Compiled by Gary D. Moore - Copyright © 1994-1999

Contributions from Lt. Col. Dennis Gillem, Tony Kozlinski, and Lt. Col. Sandra K. Wilson

Welcome Home brothers and sisters!

Watch 100 Years of Teen Girls Fashion | Glamour

This collection of terms was collected while I wrote a trivia game about the Vietnam War, and the crazy times in which we lived. I dedicate this to those who served their country during the Vietnam Era, and literally lived these words. Some of these terms will bring back good memories while others may cause a tear to fall. This list is placed on the Net and may be reproduced and/or posted on your website with permission.

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Each generation interjects meaning to specific words. The sixties children (teens and young adults) not only added new meaning to words but changed the moral and legal teachings of the era (and subsequent eras thereof). Even the term sixties children has a specific connotation today. Whether this reflects good or bad is not my point.

My generation (the sixties) is not unique with this transforming idiom. However, the jargon (language) of the Vietnam (era) veteran transcended cultures, races, and geography during the sixties and seventies... a word, like square, took on a different meaning while in-country from the fifties era when square meant a nerd or geek (an eighties word/idiom). Similarly, the world did not mean the globe or planet... to the in-country Vietnam vet, it meant home... the US (..."when I get back to the world...." was heard regularly).

Forgetting My First Language | The New Yorker

Juicer, head, freak, straight, lifer painted word pictures. In-coming brought fear and quick reaction... and sometimes, death. Rights began to take shape in reality. Further explanation wasn't necessary... a single word sufficed. A terse and concise dialect permeated the sixties. When you examine the words of any generation for their varied and colorful meaning, the sixties are notable.

This collection contains many (but far from all) the words of the sixties, especially to the young veteran of the era (of which I was one). Many of the following terms resonate Vietnam, the war, and the youth involved. These words are the mark of a searching, intelligent, self-indulgent, if not, spoiled generation but one who had hope, promise, and dreams.

Gary D. Moore, SSgt USAF 1968-1972