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.