Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: The Real Language of the Modern American Military

Few areas of human endeavor have produced more—or more colorful—terms than has the military. Soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen have over centuries come up with words, phrases, and acronyms to express everything from raw emotion to complex technology. The military is both a distinctive way of life and a community, and a command of its slang is essential to admission to full membership within the group.

Most military slang is almost always familiar only to the troops. Mating mosquitoes, f...