ARVN: Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South) - Regular army units of the south.

Casualty: A person who is either wounded or killed in action. This general category can include prisoners and those who later die of their wounds. (Physical and psychiatric trauma.)

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. Intelligence gathering and secret (covert) operations arm of the United States Executive branch. Spies, assassins and saboteurs.

CINCPAC: Commander in Chief, Pacific. Overall commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific, including Vietnam. This is a U.S. Navy controlled command based in Hawaii. Admiral Ulysses S. Grant Sharp was the commander in 1964. This command controlled DeSoto patrols.

DeSoto Patrol: United States Navy intelligence gathering operations to locate and activate DRV electronic radar and air defense installations. This information could be used to launch air strikes against DRV or simply harass them and keep them off balance. Also used against People's Republic of China. The U.S. destroyer. Maddox was conducting this operation on 2 August 1964. Sometimes written DESOTO.

DMZ: Demilitarized zone along the 17th parallel dividing South Vietnam from North Vietnam. DRV from RVN. Originally intended as a temporary dividing line, not a formal border between two sovereign nations.

DRV: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Based in the northern part of Vietnam, it claimed to represent all of Vietnam. The United States called it the government of northern Vietnam and referred to it as "North Vietnam", but did not have diplomatic relations with it. Ho Chi Minh, a communist and a nationalist, was the leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. His claim, like Lincoln's in the American civil war, was that he was the legitimate leader of all of Vietnam. Hanoi was the capital.

GVN: Government of Vietnam (Saigon) (South). See RVN.

KIA: Killed in action. Designation for the known dead resulting from a combat situation involving hostile fire. (Not an accidental death nor a disease related death.)

KIA/BNR: Killed in action, but body was not recovered. Pilots of exploded aircraft fit this category. Aircraft pilots lost over sea or over deep jungle. Some infantry personnel with total destruction of corpse. (MIA and MIA/POW figures are converted to this status at the end of the war.)

MAAG: U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group. Reorganized in 1962.

MACV: Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. It was a U.S. Army controlled force. General William Westmoreland was the commander in 1964. This command controlled Operation Plan 34A activities.

MIA: Missing in action. Designation for a person who can not be accounted for in any other way after a combat situation.

MIA/POW: Missing in action, but assumed to be a prisoner of war. This is a dubious category, since one side does not know if the other side captured the missing person and/or recovered their remains.

NLF: National Liberation Front - This was the umbrella organization of opposition to the Saigon based regime of Diem. The NLF wanted to liberate the southern area of Vietnam from occupation by the Americans and their Vietnamese collaborators. The organization was a coalition of opposition to Diem. It had Communist Party leadership and a diverse membership.

North Vietnam: The incorrect name for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. See DRV above. This usage leads to the notion that Vietnam is actually split into two states the same way that there are in the United States two states called North Dakota and South Dakota and two states called North Carolina and South Carolina. Cf. "East Germany" and "West Germany" or "North Korea" and "South Korea". The United States wanted to foster this notion of course and did not recognize the official de jure government of the northern area of Vietnam and the de facto government of the southern area of Vietnam. Off its coast, in the Tonkin Gulf, the U.S. Navy delivered bombing attacks from "Yankee Station".

Operation Plan 34A: ARVN and mercenary units trained by U.S. Special Forces to conduct military attacks or raids against DRV. These were clandestine and controlled by the CIA and MACV. They began in 1961. The Maddox was in the vicinity of one of these attacks and knew it when it came under attack from the DRV torpedo boats on 2 August 1964. Sometimes written OPLAN 34A.

PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam (North) - Regular army units from the north.

PLAF: People's Liberation Armed Forces (South) - Guerrillas in the south.

POW: Prisoner of war. A former combatant (soldier) known to be captured alive and being held in an enemy prison camp.

RVN: The Republic of Vietnam. Based in the southern part of Vietnam, it claimed to represent only the southern region of Vietnam. It was the creation of the United States of America and was sustained by large amounts of U.S. economic and military aid. It was designed to be the "non-communist" Vietnam. The United States recognized the Republic of Vietnam and carried on diplomatic relations with it. Politicians and the press called it "South Vietnam". Saigon was the capital. Off its coast, the U.S. Navy "protected" it with bombing attacks from "Dixie Station".

South Vietnam: See RVN above.

VC "Viet Cong": Guerrillas in the south of Vietnam dedicated to the reunification of their country. They were communist in ideology and nationalistic in outlook. The term "Viet Cong" was a catch all phrase coined by Diem's administration to identify his "enemies." It translates as Vietnamese Communist. This was the "enemy" of Saigon in the south. See NLF above.