THE WORDS OF WAR : World War II

* Blitzkrieg : A German word meaning “lightning war.” The term is popularly used to describe early German conquests in the war, especially the defeat of France.

* Chaff or window : American and British names for strips of metal foil dropped from the air to create a false image on radar.

* GI : A U.S. soldier, from “Government Issue.”

* Jeep : A derivative of the initials GP, meaning general-purpose vehicle. The familiar Army jeep has been replaced by Humvees or Hummers, high-mobility multiwheeled vehicles.

* Snafu : An acronym meaning “situation normal: all fouled up,” which has earned a place in dictionaries as a verb, adjective and noun. According to Paul Dickson’s “Words,” a compendium of unusual terms, snafu has generated a plethora of competitors, including fubar (fouled up beyond all recognition), fubb (fouled up beyond belief), sapfu (surpassing all previous foul-ups) and tarfu (things are really fouled up).

Vietnam

* Bush : Jungle and other territory outside areas of U.S. control. Also known as Indian Country.

* The Big H : Heroin.

* Body bags : Zippered plastic bags used for bodies of soldiers.

* Free-fire zone : An area where anything or anyone was considered a legitimate military target.

* Grunt : A U.S. infantryman.

* Humping and cutting trail : Terms for marching through the bush.

* SAM : Surface-to-air missile.

The Persian Gulf

* The Beach : The Saudi Arabian desert.

* ART : Airborne radar technician.

* CASH : Combat support hospital, a larger version of a MASH, a mobile Army surgical hospital.

* Scud : NATO name for the now infamous Iraqi missile being fired at Israel and Saudi Arabia.

* Sebkha : An Arab word for underground river. Sebkhas that turn the ground into quagmires impossible to cross with tanks lie near the Saudi border and south of Kuwait City.

* Wadi : An Arab word for dry ravine or valley. A wadi runs all along the Kuwait border, and Iraqis have set up a defense line behind it.