List of United States Marine Corps Acronyms and Expressions - S

S

• SACO – Substance Abuse Control Officer, a Marine responsible for the initial screening and evaluation of a Marine or sailor with alcoholism or illegal drug use issues to the proper medical facilities for rehabilitation & treatment.

• SAFE – mnemonic for the set up of weapons in small-unit defense, denotes: Security, Automatic weapons, Fields of fire, Entrenchment.

• S/F – abbreviation for Semper Fidelis when used as an end greeting in written communication.

• sailor – the following nicknames are usually acceptable: bluejacket, tar, whitehat; while the following are considered insults: gob, swab, swabbie, swab jockey, squid, anchor clanker, rust picker, deck ape.

• salad, tossed salad or fruit salad – ribbons and medals worn on a uniform, from the colorful appearance of wearing many awards.

• salt, salty, or salt/salty dog – experienced or well-worn person or object, from the salt that would accumulate after long-term exposure to salt water.

• salty language – profanity.

• SALUTE – mnemonic device for a situation report, denotes: Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, and Equipment.

• sandbox – Iraq or other desert area.

• SARC – Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, a Marine (usually an SNCO) assigned as the point of contact for personnel who are victims of or witnesses to sexual assault. Such duty is often ironically assigned to one of the least tactful/sensitive members of a unit.

• say again (your last) – request to repeat a statement, question, or order, especially over a radio, or as "I say again" to preface a repetition by the sender; the word "repeat" is not to be used in this context, as it calls for a preceding fire mission to be fired again.

• Sayōnara – Japanese for "goodbye".

• Schmuckatelli – generic, unnamed junior Marine, from the Yiddish pejorative "schmuck".

• SCIF – Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, a place classified materials are processed and/or stored.

• scrambled eggs – gold oak leaf embroidery found on an officer's barracks cap visor and mess dress cuffs.

• scrounge – appropriate, borrow, or acquire (possibly by doubtful means); derived from "scringe," meaning to search about, rummage, or pilfer.

• scullery – place where dishes are washed.

• scuttlebutt – gossip; or a drinking fountain, from "butt" (cask) and "scuttle" (make a hole in a ship's side, causing it to sink), a cask that had an opening fitted with a spigot used to contain fresh water for drinking purposes. Because people gathered around a scuttlebutt, gossip, rumors, and sea stories are also known as scuttlebutt.

• SDI – Senior Drill Instructor, the leader of a recruit platoon.

• seabag or sea bag – duffel bag used to carry one's personal belongings. "Duffel bag" is an Army term not used by Marines.

• seabag drag – manually carrying personal items (often within seabags) to new or temporary living quarters.

• sea lawyer – person who dispenses legal advice without any sort of formal training or schooling, inappropriately called a "barracks lawyer".

• sea story – story, tale, or yarn calculated to impress others, often contains exaggeration or even outright lies.

• second award – used in conjunction with a promotion to denote achieving a rank for the second time after being previously busted as in "Lance Corporal – Second Award"; derived from the devices worn with marksmanship badges denoting multiple awards of the expert classification.

• second hat – second-most senior drill instructor in a platoon. See also drill hat.

• secret squirrel – intelligence personnel or activities.

• secure – stop, cease; or put away and lock.

• Semper Fi – shortened version of "Semper Fidelis", the motto of the Corps, Latin for "always faithful". Can be used ironically, as in, "Semper Fi, Mac," which basically means, "That's the breaks," or "Too fucking bad."

• Semper Fi fuck your buddy – colloquialism version of "Semper Fidelis", used ironically, as in, "Semper Fi, fuck your buddy," which denotes commiseration when a fellow Marine feels he/she's been inconvenienced or screwed over by the Marine Corps, a Marine peer or superior."

• Semper fu – nickname for Marine Corps Martial Arts

• Semper Gumby – colloquialism denoting tactical flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.

• Semper I – colloquialism denoting selfish or self-centered behavior.

• semper pie – condition where the mess hall serves similar items repetitively.

• Semper Sometimes – appropriation of Semper Fi used to deride the part-time nature of service in the Marine Corps Reserve.

• ship over – to reenlist for an additional period of service.

• shit bag or shit bird – habitually unkempt or undisciplined Marine.

• shit-brick – useless or ignorant person.

• Shit-Hot – Term used to notify something as exceptional or very good. Not to be confused with Hot-Shit

• shitter – bathroom, head, or latrine, most often an outdoor portable toilet or outhouse. Also a nickname for the CH-53 helicopter.

• shooter – person whose primary duty involves marksmanship with a rifle or pistol, such as students at a rifle range or competition team members.

• shore party – landing support specialists that direct the disposition of troops during an amphibious assault.

• short colonel or short-bird – Lieutenant Colonel, as opposed to Colonel. See also light-colonel & half-bird.

• short-timer – person nearing the completion of his/her present tour of duty or enlistment.

• short-timer's disease – apathy to duties and regulations from a person nearing EAS.

• shove off – to leave the vicinity, from the naval term meaning to push a boat off the shore or pier.

• shower shoes – pair of rubber sandals issued to recruits to prevent infections from the use of community or shared showers. See also Jesus shoes.

• sick bay – infirmary or other medical facility aboard ship, can also refer to aid stations ashore. See also BAS.

• sick call – daily period when routine ailments are treated at sick bay.

• sick call ranger/commando – person who constantly finds medical reasons to avoid work, may suffer from a factitious disorder such as hypochondriasis, Munchausen syndrome, or malingering.

• side arms – weapon (usually a pistol) carried by a sentry under arms; also, cream and sugar in coffee.

• side straddle hop – Jumping Jack.

