https://barelyablog.com/new-column-afghanistan-bringing-the-military-industrial-complex-home/ by ilana mercer Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:05:42 +0000 hourly 1 https://barelyablog.com/new-column-afghanistan-bringing-the-military-industrial-complex-home/comment-page-1/#comment-27090 Wed, 01 Sep 2021 15:37:04 +0000 https://barelyablog.com/?p=154691#comment-27090 Slang changes with the times, and the military is no different. Soldiers fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have developed an expansive new military vocabulary, taking elements from popular culture as well as the doublespeak of the military industrial complex. The U.S. military drawdown in Afghanistan — which is underway but still awaiting the outcome of a proposed bilateral security agreement — is often referred to by soldiers as “the retrograde,” which is an old military euphemism for retreat. Of course the U.S. military never “retreats” — rather it conducts a “tactical retrograde.”

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