Definition

Close Quarters Battle—combat at intimate distances where things get loud, personal, and very permanent, usually lasting seconds.

Example Usage

The team trained extensively in CQB before the hostage rescue.

Origin

Special operations terminology, popularized in modern military training

Fun Fact

CQB training has the highest injury rate of any military specialty because it's basically controlled violence

Source: Special Operations Command training doctrine

Related Terms

Intermediate

frag order

Short for 'fragmentary order,' a quick modification to an existing operations plan that doesn't require rewriting the entire thing. Because sometimes the enemy doesn't cooperate with your carefully crafted 50-page OPORD.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Intermediate

non-kinetic operation

Military activities that don't involve direct combat, including psychological operations, cyber warfare, or electronic warfare. Winning hearts and minds, or at least their Wi-Fi passwords.

🎖️ Military / Defense
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linkup

When separate military units or elements meet at a designated point, hopefully recognizing each other before shooting. It's a rendezvous with more planning and less romance.

🎖️ Military / Defense
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MRE

Meal Ready to Eat—a self-contained food ration that tastes like cardboard was processed through a chemical plant, yet soldiers survive exclusively on them.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Intermediate

Spec Ops

Special Operations — elite military units trained for unconventional missions that regular forces can't handle. They are the final boss of military personnel, operating in the shadows with skills that make action movies look like documentaries. Their budget is classified, probably for everyone's sanity.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Intermediate

Fires

Collective term for all indirect fire weapons including artillery, mortars, naval gunfire, and close air support—basically everything that explodes near the enemy without you being there. The plural that makes grammar teachers cry and enemies die.

🎖️ Military / Defense

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