Death in the Jungle Gary Smith (mobi reader txt) 📖

to include several field hospitals, training camps, et cetera. SEALs preferred operating in the T-10 area because they encountered the enemy on every mission. Success was always good for morale. And last, but not least, a good portion of the T-10 had good, solid, dry land—a luxury in the RSSZ!

Tide: The vertical rise and fall of the sea, caused by gravitational effect of sun and moon.

TOC: The tactical operations center. In Vietnam, the Vietnamese TOCs were located in all provincial cities and district villages. These were always considered to be compromised. There were also TOCs located in all U.S. military locations, which were considered secure and not penetrated by Vietnamese Communists.

Topside or topsides: Above decks.

Trades: Generally, steady winds of the tropics that blow toward the equator. NE in the northern hemisphere, and SE in the southern.

Trice up: To hitch up or hook up, such as trice up a shipboard bunk/bed.

Turn to: An order to begin work.

UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams): Initially formed as the Navy Combat Demolition Unit, after the lessons learned from the amphibious invasion of Tarawa in November of 1942. Later, they were reorganized into UDTs until a much later reorganization in 1983. At that time, the UDTs were decommissioned. On the west coast, UDT-11 became SEAL Team 5, and UDT-12 became SDV Team 1. On the east coast, UDT-21 became SEAL Team 4, and UDT-22 became SDV Team 2. All UDT/SEALs were graduates of UDT Training until 1968, when it was renamed BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL). Today, all Team personnel are graduates of BUDS training at the Naval Amphibious Base located near Coronado, California.

Uncover: To remove headgear/hat.

Underway: A ship is underway when not at anchor, made fast to the shore, or aground. She need not be actually moving; she is underway as long as she lies free in the water.

Unit: An entity in itself, made up of one or more parts. The unit itself is a member part. Thus, two destroyers (units) form a section; two sections form a division; two divisions form a squadron.

VC (Viet Cong): The South Vietnamese Communist NLF’s (National Liberation Front) regular/guerrilla forces. These poor fellows got much of their training in actual combat. And to add insult to injury, they were generally led by North Vietnamese officers. During the 1968 Tet offensive, the VC military units assigned to attack IV Corps districts and provincial capitals were slaughtered by the U.S. and allied forces. Many of them were forced to serve the Communist cause, and defected to the American and South Vietnamese forces under the Chieu Hoi (open arms) program.

Very well: Reply of a senior (or officer) to a junior (or enlisted man) to indicate that information given is understood, or that permission is granted.

War: A bitch, except for those professionals who seem to enjoy it. Use of force or violence, by a state or group of states, against another state (or group of states), or by a segment of a people against the established government.

Wardroom: Officers’ mess and lounge aboard a ship.

Warning Order: Always precedes a standard patrol order. Its purpose is to provide the men with sufficient information to prepare adequately for the problem in advance. The basic outline is: 1) a brief statement of the situation; 2) mission of the patrol; 3) general instructions; 4) specific instructions.

Watch: A period of duty, usually for four hours’ duration. Watches call for a variety of Navy skills, and are of many types: quarterdeck watch, messenger watch, damage-control watch, evaporator watch, signal watch, radio watch, et cetera.

Watchcap: Knitted wool cap worn by enlisted men below CPO in cool or cold weather; also, a canvas cover placed over a stack when not in use.

Watch officer: An officer regularly assigned to duty in charge of a watch or of a portion thereof; for example, the OOD, or the engineering officer of the watch.

Webb belt: A heavy-duty belt made of cotton or nylon. Pistols, magazine pouches, canteens, first aid kits, et cetera, may be attached to it.

Wheelhouse: Pilothouse; the topside compartment where, on most ships, the OOD, helmsman, quartermaster of the watch, et cetera, stand their watches.

Yard: Spar attached at the middle to a mast, and running athwartships; used as a support for signal halyards or signal lights; also a place used for shipbuilding and as a repair depot, as Boston Naval Shipyard.

Yardarm: Either side of a yard.

Yarn: Twisted fibers used for rough seizings, which may be twisted into strands; also, a story, as to “spin a yarn,” meaning to tell a story not necessarily true.