Behold! The mighty and ever so necessary Glossary!
Since this humble bard here (me) can't honestly expect all you good folks to cart along an entire reference library every time you kick back with my happy little tomes; I've tried to compile definitions of the most prevalent terms and phrases contained herein that Joe-/Jane-Average-Book-Buyer may not be completely familiar with.
This sucker ain't all inclusive. Hell no! That's another book in and of itself. And sheesh! Who the hell would buy some gargantuan opus of a dictionary just so they could wade through some fun little techno-thriller like these?
And hey, having fun, etc. is whole point you're reading these thingees in the first place, right? So, let this glossary here save you some head scratchin' as you read along. Maybe it will enlighten you, educate you, or just plain enhance all the fun you'll have reading this here novel. Anyways, get cracking, and have yourself a merry humdinger of a read! Author's orders!
•1ºBFEsp — 1º Batalhão de Forças Especiais, "Batalhão Antônio Dias Cardoso". (1st Special Forces Battalion, Brazilian Army).
•2ème (or 2e) REP (2ème Régiment Étranger des Parachutistes/ 2nd Parachute Regiment of the la Légion Étrangere).
A
•AC (Area Commands) — The manner in which the Exército Brasileiro divvies up their country.
•AGLs (Automatic Grenade Launchers) — A class of grenade launchers that fire their projectiles fully-automatically, like a giant machine gun lobbing out big explosive eggs. Are typically belt-fed.
•AOR — Area Of Responsibility.
•AractraFlex — Fictional body armour material composed of cloned spider silk proteins. In other words, some very lightweight, flexible, tenacious, and quite bullet-resistant stuff.
•ASAP — As Soon As Possible.
•ascender — A ratchet-like device used (often with a Swiss seat and foot strap) to climb up rappelling rope. Often used in caving.
•assault rifle — What a maligned and little understood chunk of terminology this is. Here's a proper definition, free from the polemic of hoplophobic hyperbole:
A rifle of intermediate caliber (i.e. 5.56X45mm, 7.63X39mm) that is capable of some form of fully automatic fire (to include mechanically regulated two, three and four round bursts and/or truly mag dumping full-auto). While an assault rifle is typically capable of semi-automatic fire as well, a rifle ONLY capable of semi-automatic fire is NOT an assault rifle. Period freakin' dot.
(Anyone who tells you different is either ignorant or brimming with malicious deceit. Got it? Good, on with the glossary.)
•AWOL — Absent WithOut Leave (Gone without official permission).
B
•BDU — Battle Dress Uniform. US Military term for a particular style of blouse and trouser uniform originally intended for combat wear. Can also refer to any clothing with pockets arranged, and clothing styled, similar to authentic BDUs.
•bivy — Bivouac. (British slang)
•blasting caps — A small explosive device, often cylindrical, filled w/ several explosives of increasing sensitivity and power, used to initiate the stuff that makes a really big boom, but ain't as sensitive. They can be detonated by electricity, or non-electric (pyrotechnic fuzes, time fuze, etc.)
•BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Polícia Especiais / Special Police Operations Battalion) — The resident SWAT team within the PMERJ.
•borrachudo — A Brazilian sandfly. Understood to be quite annoying.
C
•C-4 (Composition C-4) — RDX mixed with polyisobutylene as a binding agent and di(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate as a plasticizer. Has 1.34 times the relative effectiveness factor as TNT. Most common plastic explosive in current US usage.
•Cabo — Corporal. (Portuguese / Spanish / Exército Brasileiro)
(In PMERJ, the rank is Cabo PM / CB PM)
•cal/ caliber — Here referring to how many hundredths of an inch wide a particular firearm's barrel is. (i.e. .50-cal is half an inch wide. .45-cal is forty-five hundredths of an inch wide, etc.)
•Capitão — Captain. (Portuguese / Exército Brasileiro) (In PMERJ, the rank is Capitão PM / CAP PM)
•caporal-chef/ caporal — Senior corporal / corporal. (French military)
•casevac — casualty evacuation.
•Carioca — A person who lives in or is originally from Rio de Janerio.
•Caveirão — (Brazilian slang) lit. "Big Skull". Term for the PMERJ BOPE's armored cars. They are primarily heavy Ford, Dodge, or Mercedes chassis and powertrains with a panel truck-like armored shell, complete with a enclosed dorsal MG cupola and side firing ports for the occupants. (Go to Gearhead's Corner and look up TCT Blindados Rhinus Combat.)
•CCD — Charge-Coupled Device. A digital imaging camera. Light photons hit packets of singe-colour silicon pixels, supplying an electrical charge to those of the proper wavelength, in turn forming an image.
•CCTV — Closed-Circuit TeleVision. A TV network (usually associated with security cameras) which is localized in it's entirety.
•CET (Carta Electrõnica Terrestre or Electronic Land Chart) — A GPS-cued system adopted by the PMERJ. Gives the PMERJ the status of where all their vehicles are at any one time.
•Charlie Foxtrot — ClusterFuck.
