Military Acronyms are a military reality. You can't run from them and like it or not you have to learn at least some of them, but never fear you will never know all of them and someone will always know more of them than you. This is the passage of the military wife. Understand the acronyms and you can understand it all. Here I have given you the most "need to know" acronyms, their meaning via military use and their meanings via your reality.
SAHM: Stay At Home Mom
military use: to identify your occupation
Your use:
You will see this more within the military wife circles than you will in use for the military. This is because you never get to look at your medical records, or any other records that the military uses to identify you. However you will see a strong need in the world of military wives to use the acronym SAHM when signing letters, talking about their life, or when asked "So what do you do?" some but not all will reply
"Oh I'm a SAHM."
DH: Dear Husband
military use: none
Your Use:
Hopefully none as it is my strong desire to stop the use of this pointless acronym and others like it. However until I am successful in doing so you will see this term used A LOT within the military spouse world. In fact way too much. Women will refer to their Husbands as DH in conversation quite often in the military. Stay away from this. Help me in my cause.
AAFES : Army, Air Force Exchange System
military use: one word to sum up all military on base shopping facilities.
Your use:
AAFES does not affect you personally however the acronym is used a lot. All this is, is a term to sum up any store owned by the military that does business on base. AAFES cards (ie a credit cards only military personnel can own called the Star Card) can be used at all AAFES stores around the world and online.
ALS : Airman Leadership School
military use: To identify additional Training after basic.
Your use:
A few more weeks/months without your spouse after Basic Training is all done and you think your spouse is finally coming home but surprise he still has ALS to get through.
AD: Active Duty
military use: to identify personnel that is currently serving full time in the military.
Your use:
Every time you make a call regarding your military life (medical,housing,pay) they will ask you if your spouse is AD or Active Duty. This is one of the most annoying acronyms to me. As personally I would think that if I am calling you about my on base housing you should be able to put two and two together that if I am living on base than my husband must be active duty because otherwise I would not be allowed to live on base. All this means is that your spouse is currently working full time with the military.
AFN: Armed/American Forces Network
military use: To identify military owned and operated Television and radio broadcasts.
Your use:
mostly used Overseas for on Base Housing the AFN is your gateway to anything remotely resembling home. Government controlled Broadcast are strictly for raising morale. There for real news is limited. The shows are picked by the government, shown on their own time schedule and with only military ran commercial....which by the way are the funniest things ever.
BAH: Basic Allowance Housing
military use: To identify a set amount offered for housing.
Your use:
Though not used on a daily basis it is important to know this acronym and be able to use it correctly when contracting a base you may be heading to so that you can know ahead of time how much money you will be receiving. This way you can search ahead of time for homes and apartments that fit into your income incase off base housing is not available. Since this amount changes every time you move, every year and every time you go up in rank (or down) this is one of the most used and need to know acronyms as a spouse. This amount is also not part of your soldiers basic pay.
OAH: Overseas Allowance Housing
military use: to identify a set amount offered to Oversea housing
Your use:
If you are getting stationed overseas or are overseas and thinking about moving off base you will use this term to identify how much you will get to pay for your home....Learn this term and keep an eye out because it changes faster than most people change their socks.
BAS: Basic Allowance for Subsistence
military use: to identify a monetary monthly limit to off set the cost of living.
Your use:
Because BAS is a set amount it doesn't matter where you are stationed or how much you make everyone will receive the same amount. Just like BAH is important to know how much this is because this amount is not part of your soldier's normal pay and will affect your monthly pay check. If you know how much you should be getting than when the paycheck doesn't match you can find out why and can then say "Well no BAS is this much.....and you are only paying us this much....." keeping track of your pay is very important in the military as mistake are made very, very often and will not work out for you in the end if not kept on top of.
DoD: Department of Defense
military use: acronym to sum up the entire military command.
Your use:
The DoD is your husband's boss..like his real boss. They decide pay raises, BAH, medical coverage, and more. It is important as a military spouse to keep an eye on them. Read news reports, research current events, and learn as much as you can because the DoD is deciding your fate as we speak. Know what they're doing so know what to expect.
APO: Army Post Office
military use: to identify any and all post offices located on all military bases
Your use:
State side you won't really use the APO as it has little use to you, but every time you send a package to your spouse overseas or if you are living overseas the APO will be the post office used. They follow their own rules and their own time line. And personally I believe they suck. There is no accountability in the APO. Your package has no guarantee of getting to where it is suppose to go and if lost well you're shit out of luck. Ran by 50% military personnel trained to work there and 50% volunteer-bring-your-child-to-work-day personnel the APO fails to deliver in all sense of the word. Avoid if possible.
BDU: Battle Dress Uniform
military use: to identify required uniforms.
Your use:
to identify items in the laundry only your soldier should wash. That way you can't fuck it up seeing as apparently there is a certain way to wash everything in the military. Not as bad now that the uniforms have changed but let me tell you these things use to be a bitch. This gets filed under "laundry my husband does"
PT: Physical Training
military use: To identify a required time of day to work out
Your use:
more pointless time your spouse will have to spend with the military and not his family doing work outs that the military has set up as a standardize plan for all military active duty members.....ie stuff that doesn't work.
BX: Base Exchange (AF)
military use: to identify the on base shopping center
Your use:
You will never shop or find anything you really need in this large, under stocked, poorly organized store unless you have absolutely no choice in doing so. Yet 90% of your conversation will involve the BX somehow.
CDC: Child Development Center
military use: to identify the base day care
Your use:
If you are looking for day care on base or off this building is where you need to go. They will have a list of everyone who is registered to babysit on base, plus a list of Day Cares approved by the base located off base. Some if ran correctly will even have information of events going on in the community for children.
COLA (Cola, like the drink): Cost of Living Allowance
military use: monetary amount given to Overseas personnel
Your use:
used more as a word and not as an acronym COLA unlike BAH is an amount of money that changes weekly and is suppose to offset the gap between the dollar and the money used in your current country of location. Given only to overseas personnel it is important to keep a strong knowledge on what this amount should be as it changes every pay check.
CONUS (cone-us): Continental United States
military use: to identify personnel located in the United States.
Your use:
Though not used on a regular bases when reading about military pay, and other military topics CONUS is used as a word more than an acronym and it will come up a lot. mainly because how they do things here in the states is not always the same as how they do things overseas.
TDY: Temporary Duty Assignment
military use: to identify a temporary work related leave from base
Your use:
A time when your spouse will be gone for a few days, a few weeks, and even a few months but it will not count as a deployment and there for he would still have to deploy on top of this.
1st Shirt: okay not an acronym but still important.
military use: Human Resouce guy for the squadron
Your use:
This is the guy your husband will have to talk to every single time he needs anything from the military that his everyday chain of command can't do. When things go bad or he needs something special this is the guy who tries to help.
Per Diem: Latin for "per day"
military use: Temporary pay for a soldier while traveling, deployed or TDY based on how much they think he will need each day on top of what he already makes.
Your use:
It is important to know how much your spouses Per Diem will be whenever they are traveling, moving, deployed or any other reason that the military has them somewhere other than on base because you will receive this amount in a lump some when the return. Any money left offer from from what they spent is your to keep.
There are so many acronyms in the military that keeping track of them all is impossible. Don't worry if someone uses one you don't know....ask them what it means and put it in your brain for later.