Glossary The Americans in Vietnam had our own unique language, and each unit had its own dialect. In the CAPs, our dialect took words from English, Vietnamese and French, with expressions borrowed from street slang, Marine jargon, rock-and-roll and many other sources.
boots — Marine slang. New boots. New guys, greenhorns. In the most negative usage, "clueless idiots."
frag — A U.S.-made M-26 fragmentation grenade, similar in design to the U.S. "pineapple" grenade made famous in World War II, but with a smooth outer case.
number one — Military slang. Number one was the best, number 10 was the worst. Really bad was "You number ten thousand!"
red line — A road. A paved road on a standard military map was represented by a red line.
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