Friday, March 25, 2011

Vietnam War Glossary - Cs

C-130 - Air Force Hercules transport aircraft

Caribou - Army twin-engine transport aircraft

C and C - (Command and Control) Aircraft in which a troop or unit commander circles a battle area to direct the conduct of the fight. Also called Charlie-Charlie

CG - Commanding general

Charlie - the letter C in the phonetic alphabet, also slang for Vietcong.

Chopper - helicopter

Chinook - The official name of the CH-47 tandem rotor transport helicopter. Also known as the Hook.

CIDG - Civilian Irregular Defense GRoup, indigenous populations recruited to serve with Special Forces units.

CINPAC - Commander in Chief, Pacific

Claymore - Antipersonnel mine that spews out 700 steel balls in a 60-degree arc, lethal up to 50 meters

COMUSMACV - Commander, US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam

Company - the basic building block unit for all non-artillery and noncalvary units in the Army - the smallest unit in which the commissioned leader is a commander.

CP - Command Post

CS Grenade - tear gas grenade

CTZ - Corps Tactical Zone, numbered I through IV north to south. The zones were administrative as well as tactical and the ARVN used of the term "corps" caused the American forces to invent euphamisms for a corps-level command structure, eg Task Force Alpha.

Bibliography
Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam, by J. D. Coleman

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