A to Z the Military Way: E to ETS (Or Who Knew Military was an Actual Foreign Language? )
By: Mary Anderson

E – Echo. ~Echo. Echo. Echo.~ The fifth letter in the NATO alphabet. Just like everything done in the military, if it is not repeated ad nausium then the military feels like it has not been said enough.
EEOA – Equal Employment Opportunity Agency. Our friendly neighborhood EO (Equal Opportunity) personnel come from this agency. The EO is trained in matters dealing with equal opportunity. The EO is also the one who puts on the programs for Black History/Woman’s History/Hispanic History/etc. month, week, day.
EFMP – Exceptional Family Member Program. According to Military Homefront, “Over 100,000 military families have members with special needs. These include spouses, children, or dependent parents who require special medical or educational services. These family members have a diagnosed physical, intellectual, or emotional condition. The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) works with these families to address their unique needs.” I like to think that I am exceptional and I tried to tell them so, but they kicked me out of the office. ☺
EIB – Expert Infantryman Badge. To earn this badge soldiers must go through a series of grueling tests designed to demonstrate proficiency in infantry skills. Male or female soldiers can earn this award though the soldier must be in a combat arms branch to wear the badge. Mothers should have a form of this. We can call it the EMB – Expert Mothering Badge. The tests can be how to stretch a pound of ground beef to feed a family of 7, changing a newborn’s diaper, answering the phone, amusing a 2 year old, yelling to your husband where his keys are, and keeping your sanity all at the same time, and not slapping people who say that you are “just” a stay-at-home mom.
ENDEX – End of Exercise. This is pretty self-explanatory. It is when service members are done with the exercise, though it does not mean the end of work. There is still cleaning everything that was used, doing AARs (After Action Reviews), inventorying and storing supplies, and smoking cigars to a job well done. One of those things does not necessarily happen every time. I’ll let you be the one to decide which it is.
ENWGS – Enhanced Navy War Gaming System (USN). According to the Navy’s website, “the Enhanced Naval Wargaming System at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and the Marine Corps Tactical Wargaming System at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton are both classroom environments where commands interact in simulated training missions.” I wonder if the ENWGS can beat the game of tic-tac-toe or if the computer will self-destruct (and this reference is brought to you by the 1983 movie War Games).
EOD – Explosive Ordinance Disposal. These guys are great! They find unexploded ordinance, improvised explosive devices and weapons of mass destruction and diffuse them. (Or as Hollywood would have you believe, they make big bombs go boom all the time) They have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. I have nothing but respect for the service members who take on this job.
EPOW – Enemy Prisoners of War. This use to be just POW (Prisoners of War) but the term kept getting confused with friendly (America and her allies) POWs. So now POW stands for friendly prisoners of war while EPOW are the captives of friendlies. EPOW, or shortened to EPWs many times, actually have a criteria that he or she has to meet under the Geneva Conventions to get that status. There is a whole pamphlet dedicated to dealing with EPWs and other captured or retained personnel. Which may not sound like a lot until you realize that the military wrote it, so it’s a long, long, pamphlet. Definitely wouldn’t fit in your pocket.

ETS – Estimated Time of Separation. This is normally a time of joy for many service members. It is when the Army contract ends and the service members changes his or her uniform for real clothes. You have no idea how awesome it is to actually be able to pick out your own clothing like a real grown-up. Oh, and the colors! I can wear red…RED!!! I will never wear boots again ☺ Okay, since I am from Buffalo that may not actually work. But they will be RED boots! Seriously though, there should be a lot of preparation for this date, besides just clothes shopping. Make sure your service member goes to the classes that the military offers. Sometimes you can go to them as well. The classes offer a lot of resources for transitioning from military life to civilian life.

As always, I look forward to your comments and suggestions. If you ever have a question about a military term or acronym please ask! I’ll answer you personally if I already did the letter or put it in my column if I have not gotten to the letter yet.

Take care my fellow military spouses! May you all have an exceptional day (see what I did there? ☺ )

References

Military Acronyms, Intialisms, and Abbreviations. (n.d.) FAS. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/news/reference/lexicon/aca.htm

Military Homefront. (2012). EFMP. Retrieved from http://www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil/pls/psgprod/f?p=MHF:HOME1:0::::S ID:20.40.500.565.0.0.0.0.0

Rigney, J. (2011). Wargaming contributes to wartime efforts. Navy Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=13443