Apache

QHI: Qualified Helicopter Instructor – flying instructor

R and R: Rest and Recuperation – break from combat

RAF: Royal Air Force

Rearm: Reload the Apache with ammunition

REME: Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

RIP: Relief in Place – Apache Flights handing over the battle between each other maintaining support to the ground troops

RM: Royal Marine/s

RMP: Royal Military Police – British Military Police

ROE: Rules of Engagement – law set by a country’s Government laying down the rules as to which arms may be brought to bear

Rocco: Rocco Siffredi – Italian actor, director and producer of pornographic movies

RPG: Soviet-designed Rocket Propelled Grenade – shoulder-launched rocket with a powerful grenade warhead on the front

RSM: Regimental Sergeant Major – WO1 and the senior soldier in a Regiment

RTB: Return To Base

RTA: Road Traffic Accident

RTS: Release to Service – the document that details what can and can’t be done with the Apache regarding flight, firing, etc.

RV: Rendezvous – designated meeting place

SA7/14: Soviet-designed Surface to Air Missiles – ManPADS

SA80: British Forces Rifle – 5.56mm automatic

SAM: Surface to Air Missile

Sappers: Military engineers – slang for the Royal Engineers

SAS: Special Air Service – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the British Army

Sausage Side: A term for enemy territory dating back to the World Wars. The sausage loving Germans’ side of the battlefield

SBS: Special Boat Service – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the Royal Navy’s Royal Marines

Scimitar: British Army Armoured Recce Vehicle

SERE: Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract

SF: Special Forces – e.g. SAS and SBS

SIB: Special Investigation Branch – detectives of the RMP

SigInt: Signal Intelligence – intelligence gained from radio, telephone, texts and email intercepts

Small Arms: Infantry light weapons – pistols, rifles and machine guns – weapons capable of being fired by a foot soldier on the move

Snatch: Lightly armoured military Land Rover

Spoof: Game played with coins to decide who has to do a task

Spooks: Nickname for spies

SRR: Special Reconnaissance Regiment – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the British Army, specialising in close target reconnaissance

Stack: Fast Air that is queued up and held before being passed on to whoever is in need of its offensive capability

Standby Standby: Warning call to watch out for something

Starboard: Right-hand side of an aircraft or vessel

Steering Cursor: The rocket symbol used to line up the Apache so the rockets land on the target, also known as the ‘I’ Bar

Stingers: US-designed Surface to Air ManPADs (Man Portable Air Defence system) missile. Taliban slang for any shoulder-launched surface to air missile

Sunray: Callsign for a commander

SUSAT: Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux – the 4-times magnification day/night sight that sits on top of an SA80 rifle or SA80 carbine

Symbology: Flying and targeting information beamed onto the monocle

T1: Triage Casualty Code 1 – needs to be in an operating theatre within an hour to save life

T2: Triage Casualty Code 2 – needs to be in an operating theatre quickly before they become T1

T3: Triage Casualty Code 3 – injured and needs medical help

T4: Triage Casualty Code 4 – dead

TADS: Target Acquisition and Designation Sight system – the ‘bucket’ on the nose of the Apache that houses the Apache’s cameras

Taliban: Collective term used in this book for Taliban, Al Qaeda and Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)

Theatre: Country or area in which troops are conducting operations

Thermobaric: Enhanced blast Hellfire – thermobaric means heat and pressure

Topman: Callsign for the British Harrier

Tornado: Royal Air Force multi-role strike warplane

TOC: Tactical Operations Cell

TOT: Time On Target – the time until an aircraft is due over or weapon is due at the target

TOW: Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided anti-tank missile – fired from the British Army Lynx helicopter

TPF: Tactical Planning Facility – mobile planning room

TPM: Terrain Profile Mode – the Longbow’s terrain mapping mode

Tracer: Bullets that burn with a red, orange or green glow from 110m to 1100m so they can be seen

Tusk: Callsign for the A10 Thunderbolt aircraft

UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UFD: Up Front Display – an LED instrument that displays critical information to the Apache crews

Ugly: The callsign chosen by 656 Sqn for the British Apaches – ‘Ugly Five Zero to Ugly Five Seven’

USAF: United States Air Force

Viking: Armoured amphibious tracked vehicle

VIP: Very Important Person

VU Radio: A VHF and UHF capable secure radio in the Apache

Widow: Callsign for normal JTACs in Afghanistan

Wingman: The other aircraft in any pair of aircraft