Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

  • A–1 Skyraider, a propeller-driven attack aircraft that carried out close air support for U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and South Vietnamese Air Force
  • A–4 Skyhawk, a lightweight, single engine jet attack aircraft used by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps
  • AAA, anti-aircraft artillery
  • AC–130 Spectre, heavily armed U.S. aircraft that provided close air support, air interdiction, and force protection
  • ACFT, aircraft
  • Ad referendum, subject to reference
  • AGC, automatic gain control
  • AID, Agency for International Development
  • Amb, Ambassador
  • APC, armored personnel carrier
  • ARC LIGHT, code name for U.S. B–52 bombing missions in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
  • ARG, amphibious ready group
  • ARM, anti-radar missile
  • ARVN, Army of the Republic of (South) Vietnam
  • ASW, anti-submarine warfare
  • Avenue Kléber, shorthand for the public plenary talks held at the International Conference Center on Avenue Kléber
  • Azimuth, method used by the military to indicate direction during tactical operations; based on the 360 degree circle
  • B–3 Front, North Vietnamese designation for its Central Highlands command
  • B–5 Front, North Vietnamese designation for its northern South Vietnam command
  • B–25, a versatile WWII medium bomber (in one configuration a gunship), retired by the U.S. Air Force in 1960
  • Bach Mai, an old French airfield immediately south of Hanoi which contained a military base and the command and control headquarters of the North Vietnamese Air Defense Command
  • BARREL ROLL, U.S. air campaign in Laos to support Royal Lao Government forces in operations against the Communist Pathet Lao near Long Tieng and the Plain of Jars
  • BDA, bomb damage assessment
  • Binh Tram, military way station on the Ho Chi Minh Trail
  • C–130, see AC–130
  • CAS, controlled American source
  • CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System
  • CBU, cluster bomb unit, small explosive device, also called a bomblet, placed inside a canister with other CBUs; when canister is dropped from an aircraft it opens before reaching the ground; the bomblets can be configured to explode on contact with the ground, when stepped on, or after a certain amount of time has passed, and to carry a variety of payloads
  • Chaff, radar confusion reflectors, consisting of thin, narrow, metallic strips of various lengths and frequency responses, which are used to reflect echoes for confusion purposes and to cause enemy radar guided missiles to lock on to it instead of the real aircraft
  • ChiCom, Chinese Communist(s)
  • CI, counter-insurgency
  • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
  • CINCPAC, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command
  • CINCPACFLT, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet
  • CINCSAC, Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Air Command
  • CJCS, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • CL, classified
  • CNO, Chief of Naval Operations
  • CNR, Committee of National Reconciliation
  • Comint, communications intelligence
  • COMMANDO HUNT, a series of airpower campaigns in Laos, begun in November 1968, to interdict the flow of material on the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North to South Vietnam
  • COMUSMACV, Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
  • CORDS, Civil Operations and Revolutionary (later Rural) Development Support
  • COSVN, Central Office of South Vietnam, Communist political and military headquarters for the southern half of South Vietnam
  • CP50, subordinate section of the North Vietnamese Politburo that analyzed issues relevant to the Paris Peace Talks, assisted the Politburo in monitoring and directing the talks
  • CPDC, Central Pacification and Development Council
  • CRS, Congressional Research Service
  • CVA, aircraft carrier
  • DCI, Director of Central Intelligence
  • DD, destroyer
  • DDO, Deputy Director for Operations, Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • DEFCON, defense readiness condition
  • DepSecDef, Deputy Secretary of Defense
  • DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency
  • Dikes, Red River Delta, an intricate, centuries-old system of dikes that controlled irrigation in the low-lying areas of the Red River Delta of North Vietnam and protected those who lived and worked there
  • Dixie Station, South China Sea location of the U.S. aircraft carrier group that provided close air support to land operations in the South
  • DMZ, demilitarized zone; established roughly at Vietnam’s 17th parallel to a width not more than five kilometers each side of the demilitarized zone line
  • DMZL, demilitarized zone line, also called demarcation line, which separated South Vietnam and North Vietnam; located in middle of demilitarized zone
  • DOD, Department of Defense
  • DOD/ISA, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
  • DOS, Department of State
  • DPRG, Defense Program Review Group, National Security Council
  • DRV, Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)
  • DTG, date time group
  • EA, Executive Assistant, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • EAP, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State
  • EO, electro optical
  • EOB, Executive Office Building
  • Exdis, exclusive distribution
  • F–4 Phantom, an all-weather jet fighter-bomber used by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy in Vietnam
  • FAC, forward air controller
