by Myke Cole
BMER – Bound Magical Energy Repository. Also known as a ‘boomer’, a BMER is any object, inanimate or otherwise, into which magic is bound. BMERs normally dispense the effects of the magic bound into them.
BOATSWAIN – An officer or petty officer in charge of a ship’s maintenance, deck force, topside gear, ship’s movement, and other ship’s operations that are not under the jurisdiction of engineering, operations or weapons officers, or petty officers.
BREVET – A field promotion, granted as an honor before retirement or under extreme circumstances when required senior personnel have been killed in action.
BRIDGE – The part of a ship from which it is controlled.
BUOY TENDER – A type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys.
BUTTER-BAR – A second lieutenant in land- or air-based service, or an ensign in maritime service. The lowest commissioned officer rank in the United States military.
CAC – Common Access Card. A government identification card used across all five branches of the US military.
CARBINE – A shortened, lighter version of the traditional assault rifle used by infantry. It is better suited for tight spaces common in urban operations.
CHINOOK – A large, double-rotor transport/cargo helicopter. Larger than a Blackhawk.
CO – Commanding Officer.
COMMS – Communications.
COMMS-DARK – A situation in which communications are either forbidden or impossible.
CORPSMAN – A medic in the US Navy.
COVEN – Replaces a squad for organizational purposes when magic-using soldiers are concerned. A conventional squad contains four to ten soldiers led by a staff sergeant. A Coven contains four to five SOC Sorcerers, led by a captain. Training Covens are led by a warrant officer.
CSH – Combat Support Hospital. Pronounced ‘cash’. A field hospital, successor to the MASH units of TV fame.
CUTTER – Any ship sixty-five feet in length or longer in the service of the United States Coast Guard.
DANGER CLOSE – Indirect Fire impacting within two hundred meters of the intended target.
DFAC – Dining Facility.
DFP – Defensive Fighting Position.
DRAWING – The act of summoning raw magic in preparation for Binding it into a spell.
DRUID – Selfer slang for a Terramancer.
ELEMENTALIST – A person practicing the prohibited school of Sentient Elemental Conjuration. This is the act of imbuing Elementals with self-awareness. This is different from automatons – Elementals with no thought, who are entirely dependent on the sorcerer for command and control.
FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FLAG GRADE/FLAG OFFICER – Generals in the land and air services, and admirals in the maritime services.
FOB – Forward Operating Base.
FORCE RECON – The US Marine Corps special operations component. While primarily focused on deep reconnaissance, it has direct-action platoons. These platoons form the basis for the US Marine Corps Special Operations Command or MARSOC.
FULL BIRD – A full colonel in the land and air services, or captain in the maritime services (O-6). The term refers to the silver eagles worn as a symbol of the rank, and distinguishes the wearer from a lieutenant colonel (or ‘light colonel’ O-5), who is designated by a silver oak leaf.
GANGWAY – A ramp between a ship and land to let people get off or on the ship.
GIMAC – Gate-Integrated Modern Army Combatives – MAC integrated with Portamancy. Also known as ‘gate-fu’. See MAC definition below.
GIS – Geographic Information System.
GO DYNAMIC – Command given to assault a target without regard to stealth.
GO NOVA – When a magic user is overwhelmed by the current of their own magical power. This results in a painful death similar to burning. A person who has ‘gone nova’ is sometimes referred to as a ‘magic sink’.
HEALER – A Physiomancer. They are sometimes also referred to as ‘Manglers’ or ‘Renders’ in deference to their ability to damage flesh as well as repair it. Offensive Physiomancy is prohibited under the Geneva Convention’s magical amendment. Offensive use of Physiomancy is also known as ‘Rending’.
HELM – A ship’s steering mechanism.
HELO – Helicopter.
HOOCH – Living quarters. Can also be used as a verb. ‘You’ll hooch here.’
HOT – Under fire. Usually refers to an arrival under fire. A ‘hot LZ’ would be landing an aircraft under fire. Also refers to a state of military readiness where personnel are prepared for immediate action.
INDIG – Indigenous.
INDIRECT FIRE – Sometimes shortened to simply ‘Indirect’. An attack, either magical or conventional, aimed without relying on direct line of sight to the target. This usually refers to artillery, rocket, or mortar fire, but also Pyromantic flame strikes and Aeromantic lightning attacks.
JAG – Judge Advocate General. The legal branch of any of the United States armed services.
JO – Junior Officer. Also known as a Company Grade Officer.
KIA – Killed in Action.
KIOWA – A light reconnaissance helicopter.
