How have America’s Wars Changed The English Language?

The term "the whole nine yards" comes from the military. Machine gun belts came in nine yard belts. A soldier who fired on the enemy would say, "I gave him the whole nine yards."

The examples shared here were once quite common and some even adapted to civilian life but are all but gone today. Here are a few of probably thousands:
"Gold Brick" comes to mind as someone who shirks his duty; an empty uniform. Comes from the idea that it shines like a brick of gold but is useless.
"Yard Bird" is another one we do not hear too often anymore. It refers to a PW or a military prisoner who walks around the prison yard.
"A Lover" that is someone who is a lover, not a fighter and not generally well liked by members of the unit.
"Slick" A UH-10
"Slick Sleeve" A person with no rank
"Shave Tail" 2nd Lt. - also, "90 day wonder" (OCS graduate) and "Butter Bar"
"Joe No-Shoulder's" a snake
"Hooch" Alcoholic beverage of one type or another (Still hear this one on occasion)
"Hooch" Living quarters (predominately infantry) in Viet Nam
"Hooch Maid" Viet Nam woman who cleaned your hooch
"Puff the Magic Dragon" or just "Puff" for short; taken from the song by the same name and applied to aircraft with a mini gun - usually a C-130
Thanks for the post - this was a bit of fun today!

Yes I concur COL Mikel J. Burroughs our wars going back to the 17th century when we fought with and against the native Americans, French, British, Germanic soldiers began to influence our language and culture - tomahawk, scalping, war party come to mind. The civil war although fought with Americans added words and phrases which took on tremendous impact - emancipation, Gettysburg, Bull Run, ironclad, march to the sea.
We picked up British words in the 20th century from England [spam], Australia [outback] and New Zealand as we fought alongside them in WWI and even more as we launched our forces from bases in those nations.
In Germany where we have been stationed since 1945 we identified with with JFK when he said "Ich bin ein Berliner" ands we added autobahn, Frankfurter, Pomme Frites, jack boots, Krauts, Jerries, and Fritz were terms used for Germans. Graf used to be a German title but now it reminds us of Grafenwoehr training area.

https://youtu.be/vrf_OmVWU2E

TARFU
TARFU (Totally And Royally Fucked Up or Things Are Really Fucked Up) was also used during World War II.

The 1944 U.S. Army animated shorts Three Brothers and Private Snafu Presents Seaman Tarfu In The Navy (both directed by Friz Freleng), feature the characters Private Snafu, Private Fubar, and Seaman Tarfu (with a cameo by Bugs Bunny).

COL Mikel Burroughs, What I have learned over my time on this earth is that a lot of the acronyms that we find in the military have made their way into the publics lexicon such as ASAP, BLUF, COA, DOA, etc. In Afghanistan a term used often, Fobbit, was someone who never went out side the wire or homesteaded on the FOB, COP, or Camp.

Not a term or word as such, but the "Falcon Codes" that aircrews used during Vietnam to pass 'salty language' in the clear over the radios in post strike reports.

Shit Pushed In or SPI - to be shot or blown up in a IED strike.

I like the term "balls to the wall" from pilots meaning going full throttle or giving it your all. COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen

Who can forget "Jerry-Rigged". Jerry=German.

COL Mikel J. Burroughs
SNAFU[edit]
Main article: SNAFU
SNAFU, which is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression Situation Normal: All Fucked Up, as a well-known example of military acronym slang, however the original military acronym stood for "Status Nominal: All Fucked Up." It is sometimes bowdlerized to all fouled up or similar.[4] It means that the situation is bad, but that this is a normal state of affairs. It is typically used in a joking manner to describe something that's working as intended. The acronym is believed to have originated in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.[citation needed]

Time magazine used the term in their June 16, 1942 issue: "Last week U.S. citizens knew that gasoline rationing and rubber requisitioning were snafu."[5] Most reference works, including the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, supply an origin date of 1940–1944, generally attributing it to the U.S. Army.

Rick Atkinson ascribes the origin of SNAFU, FUBAR, and a bevy of other terms to cynical GIs ridiculing the Army's penchant for acronyms.[6]

Private Snafu is the title character of a series of military instructional films, most of which were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, Philip D. Eastman, and Munro Leaf.[7]

In modern usage, snafu is sometimes used as an interjection, though it is mostly now used as a noun. Snafu also sometimes refers to a bad situation, mistake, or cause of trouble. It is more commonly used in modern vernacular to describe running into an error or problem that is large and unexpected. For example, in 2005, The New York Times published an article titled "Hospital Staff Cutback Blamed for Test Result Snafu".[8]

The attribution of SNAFU to the American military is not universally accepted: it has also been attributed to the British,[9] although the Oxford English Dictionary gives its origin and first recorded use as US military.[5]

In a wider study of military slang, Frederick Elkin noted in 1946 that there "are a few acceptable substitutes such as 'screw up' or 'mess up,' but these do not have the emphasis value of the obscene equivalent." He considered the expression SNAFU to be "a caricature of Army direction. The soldier resignedly accepts his own less responsible position and expresses his cynicism at the inefficiency of Army authority." He also noted that "the expression … is coming into general civilian use."[10]