U.S. Military Acronyms

Can you guess what these military acronyms stand for?

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Last updated: December 29, 2018

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First submitted	March 7, 2010
Times taken	101,053
Average score	60.0%
Rating	4.39

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Acronym	Phrase
AWOL	Absent Without Leave
POW	Prisoner of War
MIA	Missing in Action
IED	Improvised Explosive Device
CO	Commanding Officer
MRE	Meal Ready to Eat
SAM	Surface-to-Air Missile
DMZ	Demilitarized Zone
APO	Army Post Office
KP	Kitchen Patrol

Acronym	Phrase
LZ	Landing Zone
NCO	Non-Commissioned Officer
RPG	Rocket-Propelled Grenade
UAV	Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
PFC	Private First Class
ICBM	Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
ROTC	Reserve Officers' Training Corp
ROE	Rules of Engagement
PT	Physical Training
DoD	Department of Defense

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38 Comments

Level 58

May 7, 2013

100% with 2:41 to go. Great quiz!

+11

Level 56

Apr 4, 2014

Was kind of expecting FUBAR and SNAFU...

Level 75

Oct 28, 2015

and the ID-10-t form

Level 48

Dec 17, 2014

Only 33% of people got ROTC... that's rather sad...

+26

Level 75

Oct 28, 2015

Why? American military acronyms are not common knowledge all over the world. I don't know the percentage of non-Americans here, but I'd guess it's at least 10-20% of users?

+16

Level 46

Mar 15, 2016

Non Americans are now 60% of users on this site apparently

Level 74

Jun 11, 2018

I didn't get ROTC, it was one of two I missed. I'm not American and I've never heard it before.

Level 67

May 26, 2021

I know what it is, just didn't know what it stood for. Kept trying to figure out something with Recruit. I think Recruiter Officers' was the first thing I tried.

Level 20

Mar 21, 2026

ROTC means reserve officers' training corp i'm non-american and i know what it stands for

Level 65

Jun 23, 2015

SOP would be a good one to add.

Level 67

Mar 15, 2016

I'd like to add some suggestions too, quiz creator, if you ever wanted to expand this one or create a sequel/advanced version: TDY, CINC, XO, OCS, FOB, OPSEC, 2LT, NORAD, ASAP, BX, SEAL.

Level 73

Mar 15, 2016

I'm nonmilitary and I wouldn't get any of those. I only missed two on this one, but all I could think of for PT was potty training, reflecting on the fact that I have young grandchildren.

Level 66

Mar 19, 2019

XO - Commanding Officer

OCS - Officer Candidate School

2LT - Second Lieutenant

ASAP - ?As Soon As possible?

PX - Post Exchange

Level 67

May 26, 2021

XO is Executive Officer

Level 79

Aug 15, 2025

Never would have guessed that’s what PX actually stands for

Level 42

Mar 19, 2019

The advanced version would probably be all Navy acronyms - COMNAVRESFOR, CVN, PTG, CTI, DRB, etc

Level 79

Aug 15, 2025

NJP seems like a good addition

Level 71

Jan 3, 2026

or UCMJ.

Level 47

Mar 16, 2016

I did better than I thought I would.

Level 53

Mar 16, 2016

14/20 and I'm not American. Serial podcast and Hollywood taught me well.

Level 34

Jun 13, 2016

Got everything except LZ and KP. Would have been more challenging if this were less US-centric.

+13

Level 47

May 26, 2021

well then it wouldn't be a us military quiz would it

Level 62

Apr 26, 2018

Take your military knowledge, and see if you can ace the 50 Most Powerful Military Nations Quiz

Level 92

Nov 24, 2018

Ruling class diglossia.

Level 36

Mar 10, 2019

Didn't accept "loading zone" for me; and typed "reserved" officers instead of 'reserve" officers. And my husband was in ROTC!

Level 54

Jan 18, 2024

It’s landing zone, that’s why.

Level 50

Mar 19, 2019

Can't believe I put Non-Commission instead of Non-CommissionED

Level 17

May 11, 2019

make a canadian please one i know like three american ones

Level 56

Aug 15, 2025

Most of them would be the same: NATO countries have adopted a lot of the same terminology for ease of communication (most in this quiz are used by British forces, for the same reason).

Level 35

Jun 12, 2020

These are not acronyms but initialisms

Level 79

Oct 21, 2020

except for the first one (AWOL), yes

Level 39

Aug 15, 2025

Exactly, thank you for posting that.

Level 68

May 26, 2021

You can omit FUBAR and SNAFU, but that will not stop us from thinking of them.

Level 54

Mar 2, 2024

What about BOHICA?

Level 32

Mar 25, 2023

I’ll take 13/20 for a non-American

Level 68

Feb 23, 2024

I was waiting for SNAFU or FUBAR. ;)

Level 65

Mar 11, 2025

only the first is an acronym, unless you can say dmz as a word.

The rest are just abbreviations.

Level 67

Aug 16, 2025

"Refused by Ethiopia" should be accepted for MRE.

It was a joke during the 90s when Ethiopia was suffering from a famine that MREs were so bad, even them didn't want them. From the same time that MREs from european countries like France traded for several american MREs as they tasted much better.

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