KLOCK – A kilometer or kilometers per hour.
LATENT – Any individual who possesses magical ability, detected or otherwise.
LATENT GRENADE – An auto-suppressed or ‘Stifled’ Latency. A person who possesses magical ability, is not a Rump Latent, but for reasons unknown, will not Manifest their powers.
LE – Law Enforcement.
LIMBIC DAMPENER – A drug that suppresses limbic function, enabling recipients to better cope with emotions. Incredibly expensive and strictly controlled, it is used primarily by the SOC as a means to grant greater control over the use of magic conducted by the human limbic system.
LITTLE BIRD – A small helicopter usually used to insert/extract commandos.
LOGS – Logistics.
LSA – Logistical Staging Area.
LZ – Landing Zone.
MAC – Modern Army Combatives. A martial art unique to the United States Army, based on Brazilian Jujitsu.
MANIFEST – The act of realizing one’s Latency and displaying magical ability. Latent people Manifest at various times in their lives – some at birth, some on their deathbed, and at all times in between. Nobody knows why it occurs when it does.
MARK 19 – A crew-served, fully automatic grenade launcher.
ME1 – Maritime Enforcement Specialist 1st Class.
MGRS – Military Grid Reference System.
MINIGUN – A crew-served multibarrel machine gun with a high rate of fire, employing Gatling-style rotating barrels and an external power source.
MOST RIKI-TIK – To do something very quickly.
MP – Military Police.
MRE – Meal Ready to Eat. A self-contained field ration for use where food facilities are not available.
MWR – Morale, Welfare, and Recreation center.
NCO – Noncommissioned Officer.
NIH – National Institutes of Health. Among many other services, NIH runs a Monitoring/Suppression program for those Latents who refuse to join the military but don’t want to become Selfers. Participants are monitored continuously and have virtually no privacy. Most are treated as social pariahs.
NODS – Night Observation Devices.
NONCOM – A Noncommissioned Officer; sergeants in the air and land services and petty officers in the maritime services.
NON RATE – Enlisted personnel in maritime services below the rank of E-4 (E-3s are sometimes rated). A non rate achieves a rate when he/she has graduated from ‘A-School’ and can demonstrate certifiable skill in a particular field. At that point, the non rate becomes a petty officer.
NORMALS – Selfer slang for those who are not Latent. The term is respectful. The term ‘human’ is sometimes substituted in derogatory fashion.
NOVICE -– SOC Sorcerers still in training, before they graduate SAOLCC.
OC – Officers’ Club.
OC – Oleoresin Capsicum, also known as ‘Pepper Spray’. A nonlethal agent used primarily in policing, riot control, and personal defense.
O&I – Operations and Intelligence. This usually refers to a meeting/briefing held once or more times daily to update commanders on past actions and prepare them for the day’s work.
ON MY SIX – Directly behind the speaker.
OPSEC – Operations Security.
OUTSIDE THE WIRE – Area beyond the secure perimeter of a military facility.
PFC – Private First Class. A junior enlisted rank. E-3 in the United States Army and E-2 in the United States Marine Corps.
PFD – Personal Flotation Device, also known as a Life Jacket.
POAC – Pentagon Officers Athletic Club.
PROBES – Short for ‘prohibited’. Those Latents who Manifest in a school of prohibited magic such as Negramancy, Portamancy, Necromancy, or Sentient Elemental Conjuration.
PX – Post Exchange. A store selling a variety of goods located on a military facility.
QRF – Quick Reaction Force.
R&R – Rest and Relaxation.
READING – Slang for the military practice of using Rump Latents to ‘read’ the currents of other Latent individuals in an effort to discover their magic-using status.
RENDING – Offensive use of Physiomantic magic. See Healer definition above.
ROE – Rules of Engagement. The conditions under which members of the military and law-enforcement communities are permitted to employ deadly force.
RTB – Return to Base.
RTO – Radio Telephone Operator. A military member who specializes in the use and maintenance of radio equipment.
RUMP LATENT – A person who Manifests magical ability that is too slight to be of any real use. Such a person can only use magic to a very slight degree but can feel the magical tide in another person. Rump Latents are not commissioned as full SOC officers but make up a small percentage of the enlisted and warrant-officer support in the corps.
SAOLCC – Sorcerer’s Apprentice/Officer Leadership Combined Course. Basic training for SOC Sorcerers. This rigorous training regimen teaches Latent soldiers the basics of magic use/control while simultaneously preparing them for their duties as officers in the US Army.
SAR – Search and Rescue.
SASS – Suitability Assessment Section.