  • FANK, Forces Armées Nationales Khmères (Khmer Republic Armed Forces [Cambodia])
  • Fan song radar, target acquisition and guidance system for surface to air missiles
  • FARK, Forces Armées Royales Khmères (Royal Khmer Armed Forces [Cambodia])
  • FBIS, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
  • Flash, precedence indicator for an extremely urgent message which requires instant action by the addressee regardless of the time of day or night
  • FRAME GLORY, a naval gunfire support raid on radar installations on the island of Hon Mat, North Vietnam, near Vinh, conducted by the USS Berkeley on May 8, 1972
  • FREEDOM PORCH, U.S. Air Force B–52 Stratofortress strikes on the Haiphong petroleum products storage area, April 16, 1972
  • FREEDOM TRAIN, Operation, April 1972 air campaign against North Vietnam carried out by U.S. Navy and Air Force
  • FSB, fire support base
  • GAC, George A. Carver
  • GCI, ground control intercept
  • GKR, Government of Khmer Republic (Cambodia)
  • GNR, Government of National Reconciliation
  • GRUNK, Gouvernement Royal d’Union Nationale du Kampuchea (Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea), Communist group nominally headed by Norodom Sihanok and affliliated with North Vietnam
  • GVN, Government of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
  • HAK, Henry A. Kissinger
  • Highest authority, President of the United States
  • Hmong, ethnic minority in Laotian hill country
  • Hue, major city in northern South Vietnam and capital of former Vietnamese empire
  • ICC, International Control Commission, established under the 1954 Geneva Accords and incorporated into the 1962 Geneva agreement on Laos
  • INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/DDC, Deputy Director for Coordination, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/IL, Office of Information Liaison, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • INR/REA, Office of Research and Analysis for East Asia and Pacific, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
  • IRON HAND, U.S. Air Force operations against North Vietnam to suppress or destroy surface to air missiles
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • JDN, John D. Negroponte
  • JGS, Joint General Staff, Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
  • JHH, John Herbert Holdridge
  • JPRC, Joint Personnel Recovery Center, established at Military Assistance Command to locate and rescue U.S. personnel evading attempts to capture them or already taken prisoner
  • ISA, Office of International Security Affairs, Department of Defense
  • KC–135, jet aircraft specifically designed for aerial refueling
  • KHR, Khmer Republic (Cambodia)
  • KIA, killed in action
  • Kontum, a province in South Vietnam’s Central Highlands opposite Laos
  • LAM SON (also LAMSON) 719, a February–March 1971 operation in Laos by South Vietnamese forces to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail
  • LANTFLT, Atlantic Fleet
  • Lao Dong, Dang Lao Dong Viet Nam (Vietnamese Workers’ Party), Communist Party of North Vietnam
  • LDX, long distance xerography
  • LINEBACKER I, code name for U.S. air interdiction campaign against North Vietnam, May 10–October 23, 1972
  • LOC, line of communication
  • LORAN, long-range navigation system for air and marine travel
  • LOU, limited official use
  • LPF, Lao Patriotic Front, political arm of the Pathet Lao
  • LTG, lieutenant general
  • MACV, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
  • MACVSOG, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group, organization that planned and carried out covert operations against North Vietnam; sometimes called MACSOG
  • MAP, Military Assistance Program
  • MASF, military assistance service-funded
  • MAT, Mobile Advisory Team
  • MEDTC, Military Equipment Delivery Team, Cambodia
  • Meo, see Hmong
  • MG, major general
  • MiG–21, fighter aircraft provided by Soviet Union to North Vietnam
  • mm, millimeter
  • MR, Military Region; Government of Vietnam divided the country into four zones for military and administrative purposes; MR1 contained the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam, MR2 included provinces in the central and north central sections, MR3 was made up of the south central part of the country and included Saigon, and MR4 in the Mekong Delta held the rest of the country; sometimes an MR was also called a Corps Tactical Zone
  • MRTTH, Military Region Tri Thien Hue, Communist military command in northern South Vietnamese provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien
  • mtg, meeting
  • Muong, see Hmong
  • NCO, non-commissioned officer
  • NGFS, naval gunfire support
  • NIC, Naval Intelligence Command; National Intelligence Council, Central Intelligence Agency
  • NIE, National Intelligence Estimate
  • NLF, National Liberation Front
  • nm, nautical mile
  • NMCC, National Military Command Center
  • Nodis, no distribution
  • Noforn, no dissemination to foreign nationals
  • NSA, National Security Agency
  • NSAM, National Security Action Memorandum
  • NSC, National Security Council
  • NSDF, National Social Democratic Front
  • NSDM, National Security Decision Memorandum
  • NSSM, National Security Study Memorandum
  • NVA, North Vietnamese Army, also PAVN
  • NVN, North Vietnam
  • OASD/ISA, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
  • ONE, Office of National Estimates
  • OP, observation post
  • OPREP, operational report
  • OPREP–4, report of a completed operation or phase of an operation, as well as the operation’s or phase’s results or estimated results; purpose is to get information quickly into the chain of command
  • OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense
  • OSS, Office of Strategic Services, American intelligence gathering and covert operations organization during World War II
  • PAC, Pacific Command
  • PACFLT, Pacific Fleet
  • Paris Peace Talks, public talks between U.S. and GVN on one side and the DRV and PRG (NLF) on the other; also known as plenary or Avenue Kléber talks
  • PAVN, People’s Army of Vietnam, also NVA
  • PDJ, Plaine Des Jarres (Plain of Jars), strategically important area of Laos
  • PF, see RF/PF
  • Phoenix Program, (Phuong Hoang) South Vietnamese program to destroy VC shadow government (infrastructure) in villages and replace it with a pro-GVN administration
  • PMDL, Provisional Military Demarcation Line, term used in the Geneva Agreements to describe the line between the northern and southern zones, later called the DMZ
  • PNS, Pacific News Service
  • POCKET MONEY, Operation, plan to mine major North Vietnamese ports
  • POL, petroleum, oil, lubricants
  • POW, prisoner of war
  • PPOG, Psychological Pressure Operations Group
  • PR, public relations
  • PRC, People’s Republic of (Communist) China
  • PRG, Provisional Revolutionary Government, political wing of the South Vietnamese Communist movement, replaced the NLF, but terms often used interchangeably
  • PROUD DEEP ALPHA, Operation, a five-day campaign, December 26–30, 1971, in which U.S. aircraft flew 1,025 sorties against targets north of the DMZ but south of the 20th parallel
  • PSYOPS, psychological operations
  • RCT, Regimental Combat Team
  • RDVN, République démocratique du Viêt Nam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam), North Vietnam
  • Reccy, reconnaissance or reconnoiter
  • Reftel, reference telegram
  • RFE, Radio Free Europe
  • RF/PF, Regional Forces/Popular Forces, South Vietnamese provincial and district security (militia) forces, respectively
  • RG, Record Group
  • RP, route package, target areas for airstrikes against North Vietnam, numbered 1 through 6, south to north, from the DMZ to a buffer zone near the Chinese border
  • RLG, Royal Lao Government
  • RN, Richard Nixon
  • ROE, rules of engagement
  • RTG, Royal Thai Government
  • RVN, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
  • RVNAF, Republic of (South) Vietnam Armed Forces
  • S/S, Executive Secretariat, Department of State
  • S/SG, Secretary of State’s Special Group on Southeast Asia
  • SA–2, missile
  • SAC, Strategic Air Command
  • SAM, surface-to-air missile
  • Sappers, North Vietnamese/Viet Cong demolition commandos
  • SAVA, Special Assistant for Vietnamese Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
  • SDO, Special Development Office, Defense Intelligence Agency
  • SEA, Southeast Asia
  • SecDef, Secretary of Defense
  • SecState, Secretary of State
  • Sensor string, a set of electronic devices, usually 2 to 5 in number, inserted in enemy territory to monitor from remote location re-supply and reinforcement activity
  • Septel, separate telegram
  • SGU, Special Guerrilla Unit
  • Sidewinder, a short-range, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile used by U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy fighter aircraft
  • SIOP, Single Integrated Operational Plan, the U.S. contingency plan for nuclear war
  • SNIE, Special National Intelligence Estimate
  • Sortie, one attack by a single military aircraft
  • Sparrow, a medium-range, air-to-air missile used by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps fighter aircraft
  • SRG, Senior Review Group
  • STD, Strategic Technical Directorate, South Vietnam’s covert operations agency
  • STDAE, Strategic Technical Directorate Advisory Element, also called Advisory Team 158, American military advisors to the STD
  • STEEL TIGER, U.S. air operations over the northern portion of the Laotian panhandle designed to interdict the flow of men and materiel down the Ho Chi Minh Trail
  • STOL, short takeoff and landing
  • Subj, subject
  • SVN, South Vietnam
  • Tacair, tactical air support
  • Takhli, U.S. Air Force Base in Thailand
  • TAKSIN contingency planning, arrangements for a joint Thai/U.S. forward deployment in Laos to pre-empt NVA access to the Mekong River
  • Talos, a long-range anti-aircraft missile used by the Navy in Vietnam
  • TCC, Troop Contributing Countries
  • TDY, temporary duty
  • Telcon, telephone conversation
  • TOW, tube launched, optically tracked, wire guided (anti-tank) missile
  • TS, Top Secret
  • UH, utility helicopter
  • UPI, United Press International
  • USA, United States Army
  • USAF, United States Air Force
  • USG, United States Government
  • USIA, United States Information Agency
  • USN, United States Navy
  • USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  • U Tapao, Royal Thai Air Force Base from which USAF B–52s carried out missions over Vietnam
  • VC, Viet Cong
  • VF, vertical flight
  • Viet Minh, Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam), a Communist-led coalition, formed in 1941, that fought the Japanese in World War II and the French in the First Indochina War
  • VNAF, (South) Vietnamese Air Force
  • VOA, Voice of America
  • VSSG, Vietnam Special Studies Group
  • Walleye, also EO (electro optical) Walleye, television guided bomb
  • WBLC, water borne logistic craft
  • WH, White House
  • WSAG, Washington Special Actions Group
  • Yankee Station, South China Sea location of U.S. aircraft carrier or carriers from which the Navy conducted air operations against North Vietnam
  • Z, Zulu time (Greenwich Mean Time)