"Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

10 posts ยท Aug 8 2002 to Aug 9 2002

From: Allan Goodall <agoodall@a...>

Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 16:27:19 -0500

Subject: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

This is a question for all you who are knowledgable about military slang.

I'm working on upgraded SG2 rules for vehicles and heavy weapons. I want to
come up with a name for it, so I need a slang term for tank crew. Here's the
thing, I don't want to use the term "tankers" because then the rules would be
called "Startankers", which sounds too much like an FT supplement.

Is there any kind of slang, suitable for "family viewing" to use in place of
the word "tanker"?

From: Barry Cadwgan <bcadwgan@f...>

Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 07:43:28 +1000

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

> This is a question for all you who are knowledgable about military
Here's the
> thing, I don't want to use the term "tankers" because then the rules

Well, I don't know if it's 'real' slang, but 'treadheads' is a good one for
armour crews. It certainly works for wargamers who like armour.

Artillery branch people are often referred to as 'redlegs', but I
_suspect_
that may be only US army slang. (I think that was due to a uniform
differentiation, red stripe on the trousers)

From: Robert W. Eldridge <bob_eldridge@m...>

Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 18:01:50 -0400

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

We in the artillery used to call them "treadheads".
[quoted original message omitted]

From: Flak Magnet <flakmagnet@t...>

Date: 08 Aug 2002 18:11:16 -0400

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

> On Thu, 2002-08-08 at 17:43, Barry Cadwgan wrote:

That's about the only one I can think of... Tank-monkey was thrown
around by one of my NCO as well.

> Artillery branch people are often referred to as 'redlegs', but I

I never heard red-leg for arty... Now Gun-bunny... that one I heard a
lot.  For some reason, the gun-bunnies hate being called that.

From: Jeremy Sadler <jsadler@e...>

Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 09:00:20 +1000

Subject: RE: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

> Is there any kind of slang, suitable for "family viewing" to use

I have heard the term "buckethead" used.

From: Laserlight <laserlight@q...>

Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 20:09:20 -0400

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

> > come up with a name for it, so I need a slang term for tank crew.
Here's
> > called "Startankers", which sounds too much like an FT supplement.

"StarPanzers"

> Artillery branch people are often referred to as 'redlegs'

Correct

From: Allan Goodall <agoodall@a...>

Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 21:41:00 -0500

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

On Thu, 8 Aug 2002 20:09:20 -0400, "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>
wrote:

> "StarPanzers"

That's the best suggestion so far, Chris.

> Artillery branch people are often referred to as 'redlegs'

Ironically, someone who just won a couple of my auctions goes with an
e-mail
address with "redlegs" in it. One of those weird cases of synchronicity, as I
red this e-mail just as I was sending him a post-auction e-mail...

From: John Leary <john_t_leary@y...>

Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 21:54:04 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

....
so I need a slang term
> for tank crew. Here's
.....
> Well, I don't know if it's 'real' slang, but

From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@y...>

Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 16:52:35 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

> --- Barry Cadwgan <bcadwgan@fl.net.au> wrote:

> Well, I don't know if it's 'real' slang, but

Treadheads is a fairly common US Army one.

> Artillery branch people are often referred to as

In the 18-mumble pattern uniforms, coastal and field
artillery had red stripes on their trousers, which distinction continued until
this century.

However, the term actually refers to the horse artillery batteries which wore
red canvas leggings. Those were the most commonly seen artillery during the
Mexican War and that's when the term originated.

From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@y...>

Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 16:54:56 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: Re: "Grunt" Slang for Tankers?

> --- Allan Goodall <agoodall@att.net> wrote:

> Is there any kind of slang, suitable for "family

Treadheads works.

Also DATs, which stand for Dumb A$$ Tanker, but the acronym is family
friendly. With the introduction of
the M1A2 the altered term is C-DAT (Pronounced "See
Dat") which stands for Computerized Dumb A$$ Tanker.