SAW – Squad Automatic Weapon. A light machine gun, capable of being carried and used as a rifle but heavier and with a greater magazine capacity. It is frequently equipped with a bipod enabling it to be used in a fixed position as a crew-served, belt-fed support weapon.
SCHOOL – A particular kind of magic, usually associated with a mutable element (earth, air, fire, water, flesh, etc.). Latent individuals only Manifest in one school.
SCO – Shanghai Cooperative Organization. A mutual security organization consisting of several Asian and Eastern European nations.
SEABEE – Colloquial pronunciation of ‘CB’ – construction battalions of the United States Navy.
SELFERS – Latent individuals who elect to flee authority and use their magical abilities unsupervised. Selfers are usually tracked down and killed.
SF – Special Forces.
SINCGARS – Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System. A networked radio system that handles secure voice and data communications.
SITREP – Situation Report.
SK3 – Storekeeper third class.
SOC – Supernatural Operations Corps. Not to be confused with Special Operations Command (or SOCOM, under whose auspices the Supernatural Operations Corps falls). The SOC is the corps of the US Army responsible for all magical use. The SOC is a joint corps, which means it handles magic use for all US armed services to include the Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard (though the Army is the executive agent). The Marine Corps does not participate in the SOC and runs its own Suppression Lances.
SOP – Standard Operating Procedure.
SORCERER – A SOC magical operator – an officer of the SOC who employs magic as his primary military specialty.
STANDOFF ARMOR – A type of vehicle armor designed to protect against rocket-propelled-grenade (RPG) attacks.
START – Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
STRYKER – An armored combat land vehicle.
SUPER STRUCTURE – The part of a ship above the main deck.
SUPPRESSION – The act of using one’s own magical current to block that of another. This is typically a one-to-one ratio. The strength of a Suppressor’s Latency must exceed that of the individual he is seeking to Suppress.
SUPPRESSION LANCE – A US Marine Corps unit that employs a Suppressing officer to block the magical abilities of the riflemen in the unit.
TAR BABY – SOC Slang for elemental automatons. See Elementalist definition above.
TOC – Tactical Operations Center.
T-WALL – A modular, portable section of rebar-reinforced concrete barricade. Shaped like an upside-down T. Usually six feet wide and twelve feet tall.
UCMJ – Uniform Code of Military Justice.
USTRANSCOM – United States Transportation Command is one of ten unified commands of the United States Department of Defense. The mission of USTRANSCOM is to provide air, land, and sea transportation for the Department of Defense, both in time of peace and time of war.
VTC – Video Teleconference.
WHISPERING – Terramantic magic used to control the actions of animals. This is prohibited by the US Code. SOC Terramancers are not permitted to Whisper.
WIA – Wounded in Action.
WITCH – Selfer slang for a Negramancer. Male Negramancers are sometimes called Warlocks.
XO – Executive Officer.
Acknowledgments
There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Myke’, either. The team in this case is vast beyond counting and includes my family and friends, the tireless and dedicated staff at Ace, Headline, and JABberwocky, and the revelers of the movable feast we know as the Drinklings. It also includes the artists – some friends, some strangers – who daily give me something to fight for: John Scalzi, Chuck Wendig, Howard Tayler, Neil Gaiman, Molly Crabapple, Joe Hill, and countless others. When I think about dying for my country, you are the country I’d die for. China Miéville as well, revolutionary, intellectual, the most inspirational man I’ve never met. Thanks also to the New York City Police Department, the thin blue line I am so intensely proud to be a part of. Thanks also to the men and women of US Coast Guard Station New York, the most dedicated band of people I’ve ever had the privilege to serve alongside. You daily wade through trials that would make lesser people throw up their hands; you stoically accept a task where success is invisible and failure unforgettable, a shining example of the person I hope to be. Thanks also to Andrew and Megan Liptak, Major General Richard Schneider, Lieutenant Colonel Brett Cox, and the Corps of Cadets at Norwich University. Looking at your serried ranks, I know the future of our military is in good hands.
Thanks to my beta readers not thanked in previous volumes, Mark Lawrence and Justin Landin, brilliant and busy people who carved out time to help a friend in need. Thanks also to fandom, the congoers and bloggers and social-media allies who shore me up with humor, admonition, and relentless pedantry. My tribe, miles deep and eternal.
And Pete, as always. You’re probably sick of the constant gratitude, but you’ll have to deal. What’s owed is owed, and life’s too short and uncertain to leave the important things unsaid. Thanks.
Myke Cole, Shadow Ops 3: Breach Zone