•Chotei no Kinri Eishi — (“Guards of the sacred quarters of the Emperor’s palace). In Ansei period (1855-60), reportedly tortured ronin radical supporters of the shogun (“the sabaku party”).
•CIEX — Centro de Informações do Exercito / Army Center of Information (Army Intelligence).
•Composition B (aka "Comp B" / cyclotol) — A mixture of TNT and RDX. Easy to cast into a mould. Used in many military explosives including fragmentation grenades.
•Compumercobrás (CMB) — Fictional Brazilian company, that during the action taking place in these here novels has ascended into one of the highest grossing integrated circuit manufacturers worldwide due its "innovative and aggressive" research, development, and marketing strategies.
•Coronel — Colonel (Portuguese / Spanish)
All different Colonel ranks are colloquially known as "Coronel".
Exército Brasileiro rank breakdown:
••Coronel / Cel
(US Army equivalent: "Full Bird" Colonel / O-6)
••Tenente Coronel / Ten-Cel
(US Army equivalent: Lieutenant Colonel / O-5)
PMERJ rank breakdown:
••Coronel PM / CEL PM
••Tenente Coronel PM / TEN CEL PM
•COTER — Comando de Operações Terrestres or Land Operations High Command (Brazilian Army)
•CPR — Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation. (All that mouth-to-mouth breathing and chest compression stuff meant to restart a stopped ticker.)
•cracker (criminal hacker) / hacker — Someone who makes it their business to gain access to computers and networks they are not authorized to use. Plain hackers typically do it for the challenge. Crackers turn all that eFun into an illegal activity, usually as some sort of profit making enterprise.
•CRAP (Commandos de Recherche et d'Action dans le Profondeur / Commandos for Profound Reconnaissance and Action) — I am not making this acronym up. These guys are the likely most well trained, high-speed creepers and peepers of the 2ème Régiment Étranger des Parachutistes. Within the 2ème REP's Reconnaissance and Support Company, they perform "deep penetration" and intelligence gathering deep within the combat zone, typically ahead of the forward line of troops.
•CRT — Cathode Ray Tube. Works via a stream of electrons shot at a flourescent screen, making it glow. e.g. The old (quite unflat) kind of TV sets.
•CS gas (ortho-chloro-benzalmalono-nitrite) — An irritant gas commonly used in riot control, personal defense sprays, ad other applications where the user can effect some gain from causing his target watery eyes, lotsa mucus, and a fair deal of pain.
•CT/ CTW — Counter Terrorist/ ~ Warfare.
•CYA — Cover Your Ass.
D
•Danner — A manufacturer of high-end boots. Popular among US Marines.
•Def-Tec — Abbreviation for the company Defense Technologies/ Federal Laboratories. Used here mostly as a colloquialism for their flash/ bang grenades.
•Defense Systems Ltd. (DSL) — A PMC which supplies military "advisers" — a large proportion being ex-SAS and ex-SBS — to governments and commercial firms with the need for such expertise. This company also refuses to allow it's employees, despite obvious hazards of their work, to personally arm themselves. Wanky limeys!
•defilade — Fire delivered from a covered position. Also means to cover oneself so that one won't receive nasty projectiles entering one's precious flesh.
•Destacamento Contra-Terror (Counter-Terrorist Detachment)
•detonation cord, det cord, PrimaDet, etc. — Flexible cord containing an explosive filler (usually PETN). Though it can break stuff well in it's own right, because det cord explodes at a rate of five miles per second, it is often used to near-simultaneously set off several dispersed larger chunks of high explosive.
•Dyno Gel — A "slurry" explosive intended to generate a pushing effect rather than a cutting effect. About 1/2 the punch of TNT per weight. Forms the feet of a spider charge’s legs. (Thanks to Kevan Giles for clearing this up for me, and you, dear reader. Thank the man, dammit!)
E
•ELN — Ejercito de Liberacíon Nacíonal (National Liberation Army) Leftist insurgent group turned narco-terroristas. (Columbia)
•endorphins — A group of chemicals naturally produced by the brain for the purpose of increasing pleasure and/or decreasing pain.
•enfilade — Fire delivered along an enemy's flank. The ideal way to ruin the other side's day.
•EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) — Refers to both the process and the people involved with rendering safe all sorts of stuff that goes BOOM! in a rather tremendous fashion. The same folks are often called upon to set explosives in order to break stuff as well.
•EPL — Ejercito de Popular Liberacíon(Popular Liberation Army) Yet another leftist insurgent group turned narco-terroristas, smaller than FARC and ELN.(Columbia)
•Exército — Army (Portuguese)
•Esquadrãos (Squadron) — Usually consists of six to twelve aircraft in FAB service. (Portuguese)
•ETA — Estimated Time of Arrival.
F
•FAB (Força Aérea Brasileira / Brazilian Air Force)
•FARC — Fuerzas Armadas Revolucíonarias de Colombia / Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia. Columbia's largest leftist insurgent group turned narco-terroristas. Considered the most diabolical insurgents since the Viet Cong.
