The emphasis of this educational reference is on words and phrases that appear in published works about war and military service; and amongst this jargon and slang, there is no pretense of objectivity or completeness, which may be readily found in official documents or government resources. This fragmentary opus is a work in progress ....

Caveat Lector: Vulgar, profane, and obscene dysphemisms, which have been used for every part of speech and rhetorical form, have not been Bowdlerized nor expurgated from this glossary, to the undoubted dismay of purists and the evident enrichment of our mother-tongue; so immature or hypersensitive persons should refrain from perusing this indubitably eclectic and contingently egregious compendium. Swearing is usually either juvenile or crass, but military personnel admire talent and respect skill, so the ability to create imaginative expletives and to craft uncommon scurrility is often appreciated.

XA :

Vietnamese term for village; compare AP, XOM; see STRATEGIC HAMLET.

XCOM :

eXecutive COMmittee, appointed by or for the president (POTUS); compare NSC, NSPG, TIWG.

XIN LOI :

(sin loy) a polite Vietnamese phrase literally meaning "excuse me" or "pardon me", but used sardonically by GIs to mean "sorry about that", "too damn bad", or "tough shit"; sometimes misspelled "sin loi" or "xoine loi". Compare MEA CULPA, A-OK, CHECK IT OUT, GUSTO, FIDO, SHIT HAPPENS, ROTS O' RUCK, AMF, ZIP, ZAP. [nb: various phrases have been used by 20th century combatants for protective disassociation from epiphenomena, including: "There it is.", "It's all just rock 'n' roll.", "It don't mean nuthin'.", "It ain't nuthin'.", "It's just a thing."; the latter appears in "The Rescue" by Joseph Conrad (1920)] [v: sumimasen at ITTY-WA DESKA]

XM-177E2 :

designation for the compact CAR-15 or "Shorty M-16" RIFLE; see ACTIV, CAR, SCOUT.

XM-203 :

an M-16 assault rifle coupled with a single-shot 40mm grenade launcher barrel mounted beneath the rifle's fore-end grip; commonly known as OVER 'n' UNDER.

XO :

(ecks-oh) executive officer, being an administrative position that's second in command of a company, battalion, brigade, or regiment; compare DCO, see PECKER-CHECKER, COMMAND ELEMENT. [v: locum tenens; cf: lieutenant (LT)] [nb: Vietnamese term: Si Quan Phu Ta Xu Ly]

XOM :

Vietnamese term for hamlet, compare AP, XA; see STRATEGIC HAMLET.

X-RAY :

the word assigned to represent the letter "X" in the international phonetic alphabet. See ALPHABET SOUP, PHONETIC ALPHABET. [v: Alphabet Codes & Signal Flags]

XU :

Vietnamese unit of currency equal to one-hundredth part of the DONG, or a "penny"; and being the tenth part of the HAO, which would be equivalent to a "dime". See BENSON SILK, PIASTER, MPC, LEGAL TENDER.