Jarhead and other nicknames.

[Scrim]

As a Marine Ive been called a Jar-Head most of my adult life(I dont take offense). It comes from the way our high stiff collars on the dress uniforms gave us the appearence of having our head screwed onto our uniforms.
Less derogatory is Leatherneck(for the stiff leather collar worn to protect the neck back in the day.)and Devil Dog(given us by the Germans at the battle of Belleau wood in WW1.)
Anyways I started this because someone on another thread called one of my British brothers a "Royal Jarhead" which I dont think is an actual term.
What are the actual nicknames and origins used by other services and countries for their troops?

[Scrim]

The British call their officers "Ruperts", personally I like "A-Holes" better. ;)

[James]

I think New Zealanders are (or were) called Kiwis. During the World Wars, Brit squaddies were called "Tommy" the way American troops were called Doughboys, then GIs. In WWI, French infantry were called "Poilu". That translates as "Hairy One". Anyway, there's a bit of history.

[Marsuitor]

Well, this probably isn't that "high profile" as it regards Norwegians, but our fighting soldiers in general is called "geværjalla" for the regular infantry men and "svartskaller" for the cavalry mech.inf. troops, or cavalry in whole.
That is translated "blackheads", or "blacktops" for the cavalry troops, as they wear black berets, and "riflefodder" for the inf. lads. The word "jalla" being the Arabic word for "quick! quick!" or something.
Usually the two names are called by the two services at each other because of mild rivalry. Also the logheads are pretty known for using names like this for the fighting men.
Our marines are sometimes called "kystnegre" instead of "kystjegere" meaning "coast-negroes" instead of "coast-rangers", like it or not :roll:. That also goes for our SEAL equivalent, "Marinejegerere" sometimes being called "Marinenegre".

[reverence]

The general slang for an Australian soldier is 'Digger' I guess because during the siege of Tobruk the lads dug in like mothers and would't budge till ordered to withdraw(anyone know if this is where the term originated)Aust infantry refer to themselves as Grunts(and also by other Corps) and being a Grunt is a compliment(obviously taken from the Yank term used during vietnam)On an exercise I was on with US troops one of our SNCO's kept refering to American soldiers as diggers("Hey you diggers come and get your ammo!" etc)an American officer came up and said that he really should't be using that language as it was offending the black soldiers-they thought he was saying '******s' and had a good laugh when the term was explained to them.

[ESCOBAR]

Marinejegere equivalent to SEALs?............I doubt that, nuthing is as great or as tought as the SEALs. I dont care if that sounds bias, but SEALs r the greatest.

Nothing can be compared to a SEAL

[DE_Six]

British paras call their non-airborne infantry brethrens "craphats" (IIRC) and American airborne call theirs "legs", in reference to their non-bloused, straight-leg Class A dress pants.

[SFontaine]

Rangers are called Hooahs.

[Marsuitor]

Marinejegere equivalent to SEALs?............I doubt that, nuthing is as great or as tought as the SEALs. I dont care if that sounds bias, but SEALs r the greatest.

Nothing can be compared to a SEAL
Equivalent in how they operate and what they do. Naval SF with sea-air-land capabilities.

Come to think of some more, people in our unit are sometimes called "teletubbies" because of the light-green beret color. Also soldiers in the Norwegian 6. Division are called "smurfs", again referring to the beret color which is dark blue.

Btw, aren't Brit Paras sometimes called "cherryberries" by the RM's? I believe i heard that somewhere.
Also, the first time a heard a Brit refer to an MP as a "monkey" that really put a smile on my face.

[digrar]

Anyone from New Zealand is a Kiwi, not just their soldiers, Australian troops are called diggers or sigularly as digger or shortened to dig, it comes from the ANZAC troops at Galipoli ( in Turkey ) during the first world war. They stormed the beach, but couldn't completley take the high ground so they had to dig in to survive, hence diggers.
We call our Navy people Pussers, which I think comes from the old days when fresh food, salt water and infrequent showers resulted in nasty pussy sores for our sailors. They in turn call call Army people pongo's because of our questionable hygene in the field.

[Gringo]

Don't forget the REMFs.

Rear Echelon Mother F**kers

[Mortimer]

like a few people have said the australian pvt rank is called a digger, but if you get core specific it goes like this.

Infantry:bullet catchers or weed walkers or grunts
Artillery: drop shorts or nine mile snipers.
Band core: bandies or '****ing bandies'.
Armoured core:turretheads, buckets or tankies.
SASR:chicken stranglers

theres a few more but i can't remember

[digrar]

Medics: scab lifters.
Cooks: tucker f@##ers, bait layers or fitters and turners. They fit food into pots and turn it into ****. Who called the cook a c@#t, who called the c$#t a cook.
MPs: Meat heads.
Engineers: Gingerbeers, rhyming slang.
Assult Pioneers: Pies and beers, same as above.
Signalers: handbags ( because of the stylish bag the antenna light weights come in, Muppets ( because they are always playing with cords and cables) Chooks ( from when morse code was in vouge and sigs looked like chickens pecking at the ground)
Reservists: Weekend warriors or cut lunch commandos.
Artillery: Kabana boys ( kabana is a type of large sausage and the name comes from an unfortunate young gunner who was analy assulted by said sausage a few years ago)
Physical Training Instructors: Lobsters ( good looking bodies but their heads are full of ****.) Works well with the red shorts that our PTIs wear.
Infantry: Grunt is used by non Infantry types and younger Infantrymen but is disliked as it is an American term.