•FAST (Fleet Antiterrorist Security Team) — A group of United States Marines specifically tasked with high-speed, highly trained SWAT-style guard duties, augmenting the regular security of high-level assets such as embassies and nuclear submarines.
•FBI — Federal Beureau of Investigation. The United States' most well known federal law enforcement agency. Mostly handles cases of espionage, terrorism, white-collar crime, organised crime and drug trafficing.
•figure-8 ring — Several different rapelling devices, all more or less shaped like the number 8.
•Flash/bang (flash/crash; stun) grenade — Grenades designed to temporarily incapacitate, but not injure, those persons in the area where they are thrown. The accomplish this by ejecting "thunderflashes" which produce roughly 180 decibels of noise and 1-2 million candelas of blaring light once detonated. Though relatively safe, there is some risk of fire when these devices are used.
•Flex-cuffs (aka Zip-ties, Tie-ties) — Massively oversized versions of the plastic zip-ties used to cinch several electrical wires together. They make handy, cheap handcuffs / legcuffs that are difficult for the subject to wriggle free from.
•flexible linear cutting charge — A long strip of cord containing a shaped charge of explosive (usually RDX) inside. Useful for positively and instantly cutting through tough materials.
•frags — FRAGmentation grenadeS. When they go boom, little fragments of notched wire or metal balls spray out at 5000 feet per second, wreaking a major hurt on anything within their path for about 10 to fifteen meters away.
•fully automatic (full-auto) — When the trigger is pulled on small arms firing full-auto, the gun will continue to spit bullets until (1) it exhausts its ammunition supply (2) the working parts jam themselves up or (3) the trigger is released.
In other words:
See Dick pull Mr. Gun's trigger.
See Mr. Gun go Bang-Bang-Bang!
Go, Mr. Gun, Go!
Mr. Gun keeps going Bang-Bang-Bang! until Dick lets Mr. Gun's trigger go or his ammo runs out.
•fuse vs. fuze — This is something easily confused, enough so that I felt it important to take pains to differentiate the two.
••FUSE (with an S) only refers to time fuse, such as the gunpowder-enriched cord one sets on fire, and then burns down the length of the cord till it hits the more volatile bangy-bang stuff. Anybody setting off firecrackers, has lit this so-spelled FUSE.
••FUZE (with a Z) can be any sort of device (mechanical, electric, laser-proximity, or whatever) that determines how and when an explosive ordinance (be it a hand grenade, 2000 pound bomb, guided missile, etc) will eventually blow up via the FUZE's own integral explosives. Once the FUZE's parameters are met, it sets in motion the KA-BOOM! process.
G
•GAv (Grupo de Aviaçãos / Aviation Groups) — FAB equivalent unit to most air forces' wings. Will have one to five Esquadrãos under its command.
•Gen’yosha — (Black Ocean Organization / Black Dragon Society / Dark Ocean Society). Secret organization of base thugs and violent criminals. Participated in assassinations of politicians as a xenophobic methodology of maintaining Japan’s purity and prestige. Founded by Kotaro Hiraoka. Mitsuru Toyama assumed the reins in 1881.
•Gendarmerie — Federal military police who often perform several civil duties as well. While mostly associated with France, several other countries base their national police force on this model.
•General-de-Divisão — General of a Division (Exército Brasileiro rank) (US Army equivalent: Major General / O-8).
•General-de-Exército — General of the Army (Exército Brasileiro rank) (US Army equivalent: “Four-star” General/ O-10).
•GETAM (Grupamento Especial Tático Móvel / Special Mobile Tactical Group) — PMERJ's specialist riot control unit.
•Global Business Solutions, Singapore Pte Ltd. — Large holding company that focuses on business security enhancement through software, hardware, and wetware solutions. The wetware division includes several consulting subsidiaries wordwide, including the more physically oriented JagdMaschine and Direct Action series of companies.
•GNP — Gross National Product. A widely accepted measure of how much overall a country is producing, translated into a monetary figure.
•Gorilla Bar — An extra large Halligan Tool measuring approximately 40 inches (102 cm) in length.
•GPS (Global Positioning System) — .A United States military run constellation of twenty-four satellites that constantly beam their location back to Earth. Back planetside, a properly equipped device (also called a GPS) receiving three or more signals can calculate its exact location with astounding accuracy.
•granada — Grenade. (Portuguese / Spanish)
H
•Hallligan Tool — A popular and handy forcible entry tool. Consists of a metal bar typically ranging in size from 12 to 30 inches (30-76 cm) long with a duckbill-shaped adze and pick perpendicular to one another at one end and a forked claw at the other. The pick (aka horn) is for prying locks and latches; the adze for wedging open windows and doors; and the claw is designed to fit in hasps, locks, latches and gas shut offs.
HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) — Military insertion parachuting where you jump at 30,000+ and open your 'chute at the last moment before you go splat. This is done in the hopes no one hostile will see you dropping in (yeah, bad pun) on their party.
