorist organization recognized by a hundred states as representative of the Palestinians.

PT:
Physical training.

PTs:
Gym shorts and T-shirt worn during PT.

Pasha:
Code name for our safe house in Mogadishu.

QRF:
Quick Reaction Force made up of the army’s 10th Mountain Division, 101st Aviation Regiment, and 25th Aviation Regiment.

Rangers:
A rapid light infantry unit that can fight against conventional and special operations targets. The Army Rangers in Mogadishu came from Bravo Company, 3rd Ranger Battalion.

RPG:
Rocket-propelled grenade.

SAS:
Special Air Service, Britain’s tier-one special operations commando unit. Australia and New Zealand derived their SAS from this British unit.

SATCOM:
Cryptographic (scrambled) portable satellite communication radio used by SEALs.

SEALs:
The U.S. Navy’s elite SEa, Air, and Land commandos.

SERE:
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.

JSOC:
Joint Special Operations Command, located at Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. JSOC commands Special Mission Units that include SEAL Team Six, Delta, and the air force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron.

SIG SAUER P-226 Navy 9 mm:
Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft—German for “Swiss Industrial Company.” Pistol with phosphate corrosion-resistant finish on the internal parts, contrast sights, and an anchor engraved on the slide. Holds fifteen rounds in the magazine. Designed especially for the SEALs.

SIGINT:
Signals Intelligence. Intelligence gathered intercepting signals between people (communications intelligence) and electronic signals (electronic intelligence) not directly involved in communication such as radar. Also the people responsible for gathering such intelligence.

Staph infection:
“
Staph
” is short for “
staphylococcal
,” a strain of bacteria that produces toxins similar to those in food poisoning, which can kill.

Task Force 160:
Nicknamed the “Night Stalkers,” this army helicopter unit usually operates at night, flying fast and low, to avoid radar detection.

Thermite grenade:
Grenade containing thermite, a chemical that burns at approximately 4,000°F/2,200°C.

UDT:
Underwater Demolition Team. The frogmen, ancestors of SEALs.

UNOSOM:
United Nations Operation in Somalia.

Unit:
U.S. Army Delta Force.

VC:
Vietcong. Guerrilla and regular Communist units that fought the South Vietnamese and America during the Vietnam War.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot:
Like other military units, SEALs often use the military phonetic alphabet “
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
”—
WTF
to mean “What the f***?”

Win Mag:
Winchester Magnum. The .300 Win Mag holds four rounds of .300 ammunition. Usually used with a Leupold 10-power scope. For evening, a KN-250 night-vision scope slides over the top of the Leupold.

XO:
Executive officer. Number two man in charge of a command. The number one man is the commanding officer (CO).

SEAL TEAM SIX
:
MEMOIRS OF AN ELITE NAVY SEAL SNIPER
. Copyright © 2011 by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wasdin, Howard E.

SEAL Team Six : memoirs of an elite Navy seal sniper / Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-69945-1

  1.  Wasdin, Howard E.   2.  United States. Navy. SEALs—Biography.   3.  United States. Navy—Commando troops—Biography.   4.  Snipers—United States—Biography.   5.  Operation Restore Hope, 1992–1993—Personal narratives, American.   I.  Templin, Stephen.   II.  Title.

VG87.W37 2011

359.0092—dc22

[B]

2010054462

First Edition: May 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-9652-5

First St. Martin’s Press eBook Edition: May 2011