Grunt

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This article is about the slang term for an infantryman. For other uses of Grunt, see Grunt (disambiguation).

The term grunt is slang for an infantryman in the U.S. military and some of the other armed forces of the English speaking world, and both Army and Marine infantrymen are known to take extreme pride in the term. It was used especially in the Vietnam War: "They were called grunts. They were the infantrymen, the foot soldiers of the war" (Bernard Edelman).

The term "grunt" may have come about from observing heavily laden infantrymen make grunting sounds as they footmarched. On the other hand, marching with standard infantry equipment does not cause most people to grunt as much as it causes them to whine, moan, and/or sigh.

The term "grunt" is used by and applied to soldiers of the US Army and Army National Guard who have an MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) classification of "11": "11B" being a rifleman or infantryman--the true grunt, "11C" being a mortarman (infantry that manage, maintain, and operate indirect fire capabilities), "11H" being an anti-armor infantryman (mounted infantry who operate TOW missle launchers and various other weapon systems against armored enemy forces) "11M" being a mechanized infantryman (the grunts who maintain and operate armored personnel carriers). The term "grunt" is used in the military as a general term for a soldier with an MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) of "Infantry". In the Marine Corps all MOS' preceded by the number "03" are Infantry. About as "grunt" as you can get in the Corps is "0311 - Basic Rifleman". In the United States Military, the Army and Marines, the Infantry is tasked to "close with and kill the enemy" by "fire and maneuver" and "frontal assault". Infantry is a front line combat MOS, actively engaging and seeking out the enemies of the United States, and to be a United States Army or Marine "grunt" is a profession closed to women. The term "GRUNT" is jokingly used as an acronym for "Ground Replacements, Usually Not Trainable".

Other languages have similarly unflattering slang terms for basic infantry, e.g. Frontschwein in German, poilu in French or sardo in Spanish.