•Hamas — Yet another of the heavy players among the pissed-off young Muslim warrior frat house franchises. Involved in the usual "Kill the infidels, Allah be praised," sort of suicidal, grandma and baby whacking nonsense. They're only mentioned here as their asinine adventures budded out of the Fertile Crescent and went on to blossom in the Southern Cone as well. Yep, Scout's Honor, these boys are tearing up South America too. If you don't believe me, try flipping through something more least-common-denominator than that damn USA Today.
(Oooo, hey! Where'd that soapbox come from? *Wink*)
•HE (High Explosive) — In the military sense, refers specifically to munitions that damage via the more-or-less omnidirectional blast effect of their explosive filler plus the fragmentation of the munition's casing.
When just talking about plain ol' chemical explosives, these are the ones that actually detonate; as opposed to low explosives (such as gunpowder) that simply deflagrate (couldn't resist that brainy sounding term: it means burn rapidly.).
•HEAT — (See shaped charge).
•HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) — This sort of warhead incorporates a shaped charge to penetrate hard targets, plus the designed in capability to spew fragments everywhere to make life miserable for nearby soft targets.
•henchmujs — My own little squish together of henchmen and mujahideen. Specifically refers to those posers who thump their chests proclaiming they're fighting the good jihad against the infidels, but in actuality are nothing but thugs and smugglers.
•Hizbollah (also spelled Hezbollah, Hezb'allah / means: The Party of God) — A Lebanese-centered, Syrian-goaded, Iranian-cash-injected organization singularly composed of Shiite Muslims from the Musawi clan of Arabs. When not setting up their little sub-government in Lebanon, this heinous bunch of motherfuckers go out and commit numerous terrorist acts wordwide. Yeah, they're real go-getters.
•hollowpoint — A bullet with its tip hollowed out. Such a feature will presumably cause the bullet to expand and flatten out its frontal area as it passes through flesh, thus widening the crush cavity it creates and leave a larger wound in its wake. Hollowpoints were NOT devised to be sadistic, as some well-meaning but ignorant lawmakers and media personages would have the public believe. The philosophy behind the design of these bullets is that the larger wound will increase the probability that the person shot will more quickly stop whatever bad, dangerous thing they were doing that got them shot in the first place; thus, saving the lives of good people.
(Hey!... HEYYY!! Come back here! That's my soap box! Gimme!)
•Huey — Universal slang moniker for any variant of a UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. (Derived from US Army pre-September 1962 designation HU-1.) In Brazil are nicknamed Sapaos ("Big Frogs") Due to their appearance. See Gearhead's Corner.
•Hytrel — A mouldable thermoplastic polymer elastomer (tells you a whole helluva a lotta detail, huh?). Very strong. Make's Rob's Mission Knives knife handle and sheath even better.
I
•IED (Improvised Explosive Device) — a bomb cobbled together from "common household items" or whatever else the bombmaker can arrange to go boom.
•IMBEL — Industria de Material Belico de Brasil, Itajuba. Brazilian state manufacturer of weapons and explosives.
•INTERPOL — INTERnational POLice agency. Mostly disseminates information to member police forces.
•Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) — Also extending their slimy tentacles to the Southern Cone: A dangerous also-ran in the "Shoot the Jews and Westerners, suicide bomb their loved ones. It's Allah's will and we shall reap Paradise for it!" kinda sadistic, too-much-indoctrinated-hate, too-little-time-on-their-hands sweepstakes. Same mindless destruction, different secret handshake.
•ISO — International Organization for Standardization. Sets industrial and commercial standards that often become de facto, or even de jure law in regards to world commerce.
J
•JagdMaschine Ltda. — Fictional PMC enjoying an almost legendary reputation during the action set during The Genocide Engine. They are particularly well regarded for "direct action" services.
K
•Kalashnikov — Another term for the AK-series of rifles (i.e AK-47, AKM, AK-74, mucho etcetera....). (AK means Avtomat Kalashnikova or Assault Rifle designed by [Mikhail Timofeyevich] Kalashnikov.)
•katana — The official hand-and-a-half sword of Japan. The longer of the two swords people think of when they hear "samurai swords." (The shorter being a wakizashi.) A katana is typically 32-41 inches long, 24-31 inches of that being the slightly upswept, single-edged blade of uniform (narrow) width.
Is differentiated from the older tachi swords by a less dramatic blade curve and being worn on the left hip with the edge pointing up (tachis are worn hanging from the belt with the blade down). Though this is a rough and ready guide, sometimes the only means to tell the naked blades apart is by which side of the tang the swordsmith's stamp is on....
(Wow! I could go on all freakin' day! But how 'bout I let y'all concentrate on the novel instead? Ok! Novel it is!)
•kernmantle — Refers to a type of rope constructed with an inner core (kern) and an outer woven exterior layer(s) (the mantle). Bad ass stuff. The rapelling rope of champions.
