THE ALPHABET SOUP, DECODED.

Joining

• ASVAB Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

  The aptitude test that decides whether you can enlist and which jobs you qualify for. See the ASVAB guide.

• AFQT Armed Forces Qualification Test

  The composite score pulled from four ASVAB sections, reported as a percentile from 1 to 99. This is the number that decides if you can enlist.

• MEPS Military Entrance Processing Station

  Where you complete the physical, the paperwork, your job selection, and the Oath of Enlistment. Plan for a long day.

• RSP Recruit Sustainment Program

  The SC Guard drill weekends between signing and shipping to Basic. It keeps you ready and connected.

• DEP Delayed Entry Program

  The gap between enlisting and shipping. On the Guard side, RSP fills that role.

• DEERS Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System

  The database behind your military ID card, health coverage, and benefits.

• USERRA Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

  The federal law that protects your civilian job and benefits while you serve.

Training

• BCT Basic Combat Training

  The initial roughly ten-week Army training. Many South Carolina Soldiers attend at Fort Jackson.

• AIT Advanced Individual Training

  Job-specific training that follows Basic. Length depends on your MOS.

• OSUT One Station Unit Training

  Basic and AIT run back to back at one location, used for some jobs.

• AT Annual Training

  About two weeks of full-time training each year with your unit, usually in summer.

• IDT Inactive Duty Training

  The drill weekend. It is called inactive only because you are not on active-duty orders. You are still paid.

• MUTA Multiple Unit Training Assembly

  A drill period. A standard drill weekend is four MUTAs.

• BLC Basic Leader Course

  The first NCO leadership school. Required to be promoted to Sergeant.

• OCS / WOCS Officer / Warrant Officer Candidate School

  The schools that commission you as an officer, or appoint you as a warrant officer.

Jobs & rank

• MOS Military Occupational Specialty

  Your job, named by a code such as 11B (infantry) or 25B (information technology).

• NCO Noncommissioned Officer

  A Sergeant, E-5 and above. The Army calls them the backbone. See the ranks.

• NCOIC / OIC NCO / Officer In Charge

  The senior enlisted leader, or the officer, responsible for a task or area.

• CSM Command Sergeant Major

  The senior enlisted leader of a unit at battalion level and above.

• TAG The Adjutant General

  The two-star officer who runs a state's National Guard. See the chain of command.

• PMOS Primary MOS

  Your main job. You can pick up a second one later through reclassification training.

• DMOSQ Duty MOS Qualified

  You are trained and qualified in the job you actually hold. It gates promotion and some incentives, so it comes up early.

• AOC Area of Concentration

  The officer version of an MOS. It names an officer’s branch and specialty.

• SMA Sergeant Major of the Army

  The senior enlisted Soldier of the entire Army, and the top of the NCO chain. See the chain of command.

Health & fitness

• MEDPROS Medical Protection System

  The database that tracks your medical readiness as green, amber, or red. See the MEDPROS note.

• PULHES Physical profile

  Six factors set at your entry physical: Physical capacity, Upper extremities, Lower extremities, Hearing, Eyes, and Psychiatric.

• AFT Army Fitness Test

  The five-event physical fitness test of record. See the fitness lesson.

• H2F Holistic Health and Fitness

  The Army's whole system for readiness, performance, injury prevention, and recovery. The fitness test is one piece of it.

• TRS TRICARE Reserve Select

  The military health plan available to Guard and Reserve members.

• VA Department of Veterans Affairs

  The federal agency that runs veteran benefits after you serve: health care, the GI Bill, home loans, and more. Separate from the Army.

• TDP TRICARE Dental Program

  Optional dental coverage you can buy for yourself and your family.

• TYA TRICARE Young Adult

  Coverage a dependent can buy after they age out of standard family coverage at 21.

Day to day

• OPSEC Operations Security

  Not sharing details, online or off, that could put people or missions at risk.

• SOP Standard Operating Procedure

  The written, agreed way a unit performs a task, so everyone does it the same.

• PCS Permanent Change of Station

  A move to a new duty station. Rare for most drilling Guard Soldiers.

• TDY Temporary Duty

  A short assignment away from your home unit.

• ETS Expiration Term of Service

  The date your current enlistment contract ends.

• POC Point of Contact

  The person to go to about a specific thing.

• COMSEC Communications Security

  Keeping communications from being intercepted: radios, encryption, call signs. The sibling of OPSEC.

Pay

• LES Leave and Earnings Statement

  Your military pay stub. It shows what you earned, what was withheld, and your leave balance.

• BAH Basic Allowance for Housing

  A housing allowance paid in some statuses. The amount depends on rank, location, and dependents.

• BAS Basic Allowance for Subsistence

  A food allowance paid in some statuses.

• TSP Thrift Savings Plan

  The federal retirement savings account, the military’s version of a 401(k). Under the current retirement system the government matches part of what you put in. See the money lesson.

• BRS Blended Retirement System

  The retirement system you are in if you joined from 2018 on. It blends TSP matching with a pension for those who serve long enough.

• FSA Family Separation Allowance

  Extra pay when duty keeps you away from your family past a set number of days.

• HFP / IDP Hostile Fire Pay / Imminent Danger Pay

  Extra pay for serving in a designated hostile fire or imminent danger area.

Education

• SCNG CAP South Carolina National Guard College Assistance Program

  South Carolina’s own tuition program for SC Guard members, run by the state Commission on Higher Education, not the Army. It pays toward school at eligible South Carolina institutions. It has an application window. Miss the window and you wait for the next one, so ask your unit education office early.

• FTA Federal Tuition Assistance

  The Army’s own tuition help for approved courses while you serve. It can stack with the state program.

• LRP Loan Repayment Program

  Pays toward eligible federal student loans you already have. It is tied to specific contracts and jobs, not offered to everyone.

• JST Joint Services Transcript

  Turns your military training into a transcript that participating colleges can grant credit for. Your service can count toward a degree.

• CLEP College Level Examination Program

  Tests that earn you college credit for what you already know, free for service members through DANTES.

• DANTES Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support

  The DoD office behind CLEP and the other test-for-credit programs.

• COOL Credentialing Opportunities On-Line

  An Army program that pays for civilian certifications tied to your job, so your MOS turns into a credential employers recognize.

• DEA Dependents’ Educational Assistance

  A VA program (Chapter 35) giving education benefits, up to 36 months, to the spouse or children of a veteran who died or is permanently disabled from service.