[Royal]

MP's are monkeys (because they are always on your back).
RAF police are snowdrops (because of their white topped caps)
The RAF are crabs (supposedly because of a blue cream similar in colour to their uniforms given to troops with crabs in WWII)
UK soldiers are toms, not tommies (unless they're jocks).
Royal Marines are bootnecks, booties, Royal's or cabbage hats (from the green berets).
The UN are smurfs (from their berets).
The SBS are shaky boats or just shakies.
The SAS are the regiment, hooligans or the Hereford Gun Club.

I could go on...

[JayHawk]

Don't forget the REMFs.

Rear Echelon Mother f***

In the 75th Ranger Regiment they call them Chairborne Rangers...

:lol:

[Gringo]

Police in Britain - Plod or Coppers
Police in Ireland - Paddy Plod

[Upfrontreporting]

A few from the Danish Army:

Military Police : "Jordbærhjelm" = Strawberry helmet
81 mm mortar : Sigøjner-artilleri" = Gypsy artillery
Navy people in general: "Søpølser" = Sea-turds :lol:

[specialairservice]

British call there signalers scaleys

[Light Fighter]

Snake Eaters for SF's, and during Vietnam the SEALs were known as "Men with green faces"

[ESCOBAR]

Delta got that from SOCOM US NAVY SEALs , ahaha

R u sure Rangers are known as Hooahs, cuz they say that all over the U.S Army.

[Light Fighter]

What did I get from SOCOM, Snake Eaters or MWGF's. Actually, I got MWGF's from a retiered SEAL that served with Team 2 (If I remember correctly) during Nam after a conversation at the local VFW.

[CX20]

British Forces nicknames

Cabbagehead (sorry Royal!) - Royal Marines

Cherry Beret - Parachute Regiment

Rockapes - RAF Regiment (come on the lads!!)

Blanket Stacker - Supply staff

Airy Fairies/Brylcreem Boys - RAF (best service IMHO, not that I'm biased!)

Fishheads - Royal Navy

Pongos - British Army (where the army goes, the pong goes)

Green Slime - Intelligence Corps

Hereford Mafia - 22 SAS

Guards Squadron - G Squadron, 22 SAS

SAS - (Saturday Afternoon Soldiers) Territorial Army

STAB - (Stupid TA Bastard) Territorial Army

Auggies - Auxillary RAF Regiment (boo!)

Barracks Commando - "REMFs"

Scaleys - Signals Corps

Nugget / Wannabe / No Skill - Cadet (because some of them are real wannabes and have more bits of kit than the real soldiers)

UK Police nicknames

Boltnecks - Traffic Department

Traffic Wardens - Traffic Department

Clerks - CID (detectives)

Coppers In Disguise - CID (detectives)

Wooden Top/Woodies - Uniform beat bobbies

Knuckle Draggers - Operational Support Unit

Gunslingers - Firearms Officers

Ticket Holders - Firearms Officers

Glory Boy - Firearms Officers

Secret Squirrel - Special Branch

[Chris1]

RLC - Really Large Corp.
Now gone RCT Right ****s in Trucks / Runners of Contraband Toabacco
Also gone RAOC - Recruit Any Old ****
(both along with others went to the RLC, hence Really Large Corp)
REME - wReck Every Motor Eventually / Rough Engineering Made Easy / Royal Engineer Minus Education
RGJ- Shovel Brigade (due to the habit of digging a big hole in the ground at every opportunity :) ) / Falling plates
many more but its two in the morning and brain not working good.

[CX20]

LOL Chris I was trying to remember the REME ones, Royal Engineer Minus Education was the one I was looking for!!

Also forgot;

Plastic Dagger - Territorial Army (they come in for a lot of stick)

[Gringo]

Airy Fairies/Brylcreem Boys - RAF (best service IMHO, not that I'm biased!)

Bull****!

[martinexsquaddie]

Crab AIR or NIne to fivers or civies in Uniform.
try getting an airlift if theres anything decent on the telly :o
The choppers have a maintance problem that mysteriously goes away when the big match is over.
Also there habit of landing on the border with all landing lights blazeing really appreciated , lets at least make it difficult for someone to shoot at us.
navy have better pilots:)

[Chris1]

ah but you got to respect a service that sends the officers off to die while the OR's sit in an air-conditioned room watching TV


.... or not :)

[martinexsquaddie]

I particuly Liked in the Falklands the way the aircrew left there boots out side there rooms to be cleaned by choggis.
Unfortunatly two members of the resident infantry company wandered down that corridor slightly drunk nicked the lot :lol:
Aircrew boots make great barrack wear :P