What does ‘Damn the Torpedoes’ mean anyway?
Outside of the Merrimack fighting the Monitor, the U.S. Navy doesn’t get a lot of attention when it comes to histories of the Civil War. But it deserves some. And maybe its finest moment came at the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, where Adm. David Farragut forced his way through a Confederate minefield and fought … Continued
Here’s how the term ‘cannon fodder’ came to be
Cannon fodder, it’s a term that — to be on the receiving end is insulting. No one wants to end up on the wrong side of this haphazard phrase — meaning someone who’s merely expendable in the war. To be cannon fodder is to mean those who are the target of enemy fire. AKA cannon … Continued
The intriguing history of the term special operator
Operator – someone who operates. In the civilian world, that could be someone operating an excavator, a wheeled tractor, and other similar heavy equipment. Historically, the term applied to people who worked in the old-school telephone centers and operated the manual telephone switchboards that were necessary in order for someone to call another number. In … Continued
The 5 dumbest military references in pro wrestling
Professional wrestling is a crazy world of gimmicks, pageantry, and explosions, and only that last one fits in with most people’s view of the military. However, wrestling caters to a very patriotic crowd and this, obviously, goes hand-in-hand with …
23 terms only fighter pilots understand
If you’ve ever hung out with military aviators (or watched movies like “Top Gun” or “Iron Eagle”) you know they tend to use a lot of strange lingo when they talk, even when they’re out of the cockpit. Trying to hold a conversation with them ca…
23 ridiculously long military acronyms (and what they mean)
The military is notorious for using acronyms and abbreviations, and here are 23 of them that approach YGTBSM status:
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