Army Jargon

Communication Application Blog – Speech Community

            A Speech Community is defined as “when people share norms about how to use talk and what purposes it serves (Woods, 2012). Each one of use will create a community we can communicate effectively in. This could be friends, family or coworkers. Each one of these communities could have a different definition for words or phrases, but you know how to decode each one. This is very apparent when a new person is introduced to the community you are involved in and they have no clue what others are talking about. You all will speak the same language but the meaning of words could be different.

            I spent nine years in the Army and we have are own jargon that we understand. The language is full of acronyms and abbreviations. What can make perfect sense to another soldier will sound like a foreign language to a civilian. The Army will use this to its advantage, saving time on reports or in the middle of combat. Examples of both could be: APC means Armored Personal Carrier or “Move the support by fire team to my 3 o’ clock and lay down covering fire”. This language, most likely, will not be used in conversations with people with out the need. So there really is no reason for most to understand it, but for soldiers there is a big difference between “covering fire and suppressive fire”.

            Understanding that Social Communities exist will help us in communicating with others outside of our own network. Applying it this to myself, I have to be carful not to use jargon when trying to explain something I know a lot about. Others may not be able to understand. Keeping different social networks in mind, it could be easy to offend a group if you do not know or understand the norms. To avoid conflict, keep controversial topics at a minimum until norms are understood.

            Here is a picture of an APC for understanding some of the speech community of the Army.

Reference:

     Wood, J. T. (2012). Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters (7^th ed.). Independence, KY: Wadsworth.

Image:

Defense Industry Daily, “Belgium Selects Piranha IIIs for $850M APC Contract, Controversies Ensue” February 10, 2006 http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/belgium-selects-piranha-iiis-for-850m-apc-contract-controversies-ensue-01872/