•Kevlar — DuPont's trade name for a particular aromatic aramid fiber. The wonderful yellow stuff has five times the tensile strength of steel (hence it's use in ballistic armor), and is quite fire and cut resistant as well.
•KIA — Killed In Action.
•Kokuryû-kai — (Armur river society/ “Black Dragon”). Secret xenophobic spy society aimed at securing the Japanese military in China and causing the governing of Mongolia and Manchuria. Founded 1901 by Ryochei Uchida, protégé of Mitsuru Toyama. Controlled Chinese opium trade and secretly bolstered by Japanese government. Dissolved in 1944, right after Toyama’s death.
•Kydex — PVC-based plastic that can be heat molded around objects. Popular for gun holsters, knife sheaths, magazine pouches, etc, ad infinitum as the molded product provides a secure friction fit and resists the wear and tear of the elements extremely well.
L
•LAN (Local Area Network) — A computer network covering a small, location-specific area.
•LAW rocket (aka M72 and LAW-66) (Light Anti-armor Weapon) — Light disposable rocket launcher containing a rocket with a 66 mm shaped charge warhead. Mentioned in Chaos and Rage by A.J Burmeister. as a destructive toy he was well familiar with.
•LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) — These liquid filled flat screens contain molecules whose alignment can be altered via an electric field; thus, changing colour and forming images upon the flat screens.
•LED (Light Emitting Diode) — Semiconducting device that lights up when current is supplied. In short, compared to incandescent bulbs: creates a purer light, the bulb lasts longer, and it guzzles less power.
•la Légion Étrangere — (lit. "The Legion of Strangers" / French Foreign Legion).
•LZ (Landing Zone) — Typically an (often ad hoc) area designated for a helicopter or other air vehicle to put down.
•Lexan — A transparent polymer known for its durability. Sometimes utilized as “bulletproof glass” even though its strength deteriorates over time in sunlight.
M
•M13 disintegrating feed links — Standard steel belt feeding link of the United States military for caliber 7.62 NATO (7.62 X 51mm). Used with MGs such as the M60, Mk48, and M240 series, as well as the German MG3.
•M18A1 Claymore mine — The archetype of the anti-personnel directional mine. Rectangular in shape, with the side facing the bad guys slightly concave, propped off the ground on a set of folding metal legs. Contains a healthy pound of C4 to propel 700 ball bearings toward whomever you done aimed it at. Essentially a monstrous, single-use shotgun. (See Gearhead's Corner for a picture.)
•M4 fuze — A blasting cap in common military use, distinguished by being packed with powerful enough explosive to act as a primary detonator for C-4.
•M40 test kit — Small green plastic box roughly 3 inches square used to confirm an electrical circuit on a Claymore mine is functioning. Flashes a white light when the M57 is "clacked" and all circuits are "go".
•M57 Electrical Firing Device ("clacker") — Small green plastic piezoelectric device that is squeezed together. Once it is squeezed, it makes a "clacking" noise and sends a piezoelectric charge down an attached wire to detonate a fuze. Often associated with a M18A1 Claymore mine as it comes in the mine's kit, but certainly could be used in any sort of remote explosive initiation.
•M6 electrical blasting caps — Used by the US Army and Marine Corps, it is most useful to military end users as it is packaged to be less sensitive to accidentally going boom-boom in areas with lots of static electricity and / or RF-emissions.
•Makita — Power tool manufacturer. During Chaos and Rage, the characters are referring to a cordless drill of that make.
•MBITR MulitBand Inter/intra Team Radio) — Also known as the PRC-148. A SINCGARS radio, in which the main transmitter is the size of a rather tall, plump walkie-talkie.
See Gearhead's Corner.
•Medulla oblongata (aka 'brain stem', 'knowledge knot', 'the off switch') — Part of the brain at the top of the spnal cord/rear base of the skull. Tells the heart to pump and the lungs to breathe, etc. Puncture it and a person "switches off" mighty instantly.
•mic — microphone.
•MIG welder (Metal-Inert-Gas or Metal-In-Gas) — Used primarily for, and most efficient for high-volume welding jobs.
•MG (Machine Gun) — [Within a military context]: A rifle caliber firearm designed for *sustained, yes, sustained, dammit!* fully-automatic fire. (Not just any damn gun that can fire full-auto.)
•Moçambique drill — Two gunshots to the upper torso, immediately followed by one gunshot to the head.
•MRTA — Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Peruvian leftist terrorist / insurgent (or whatever you wish to call the bastards) organization.
N
•NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) — Group of nations (including the USA, Canada, most of Western Europe, and from the 1990’s on, some of Eastern Europe) originally formed as an alliance against Communist aggression. Still extant to facilitate diplomacy and interoperability between the militaries of its member nations.
•NATO ASCC (North Atlantic Treaty Organization Air Standards Coordinating Committee) — Back during the Cold War, the Commies weren’t all that forthcoming to the West about the names and designations of their planes, missiles, radars, etc. This happy body of fellas would come up with names like “Bear”, “Hind”, and “Fagot” for Russian and Chinese airborne military gear. Still serves this function today.
