SOP: Short for standing operating procedures. A unit SOP prescribes set actions to be taken given in a given situation.
Spot Report: A short, concise report used to provide information on the sighting of enemy activity. At a minimum, the report provides information on who has made the sighting, when the sighting was made, where the enemy was observed, how the enemy was equipped, and what he was doing.
Stand-to: A set time, normally before dawn, when all members of a unit are awake and manning their weapons and fighting positions.
Stinger Team: The Stinger is a man-portable short-range antiaircraft heat-seeking missile.
Stinger teams are two-man teams that are stationed well forward with combat units to provide air defense.
T-55 Tank: A Soviet tank with a four-man crew and mounting a 100mm gun and a 7.62mm machine gun. This tank is considered obsolete by today's standards but is still found in Warsaw Pact inventories.
T-62 Tank: A Soviet tank with a four-man crew and mounting a 115mm smoothbore gun, a 12.5mm and a 7.62mm machine gun. Though considered obsolete, it is still very capable and found in many Warsaw Pact units.
T-72 Tank: A Soviet tank with a three-man crew and mounting a 125mm smoothbore gun, a 12.5mm and a 7.62mm machine gun. The elimination of the fourth crewman is achieved by using an automatic loader for the main gun. Special armor and a sophisticated fire-control system make it a powerful foe that is difficult to stop.
Task Force: A combat battalion that has both tank and infantry companies. Under U.S. Army doctrine, battalions seldom fight as pure tank or infantry units.
Team: A company-sized unit that includes both tank and mechanized infantry platoons.
Unlike a peacetime company, the number and type of platoons in a team can vary according to its assigned mission. In the case of Team Yankee, the Team initially has two tank and one mechanized infantry platoon as well as two improved TOW vehicles.
Thermal Sight: A sight that detects the heat emitted by an object and translates that heat into a visible image for the gunner or tank commander.
TOG: Short for tactical operations center. This is where the staff plans future operations and monitors the current battle. The TOG receives and passes reports, relieving the commander of that responsibility so that he may run the current battle.
TOW: Short for tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided antitank guided missile. The TOW is the U.S. Army's current heavy antitank guided missile with a range of 3700 meters.
The guidance system provides a high probability of hitting a tank-sized target out to its maximum range.
Trains: A term used to describe the collection of support and service elements that support military units.
Two-and-a-half Ton Truck: A medium cargo truck with a hauling capacity of two and a half tons. This truck is also referred to as a deuce and a half.
VC: Viet Cong, another war.
Vulcan: A 20mm multi-barreled short-range antiaircraft gun. The extremely high rate of fire, 4000 rounds a minute, results in a chainsaw-like sound when firing.
Warsaw Pact: A military alliance founded by the European Communist countries to counter NATO. It consists of the Soviet Union, Poland, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania.
WD-1: Two-strand wire used to connect field telephones or other communications equipment.
ZSU 23-4: A Soviet antiaircraft gun. It has four rapid-firing 23mm guns hence 23-4. It is very capable and serves the same mission as the Vulcan in the U.S. Army. The ZSU, sometimes called 'Zoo' for short, accompanies the first echelon attack elements to provide air defense for those elements.
