a
U.S. Army acronym for
Military
Occupational
Specialty.
In their enormously complex on-going effort to simplify EVERYTHING, the Army gives arcane combinations of letters and numbers to those things you and I would call jobs.
For example:
- 11B10 Infantryman, Enlisted Level 1
- 12B20 Combat Engineer, Enlisted Level 2
- 13D20 Field Artillery Cannon Crewmember, E-2
- 18B30 Special Forces Weapons Sergeant
- 19D Cavalry Scout
- 31C Radio Operator/Maintainer
Note that
anything you can
think of in the Army has an MOS. For example:
- 02L Saxophone Player
- 02D French Horn Player
- 02N Piano Player
During the
Vietnam War, my job as a
03B20 (Entertainment Specialist) was to interview and audition
11 Bravos (
Infantrymen,
Footsoldiers,
Grunts,
Cannon Fodder) who wanted to be
02Tangos (Guitar Players) or
02Mikes
(Drummers)--or bass players or singers or
singer-songwriters, for that matter.
If he had enough time in the field, and if he could play like Eric Clapton or sing like John Fogerty, the lucky and talented soldier had a ticket out of the bush and a full-time gig with
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the house band for the World's First Rock n Roll War.
I guess you could say I delivered musicians from Evil, and I loved my job.
On Vietnam:
REMFS
- I was a prisoner in a Mexican Whorehouse
- A long time gone
- How to brush your teeth in a combat zone
- Libber and I go to war
- Fate takes a piss
- Thanks For the Memory
- Back in the Shit
- LZ Waterloo
- Saturday Night, Numbah Ten
grunts
Phantom
a long commute
Andy X Kirby True
a tale of two Woodstocks
Buy a Gun
Dawn at The Wall
Draft
Feat of Clay
Funeral Detail
I was a free man once, in Saigon
The Joint Chiefs of Staff
the shit we ate
AK-47
Breaking Starch
Combat Infantryman Badge
David Dellinger
Dickey Chapelle
Firebase Mary Ann
Garry Owen
Gloria Emerson
Graves Registration
I Corps
MOS
Project 100,000
REMF
the 1st Cav
The Highest Traditions
Those Who Forget
Under the Southern Cross
Whither the Phoenix?
A Bright Shining Lie
Apocalypse Now Redux
Hearts and Minds
We Were Soldiers