•neodymium (Atomic symbol: Nd) — A rare earth metal. Has the highest magnetic resonance of any element on that there periodic table. Hence, makes a decent magnet.
•NSA — National Security Agency. Almost an innocuous moniker for such a spooky organization. These guys n' gals are the United States' principal eavesdroppers on any and all foreign electronic transmissions they can get their gadgets to sweep into their data banks. And they rake that sorta information in by the truckload.
•Nomex — Fabric material widely used in coveralls, gloves, and other clothing — especially for an environment where fire is likely. Favored because unlike many synthetics, it does not melt, but chars and then only at high temperature.
•NVGs/NVDs/I2/IIs (Night Vision Goggles/ ~ Devices/ Image Intensifiers) — These devices highly amplify ambient light photons, then project those photons on a photocathode into an image resembling daylight (if the world were slime green and grainy).
O
•O Globo — The TimeWarner of Brazil. Huge media empire including several TV stations / studios, newspapers, and magazines.
•OS — Operating System: specifically the software that forms the computer's foundation from which all it's other software runs off of.
P
•Para — (Primarily British Commonwealth military slang) Soldier who is parachute-qualified / serves in a paratroop unit.
•PETN (PentaErythrite TetraNitrate, aka PETNite) — A powerful and somewhat sensitive high explosive used in Semtex and det-cord.
•pig-tail — Type of knot used to affix a tributary length of det-cord to the main initiator.
•phreak — A cracker of telephone networks.
•plastic explosive (aka "plastique" / Plastic Bonded Explosive (PBX)) — Any explosive that has been mixed with a plasticizer. Very, very shock insensitive (you can shoot it and it won't blow) and can be molded to shape by hand.
•PMC (Private Military Corporations) — Euphemism for mercenary companies. Also now known simply as "contractors".
•PMERJ (Polícia Militar Estado Rio de Janerio or Rio de Janerio State Military Police) — Uniformed police of Rio de Janeiro State.
•polyamide — A really fancy, ten-dollar way to say NYLON. Use it at cocktail parties to sound brainy.
•polycarbonate — A substance formed by the polymerization of carbonate structures. (And since that last statement means JACK-SQUAT to 99.9% of y'all, let me use a much more relevant description.) A transparent or translucent plastic-like material with astronomical impact resistance and fifty (50) times the tensile strength of glass (and four (4) times that of aluminum). Used often in high-end goggles, sunglasses, and flashlight lenses as well as "bulletproof glass"; and hey, CDs/DVDs too. Capiche?
•psi — Pounds per Square Inch. Usually refers to the pressure a gas is exerting within a confined space.
•PTT — Push-To-Talk. Refers to a radio which requires the operator to push a button to enable audio transmissions. (Like, duh.)
Q
•QuikClot — A granulated mineral substance designed to desiccate bleeding, leaving only the platelets to do their clotting thing. Reports vary as to it's efficacy, but appears to be the best hemostatic agent out there, certainly the most economical and easily available. In use with U.S. Armed Forces and other big-name militaries.
R
•R&D — Research and Development.
•random frequency hazard — When explosives are electrically fuzed, any radio transmissions nearby may possibly transmit the frequency to cause said explosives to go BOOM!! all too early. This is bad. Very Bad.
•RAM — Random Access Memory. Solid state memory circuits that computers use in equivalence to a human's short-term memory.
•RDX (Royal Demolition Explosive or Research Demolition Explosive) (aka cyclotrimethylene trinitramine / cyclonite/ C3H6N6O6) — A common base for many explosives, including the plasticized varieties. Is prefered by many due to it's extremely high explosive velocity and detonation pressure.
•real (Pronounced: hay-ow) (pl. reais (Pronounced: hay-eyes)) / centavo(s) — A real is the standard Brazilian unit of currency. One centavo is one-hundredth of a real. (Analogous to dollars and cents.)
•recce — reconnaissance (Primarily British Commonwealth military) (pronounced "ricky")
•recon — reconnaissance (Primarily US military)
•REPOBRÁS — Resistencia Popular Brasiliero / Brazilian Popular Resistance. Fictional gun-running, narcoterrorist revolutionaries (and nominal extreme-left splinter wing of the Landless Workers Movement) operating primarily out of Amazonas and Pará states in Brazil with tendrils reaching into Columbia and Venezuela.
•RF — Radio Frequency. Catch-all term for any transmitters / transmissions that emit radiation within the electromagnetic spectrum of 10 kHz (kiloHertz) to 100 or so GHz (GigaHertz).
•Ribbon charges — Explosive shaped in a wide, flat "ribbon". Can be shaped and twisted into different positions depending how u wanna detonate something. Kinda like a big, flat strip of det-cord.
•ROE — Rules Of Engagement. Essentially, what lines must be crossed before a person bound by these rules can use certain levels of force against said line crossers.
•round — A complete unit of ammunition: Bullet, casing, primer, and powder.
