John Ringo: Gust Front

abat— A nearly impossible to eradicate small pest on Posleen landers.

Adenast— Federation world on the far side of space from the Posleen invasion.

Aelool— Indowy Master Craftsman.

AFV— Armored Fighting Vehicle. Heavily armed personnel carrier or tank.

Agincourt — Fast Frigate in Earth Defense Region.

a-hoo-wah— Motivational or “battle” cry.

AirCav— Air Cavalry. Helicopter-borne scouts.

AIW— Advanced Infantry Weapon.

Alld’nt— Demons or sky gods of the Posleen pan-theology. Reputed to give great gifts but to also cause great harm.

Alrantath— Posleen battalion commander subordinate to Ardan’aath.

Althanara— Posleen Scoutmaster.

Anarlaralta— Posleen Scoutmaster subordinate to Alrantath (eson’antai).

Andatha— Region on Barwhon where majority of US expeditionary force is engaged.

APC— Armored personnel carrier. Lightly armed, lightly armored metal box on tracks.

Aradan— Posleen name for the star the Federation calls Diess.

Ardan’aath— Posleen brigade commander. Allied with Kenallai.

Arnata’dra— Posleen Scoutmaster, subordinate to Kenallurial.

Ashkabad— City in Turkmenistan.

Atalanara— Posleen company commander, allied with Kenallurial.

AWOL— Absent Without Leave.

Barrett Firearms— Manufacturer of a (really cool) .50-caliber sniper rifle. Based in Murfreesboro, TN.

Barwhon— Tchpth settled planet. Cool and wet with almost continuous swamps, lakes, rivers and bogs.

battlecase— Large ammunition box for feeding a manjack.

BattleDec— Short for Battle dodecahedron. A Posleen conglomerate ship consisting of an inner dodecahedral command ship (C-Dec) and twelve landers.

Battleglobe— A large Posleen conglomerate ship consisting of multiple hundreds of B-Decs.

Battlemaster— Posleen grade. Equivalent to captain-full colonel. Although all Posleen God Kings (Kessentai) are nominally independent, in general junior officers look to senior officers for direction.

Battlenet— Human Command Network for Continental Defense.

B-Dec— See BattleDec.

BDUs— Battle Dress Uniform. The US Ground Force standard camouflage field uniform.

Belvoir, Fort— Headquarters of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Located just outside of Washington, D.C.

Beretta— Standard 9mm sidearm of US Ground Force.

berm— An elongated pile of dirt used for cover.

Blackhwk— Military medium lift helicopter designated UH-60.

bowsers— Military tanker trucks.

Bradleys— Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV). Crew of two, holds eight infantrymen. Armed with a 25mm chaingun and a TOW-2 Missile Launcher.

Bragg, Fort— Home of the Airborne. Located in central North Carolina.

Bullpup— Design of assault rifle. Places the ammunition magazine behind the firing hand thus shortening the overall length of the weapon.

Bushmaster— 25mm chaingun mounted on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

caltrop— Four-pointed spike device designed so that one point always faces up.

castellaine— The manager of a Posleen estate.

cav— Cavalry.

C-Dec— Command Dodecahedron. Holds the senior God King of a Posleen “B-Dec” conglomerate and its most heavily armed normals. Is usually the center ship of a B-Dec. Has interstellar drive. Holds 1400-1800 Normals and 3-6 God Kings along with some light, simple armor.

chai— British Navy word for tea.

circumvallated— Surrounded by fortifications.

clacker— Detonation device for a claymore directional mine. So called because when compressed it makes a distinctive “clack” sound.

claymore— Directional mine. Consists of a convexly curved box with two ports for detonators on the top. The rear is a thin metal plate, then a sheet of explosive, then 750 ball bearings.

CONARC— Continental Army Command.

COS— Chief of Staff.

cratering— Detonating explosives so as to cause a large crater. This is primarily used as an obstacle.

CSP— Combat Space Patrol.

Cyberpunk— Elite information warfare unit. Extremely secretive.

Dantren— Indowy Megascraper Deushi Megalopolis. Refuge for mobile forces.

Darhel— Galactic Federation race.

DataNet— Posleen information network. Very similar to the internet except without any indexing tools.

defilade— Maneuvering to obtain cover from terrain

detcord— Explosive cord. Similar to fusecord, but explodes instead of burning.

didee-mao— Vietnamese: Retreat.

Diess— Indowy Planet. Under assault by the Posleen.

DivArty— Division Artillery.

Dunkirked— Evacuated by water.

edan— Posleen: Battle madness.

edas’antai— Posleen: Primary genetic sponsor. Father.

emphysemic— A person who has emphysema.

enfilading— Fire from the flank.

esonal— Posleen: Ovipositor.

eson’antai— Posleen: Primary genetic derivative. Son.

Farbase— Primary military base on the moon. Hidden on the backside in a crater to reduce ehance of detection by the Posleen.

Fars— Primary plateau of the country of Iran.

FedCreds— Federation Credits.

firebase— Heavily defended base where artillery is concentrated.

FireTac— Artillery Coordination Network.

Fistnal— Posleen: Damned. (Lit. “Eaten” reduced from “Eaten by sky demons.”)

flechette— Finned metal dart.

flikker— To turn in the air like a hummingbird.

Fredericksburg— Town in central Virginia.

Fort A.P. Hill— Military base in central Virginia.

fuscirt— Posleen: Demons.

fuscirto— Posleen: Demons. Part of a wordy curse that translates more or less as “Demon Feces.”

Galil— Name of an Israeli assault rifle.

GalMed— Galactic Medications. General name for a wide variety of medications the Federation has supplied to Earth.

GalTech— Galactic Technologies. General name for a wide variety of technologies the Federation has supplied to Earth.

Gamalada— Clan of the Po’oslenar.

Gatling— Type of automatic weapon that has multiple barrels.

ghillie— Type of camouflage suit used to break up the outline of an infantryman or sniper. Introduced by Scottish gamekeepers (or poachers alternately) during WWI.

Ghurka— Elite Nepalese Mercenary Infantry.

Glock— Type of pistol.