QHI: Qualified Helicopter Instructor – flying instructor
R and R: Rest and Recuperation – break from combat
RAF: Royal Air Force
Rearm: Reload the Apache with ammunition
REME: Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
RIP: Relief in Place – Apache Flights handing over the battle between each other maintaining support to the ground troops
RM: Royal Marine/s
RMP: Royal Military Police – British Military Police
ROE: Rules of Engagement – law set by a country’s Government laying down the rules as to which arms may be brought to bear
Rocco: Rocco Siffredi – Italian actor, director and producer of pornographic movies
RPG: Soviet-designed Rocket Propelled Grenade – shoulder-launched rocket with a powerful grenade warhead on the front
RSM: Regimental Sergeant Major – WO1 and the senior soldier in a Regiment
RTB: Return To Base
RTA: Road Traffic Accident
RTS: Release to Service – the document that details what can and can’t be done with the Apache regarding flight, firing, etc.
RV: Rendezvous – designated meeting place
SA7/14: Soviet-designed Surface to Air Missiles – ManPADS
SA80: British Forces Rifle – 5.56mm automatic
SAM: Surface to Air Missile
Sappers: Military engineers – slang for the Royal Engineers
SAS: Special Air Service – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the British Army
Sausage Side: A term for enemy territory dating back to the World Wars. The sausage loving Germans’ side of the battlefield
SBS: Special Boat Service – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the Royal Navy’s Royal Marines
Scimitar: British Army Armoured Recce Vehicle
SERE: Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract
SF: Special Forces – e.g. SAS and SBS
SIB: Special Investigation Branch – detectives of the RMP
SigInt: Signal Intelligence – intelligence gained from radio, telephone, texts and email intercepts
Small Arms: Infantry light weapons – pistols, rifles and machine guns – weapons capable of being fired by a foot soldier on the move
Snatch: Lightly armoured military Land Rover
Spoof: Game played with coins to decide who has to do a task
Spooks: Nickname for spies
SRR: Special Reconnaissance Regiment – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the British Army, specialising in close target reconnaissance
Stack: Fast Air that is queued up and held before being passed on to whoever is in need of its offensive capability
Standby Standby: Warning call to watch out for something
Starboard: Right-hand side of an aircraft or vessel
Steering Cursor: The rocket symbol used to line up the Apache so the rockets land on the target, also known as the ‘I’ Bar
Stingers: US-designed Surface to Air ManPADs (Man Portable Air Defence system) missile. Taliban slang for any shoulder-launched surface to air missile
Sunray: Callsign for a commander
SUSAT: Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux – the 4-times magnification day/night sight that sits on top of an SA80 rifle or SA80 carbine
Symbology: Flying and targeting information beamed onto the monocle
T1: Triage Casualty Code 1 – needs to be in an operating theatre within an hour to save life
T2: Triage Casualty Code 2 – needs to be in an operating theatre quickly before they become T1
T3: Triage Casualty Code 3 – injured and needs medical help
T4: Triage Casualty Code 4 – dead
TADS: Target Acquisition and Designation Sight system – the ‘bucket’ on the nose of the Apache that houses the Apache’s cameras
Taliban: Collective term used in this book for Taliban, Al Qaeda and Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)
Theatre: Country or area in which troops are conducting operations
Thermobaric: Enhanced blast Hellfire – thermobaric means heat and pressure
Topman: Callsign for the British Harrier
Tornado: Royal Air Force multi-role strike warplane
TOC: Tactical Operations Cell
TOT: Time On Target – the time until an aircraft is due over or weapon is due at the target
TOW: Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided anti-tank missile – fired from the British Army Lynx helicopter
TPF: Tactical Planning Facility – mobile planning room
TPM: Terrain Profile Mode – the Longbow’s terrain mapping mode
Tracer: Bullets that burn with a red, orange or green glow from 110m to 1100m so they can be seen
Tusk: Callsign for the A10 Thunderbolt aircraft
UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UFD: Up Front Display – an LED instrument that displays critical information to the Apache crews
Ugly: The callsign chosen by 656 Sqn for the British Apaches – ‘Ugly Five Zero to Ugly Five Seven’
USAF: United States Air Force
Viking: Armoured amphibious tracked vehicle
VIP: Very Important Person
VU Radio: A VHF and UHF capable secure radio in the Apache
Widow: Callsign for normal JTACs in Afghanistan
Wingman: The other aircraft in any pair of aircraft