•RPG-7 (Reaktivniy Protivotankovyi Granatomet / Rocket, Anti-tank Grenade [launcher] /aka "Rocket Propelled Grenade" in English-speaking countries) — (Russian) Probably the most common shoulder-fired, unguided, anti-armor rocket in modern usage. This ubiquity / ease of acquisition makes it very popular with insurgents, terrorists and their ilk. Thus, why certain characters think the rockets being fired are RPGs.
•RV (RendezVous) — Also "Rally Point" in American military jargon.
S
•Sargento — Sergeant. All different Sergeant ranks are colloquially known as "Sargento". (Portuguese / Spanish)
Exército Brasileiro rank breakdown:
••1º Sargento / Primeiro-Sargento / First Sergeant
••2º Sargento / Segundo-Sargento / Second Sergeant
••3º Sargento / Terceiro-Sargento / Third Sergeant
PMERJ rank breakdown:
••1º Sargento PM / 1º SGT PM
••2º Sargento PM / 2º SGT PM
••3º Sargento PM / 3º SGT PM
•SAS — Special Air Service. Elite special forces unit of the British Army.
•SBS — Special Boat Service. Elite special forces unit of the UK's Royal Marines.
•Sayerot Mat'kal — "General Staff Recon" aka Unit 269. The Israeli Defense Force's most elite CT unit.
•selective fire — Refers to small arms that allows the user to select whether the firearm will fire in fully-automatic or semi-automatic mode.
•semi-automatic (semi-auto) (more accurately: self-loading) — This is a commonly misunderstood and misused term. This here definition is the straight low-down. When the trigger is pulled on small arms that fire semi-automatically, the firearm will spit out ONE bullet, cycle its internals and LOAD (only) the next round to be fired. To actually fire the freshly loaded round, the user MUST RELEASE the trigger and pull it again.
In other words:
See Dick pull Mr. Gun's trigger.
See Mr. Gun go Bang!
See Mr. Gun eject the spent shell and load a fresh round.
Dick wants Mr. Gun to go Bang! again.
See Dick release Mr. Gun's trigger.
See Dick pull Mr. Gun's trigger again.
See Mr. Gun go Bang! again.
And so on.
•Shaped charge / HEAT ("High Explosive Anti-Tank") — Explosive charge optimized for penetrating through armor and other tough cookies. Consists of the explosive filler shaped as a hollow cone, the tip of the cone facing away from the target. A cone-shaped metal (typically copper or aluminum) liner is snuggled up to the front side of the explosive. When detonated, the explosive and liner will collapse upon itself and form a jet of molten plasma rushing forward at 5 to 10 thousand meters per second (ca. 15-30K feet/sec) that will punch through all but the heaviest armor.
•sheet charge — A big, wide flat "sheet" of explosive, usually laid flat over whatever needs blowing up. (A common variety is known as Deta-Sheet.)
•shira-saya (Literally "white scabbard") — Refers to Japanese sword scabbards and hilt traditionally constructed of plain honoki wood. When sheathed, the sword roughly resembles a wooden staff. In this here book, this is the sheath style prefered by the Brazilian yakuza henchboys, though their swords are cheap, junky, mass produced facsimilies of real shira-saya katanas.
•shock tube — Simliar to very thin det-cord, but burns much slower and doesn't explode outward, making it less hazardous to use.
•SINCGARS — SINgle Channel Ground and Air Radio System. A family of radios in the VHF-FM band (30-88 MHz) that utilize specific frequency hopping and the VINSON encryption protocol common among all compatible radios in that system. In use with US Armed Forces in both vehicular mounted and man portable units (e.g. MBITR AN/PRC-148 (V) (C)).
•Single-point sling — This sling attaches at one position along a firearm, forming a large loop that travels over the shoulder and under the opposite arm. This loop will position the firearm so that it hangs diagonally snug along the shooter's chest when the firearm is dropped, keeping it out of the way if the shooter needs to draw his pistol or perform another action. (See Three-point sling.)
•Sitrep — SITuation REPort.
•SIVAM — Sistema de Vigilância de Amazônia (See main narrative in The Genocide Engine for a more lengthy blah blah.)
•SMG — SubMachine Gun — A pistol caliber carbine capable of fully automatic fire.
•Soldado (and Soldado PM) — Soldier (Portuguese). Also lowest rank within both the Exército and PMERJ respectively.
•SOPMOD (Special Operations Peculiar Modification) — Specifically refers to M4-series rifles modified in accordance with this program put together by the Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, US Navy. Employed widely through US Special Operations Command.
•Southern Cone — Look at the bottom of South America, shaped like a lopsided cone ain't it? So, the Southern Cone part is Argentina and Chile, with Paraguay, Uruguay and the southern chunk of Brazil comprising the cone's base.
•spall — The chunks of metal that fragment off metal once said metal is violently penetrated.
•Spectra Shield — Material developed by Allied Signal that exhibits ten times the tensile strength of steel by weight. Is also relatively fire, water and cut resistant. Used extensively in bulletproof vests and shields, emergency climbing rope, fishing line, etc. etc.
