The AAR on this publication’s first story on Military Lingo has led my editorial CO to ask for another SITREP. To be HIGH SPEED - LOW DRAG, this writer will DRIVE ON in accomplishing the mission. Bear in mind that the military’s acronyms are pronounceable words, initialisms are unpronounceable words, and that expressions a unique group of words. ACRONYMS ALCON (All...

President Lyndon Johnson with Col. Jackson, third from left, at Medal of Honor ceremony on Jan. 16, 1969. James Atherton. Source: Stars and Stripes. Medal of Honor recipient Joseph M. Jackson kept the award in a shirt drawer in order to remind himself of his values as an American. “Regardless, you always do the right thing,” he said in a 2013 Air Force Times interview. A retired Air...

The Coast Guard is the only military branch not being paid during the government shutdown. It’s under the Department of Homeland Security, meaning it is getting no funding. Other service branches are being paid by the Department of Defense. Along with federal workers across the country, many of its members are struggling to make ends meet. This partial shutdown is the longest in...

The Sonics got their name from the sound of jets flying overhead from McChord while they rehearsed in 1960. Joint Base Lewis-McChord served a pivotal – and little known – role in the history of modern music as the host of teen dances during the early days of rock and roll that included performances of now-legendary bands. Flash back to the 1950s. The top brass at Fort Lewis, as...