List of United States Marine Corps Acronyms and Expressions - W

W

• walking john – nickname for a Marine marching in dress blues uniform that appeared on World War I-era recruiting posters.

• WAM – Wide Assed Marine. A derogatory term used for female members of the Corps.

• war belt – a web belt used to carry canteens in pouches and other miscellaneous equipment.

• war paint – camouflage face paint.

• watch – formal tour of duty of prescribed length, usually a guard-related task.

• water buffalo or water bull – 400-gallon potable water tank, trailer-mounted, towed behind a truck.

• wetting-down or wet down – celebration in honor of one's promotion as an officer or to the SNCO ranks, so named for the tradition of wetting the recipient and/or the promotion warrant.

• whiskey locker — supply locker/closet.

• whiskey tango - White trash

• whites – Marine Corps or Navy white dress uniforms.

• WP or Willie Pete – White Phosphorus munition, whether in grenade, mortar, artillery, or aerial bomb form, so named from the pre-1956 phonetic alphabet letters "William" and "Peter."

• wilco – voice procedure term shortened from "Will Comply".

• willie peter bag – waterproof bag.

• wing wiper – aviation person, usually a maintenance person and not a pilot.

• winger – aviation Marine.

• WIR – DRMO; Washed-out In Repair; waste incidental to reprocessing; collection of items and/or equipment for turn-in that may be re-used by someone else at a later time, preferably at a savings to the government.

• the wire – defensive perimeter of a firm base, crossing it denotes the end of relative safety.

• wookie – Female Marine, See WM.

• wooly pully or itchy bitchy – green wool sweater worn with the service uniform (or blue with the dress uniform) over the khaki shirt.

• word – general term for instructions, orders, and information that is required for all members of a unit to know; or the act of passing information to a collected group of servicemembers. See also gouge.

• WM – Walking Mattress/Woman Marine, usually considered an offensive term.

• work your bolt – resort to special measures, either by energy or guile, in order to attain a particular end; from the action of racking a rifle's bolt to clear a stoppage.