• sight in – aim a weapon at a target using the sights, considered an intention to shoot the target.

• silver bullet – rectal thermometer used to check the core temperature of a person suffering from heat-related injuries, such as hyperthermia; often referred to as an incentive to avoid dehydration.

• skate – avoiding work by finding an excuse to be elsewhere or unavailable by doing something easier (but important enough to avoid re-tasking); also used as an adjective to describe such an easier duty.

• skid squadron – Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron, so named because the AH-1 SuperCobra and UH-1N Twin Huey helicopters utilize skids instead of wheels for undercarriage.

• skipper – nickname for captain (whether Marine or Navy rank), derived from the Scandinavian word for ship, "schiffe", and the Dutch word for captain, "schipper". Inappropriate to refer to a commanding officer that is not your own or without permission.

• skivvies – underwear: skivvie shirt (T-shirt) and skivvie drawers (underwear).

• skuzz – to wash a deck or floor with a brush or towel (skuzz rag) in place of a mop, used in Boot Camp as a method to physically toughen recruits while cleaning the squadbay.

• skylark – to casually frolic or take excess time to complete a task, from the old naval term to run up and down the rigging of a ship in sport.

• slick sleeve – a private in the Marine Corps; refers to the fact that this person does not wear any rank insignia.

• slide bite – pinching or abrasions of hand due to holding a semi-automatic pistol too closely to a recoiling slide.

• slop chute – impolite term for restaurant within the PX or beer garden.

• SMEAC – mnemonic for the five paragraph order, a method of clearly issuing complex orders; denotes: Situation, Mission, Execution, Administration & Logistics, Command & Signal.

• Smokey Bear or Smokey Brown – brown campaign cover worn by drill instructors, so named because of their similarity to the hat worn by Smokey Bear. See also campaign cover, field hat, & hat.

• smokin' and jokin' – when a mass of Marines is acting unproductive.

• SNAFU – Situation Normal, All Fouled/Fucked Up. See also FUBAR.

• SNCOIC – Staff NonCommissioned Officer In Charge, a SNCO responsible for a group of Marines, but without the authority of a commissioned officer; somes also the senior enlisted Marine acting with the officer in charge. See also NCOIC & OIC.

• snap in – conduct sighting in or aiming exercises with an unloaded weapon.

• snot locker – nose.

• SNM - Said Name Marine

• snow job – misleading or grossly exaggerated report; sales talk.

• snuffie or snuffy – junior Marine, Lance Corporal and below.
• SOG Sgt. of the Guard - The acting Sgt (or near rank) Commanding the 'COG'Corporal of the Guard and all other marines for watch, radio watch, and/or post.
• SOP – Standard Operating Procedure, the routine manner of handling a set situation, can be a standing order.

• SOS – international distress signal; or Shit On a Shingle, creamed beef on toast.

• South Maryland Small Boat & Barge Institute – nickname for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. See also Canoe U.

• SOTG – Special Operations Training Group

• spit and polish – extreme individual or collective military neatness, extreme devotion to the minutiae of traditional military procedures and/or ceremonies; from spit-polishing boots and dress shoes.

• spit-shine – polish leather footwear (boots and dress shoes), employing spittle to remove excess grease and produce a high polish.

• splice of the mainbrace – invitation to drink, from the old naval custom of drinking grog after repairing battle-damage to the main braces.

• spud locker – place where fresh vegetables are stored, after the nickname for potatoes.

• squadbay – living quarters with open rooms and shared head, as opposed to the more common barracks that offer individual rooms.

• square(d) away – make neat and regulation appearance, to be in a neat and regulation appearance.

• Squid – pejorative for sailor.

• SRB – Service Record Book, an administrative record of an enlisted Marine's personal information, promotions, postings, deployments, punishments, and emergency data; much like an officer's OQR.

• SSDD – Same Shit, Different Day, euphemism denoting frustration with an unchanging situation or boredom.

• stacking swivel – oblong-shaped link with an opening screwed to the rifle that allowed other rifles to be hooked and stacked (the M1 Garand was the last service rifle to have a stacking swivel, this function is now held by the weapon's sling); a person's throat.

• staff NCO or SNCO – Staff NonCommissioned Officer, Marines in the rank of E-6 or above: Staff Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Master Sergeant, First Sergeant, Master Gunnery Sergeant and Sergeant Major.

• stand by – wait, stop and wait.

• starboard – naval term for "right", opposite of port.

• STOL – Short TakeOff/Landing, takeoff and landing technique needing only a short runway to become airborne. See also STOVL, VTOL, & V/STOL.

• STOVL – Short TakeOff, Vertical Landing, takeoff and landing technique where a V/STOL aircraft will make a non-vertical take-off to carry greater weight, such as fuel and weapons, expend that weight, and make a vertical landing. See also STOL, VTOL, and V/STOL.

• suck – mouth.

• the suck – miserable situation or place, often used to describe the Marine Corps or a combat zone.

• survey – medical discharge or to effect discharge/retirement of an individual for medical reasons; dispose of an item of government property by reason of unserviceability.

• Susie Rottencrotch – wife, girlfriend, or other generic woman.

• swab – mop; also pejorative for sailor, so named because sailors of wooden ships had to swab the decks to keep them from warping.

• swagger stick – antiquated symbol of authority long out of style.

• swamp-ass – unpleasant collection of sweat soaking undergarments.

• swinging dick – vulgarity for male Marine, used to emphasize an order to a whole group instead of individual(s).

• swoop – make a long trip in a short period of time, usually in reference to returning to post after liberty to avoid an UA status.

• sympathy chit – voucher sarcastically authorizing the recipient sympathy from others.