•spider charge — A type of fracture charge, utilizing several strips of det cord laid out and affixed in a multi-legged pattern on an attached sheet, each leg often including a "foot" of more explosive such as Dyno Gel. Often used for breaching holes wherever a new hole might need to be created.
•spoon — Slang for the safety lever that separates from the grenade when thrown, and thus allows the fuze to ignite. Term stems from the it's superficial semblance to a spoon. (Originally, given by the French as "bouchon": French for spoon.)
•Starlight scope — A rifle scope that is also a I2-type NVD.
•SWAT — Special Weapons and Tactics. Generic moniker for a unit within a law enforcement organization specifically tasked, equipped, and trained for extremely high-risk operations.
•”Swedish armor-piercing nine-millies” — These happen to be the Bofors 9mm M39B High Performance steel-jacketed 9X19mm variant, developed in 1955 to plow through pesky bullet deflecting brush. Just so happens these 105 grain bullets, which scream out of a pistol barrel at roughly 1350 feet per second, will drill a clean, lovely hole through 34 layers of Kevlar at 75 meters. Some even claim they’ll completely penetrate 6-inch diameter pine trees. So yeah, A.J. and Lenny’s MP5Ks sport some exceptional wound generating muscle.
•sysadmin — system administrator (typically of a computer network).
T
•Taifeiro — Technician. (Brazilian Military)
Exército Brasileiro rank breakdown:
••Taifeiro-Mor / Senior Technician.
(US Army equivalent: Specialist-4 / E-4).
Equivalent to Cabo in Exército Brasileiro but more technical than command rank.
••Taifeiro de 1º Classe / Taifeiro-de-Primeira-Classe / Technician First Class
(US Army equivalent: Private First Class / PFC / E-3)
••Taifeiro de 2º Classe / Taifeiro-de-Segunda-Classe / Technician Second Class
(US Army equivalent: Private / PV2 / E-2)
•tango — The US military phonetic for the letter 'T'. Also permutated in US military as slang for a terrorist.
•tachypsychia — (Literally: Very fast mind). Psychological phenomenon occurring during life-or-death / fight-or-flight genre of situations. The mind works so unbelievably fast that the affected person sees time dramatically slowing down.
•Tenente — Lieutenant (Portuguese / Spanish)
All different Lieutenant ranks are colloquially known as "Tenente".
Exército Brasileiro rank breakdown:
••1º Tenente / Primeiro-Tenente / First Lieutenant
••2º Tenente / Segundo-Tenente / Second Lieutenant
••Subtenente / Sub Lieutenant
(US Army equivalent:
First Sergeant and Sergeant Major / E-8 and E9)
PMERJ rank breakdown:
••1º Tenente PM / 1º TEN PM
••2º Tenente PM / 2º TEN PM
Subtenente PM / SUB TEN PM
•Thermal Imagers (TIs) — Devices that detect the thermal signature (infrared radiation / heat) emitted by whatever it's looking toward and converts it into a monochromatic or colour picture. (Typically see radiation in either 8-12µm or 3-5µm wavelengths.) Think "Predator Vision", kids.
•Three-point sling — These slings attach both to the front and rear of a rifle, shotgun, or SMG. They also include a stop along the sling so they form a secondary loop that travels over the shoulder and under the opposite arm. This loop will position the firearm so that it hangs diagonally snug along the shooter's chest when the firearm is dropped, keeping it out of the way if the shooter needs to draw his pistol or perform another action. (See Single-point sling.)
•thunderflashes — Small flash powder submunitions within a flash / bang grenade. When ejected from the host grenade body, the flash powder itself causes all that ear-splitting sonic overpressure and cornea-singeing light.
•TNT (TriNitroToluene) — A very commonly used high explosive. Is quite shock insensitive, with a low melting point.
U
•UNASE team (Unidad Antisecuestro y Extorcion / Anti-kidnapping and extortion unit) (Columbia).
V
•Veja — One of Brazil's most widely circulated news magazines.
W
•Water charge — A “pushing charge” used for breaching. Utilizes bags of water (such as intravenous saline packs) mixed with explosive (often wrapped det-cord).
(Muito thanks again to Kevan Gillies of TEES-Brazil for this kinda awesome technical data.)
•WP / Willy-Peter / White Phosphorus
•worm — A computer program that propagates within a computer network's system flaws, replicating itself endlessly. (Similar to a computer virus.)
Y
•Yakuza — Most common name for Japanese organized crime syndicates. Different organizations within the Yakuza carry the suffixes of: (-gumi "gang" (group/ organisation/ “gang of thieves”), -kumi "syndicate" & -kai "family")
•Ya'ma'M — Yechida Meyuchedet Le'Lochama Be'Terror ("Police Special Antiterrorist Unit"). The Israeli National Police Border Guard's most elite CT unit.
Z
•Zodiac — A French manufacturer of top-end inflatable rafts, ones often used by special forces for maritime insertion.