A little confused by all the military acronyms and jargon? Here's a quick list of the terms used and an explanation for each of them.

 

An Numaniyah: A small town about 90 miles south of Baghdad on the Tigris river.  Just outside of An Numinayah was an Iraqi Air Base used by Saddam Hussein.  When the U.S. occupied Iraq, they took over the military post at An Numaniyah, rebuilt it and began using it as a training base for the reconstructed Iraqi military and police forces.
   
AST: Advisor Support Team - A team of American military personnel embedded with an Iraqi military unit.  An AST team provides guidance, mentoring, and training to the Iraqi military leadership to enable the Iraqis to build a viable military force.
   
BSU: Base Support Unit - The organization on a military installation that provides logistical and support services to the installation.  They essentially run the day to day functions of the post, such as repairing buildings, overseeing new construction, managing tenents of post buildings and other administrative tasks on post.  You might think of them in a role similar to a superintendent in an apartment building.  If you power goes out or your toilet clogs, you call the BSU.
   
CMATT: Coalition Military Advisor Training Team - The organization formed by the U.S. military to develop, implement and oversee the reconstitution of the Iraqi military after the Unitited States invaded Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
   
CPATT: Coalition Police Advisor Training Team - The organization formed by the U.S. military to develop, implement and oversee the reconstitution of the Iraqi police force  after the Unitited States invaded Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
   
CRC: CONUS Replacement Company - A military company based in the continental United States (CONUS) whose mission is to prepare soldiers for deployment and send these soldiers into theater to fill empty slots overseas.
   
HMMWV: High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle - What the rest of the world calls a Humvee.  The acronym is actually the correct spelling. 
   
J-Cell: Joint Cell - A small organization operating at the equivalent of division level as general staff. They are referred to as Joint Cells rather than general staff because they are composed of personnel from all branches of the military rather than just the Army.
   
J6 The J-Cell in charge of all communications related matters.
   
OIF: Operation Iraqi Freedom
   
SAW: Squad Automatic Weapon - A fully automatic machine used at the squad level.  Can be thought of as filling a space between the semi-automatic M16 and the larger M60 machine gun.
   
SINCGARS: Single Channel Ground/Air Radio System - One of the radios the military uses for communications.
   
SRP Soldier Readiness Processing - The process of making sure all paperwork and administrative details are complete before a soldier deploys.  This includes checking medical records and receiving immunizations, ensuring wills and life insurance are in place and accurate, and other preperatory work.