Civil Military Co-operation Centre of Excellence

The daily communication overwhelms the user with abbreviations and technical terms. Not knowing them often leads to misunderstandings, confusion and extensive discussions about exact definitions.

In various cases different terms are used to name one subject or – the other way around – one abbreviation is used for different subjects. Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) or Civil Affairs (CA) or Civil-Military Coordination (CMC) integrates technical terms and abbreviations of two different language dimensions. In consequence especially civil and military personnel working in this subject is constantly challenged not to lose the overview about the essentials of a topic. In order to facilitate the access to information, communication and thereby cooperation between all CIMIC players, this guide was designed, not only with terms and abbreviations but also with definitions and links to external sources with more detailed summaries. Its purpose is to enable personnel to get a first access into an issue of interest.

Therefore this guide consists of a basic document and – for the first release – of three annexes. Annex 1 gives an overview about common tactical CIMIC symbols used in the military. Annex 2 is an overview about information, which relate to nations – such as NATO abbreviations for nations or telephone numbers. Annex 3 consists of military ranks of selected NATO nations, with NATO Code and rank description in these countries language. By this the whole document sums up more than 1.500 terms.

As this is a CIMIC Abbreviation & Definition Guide the document focuses on CIMIC related terms but also consists of other military and civil terms, which mission involved personnel can be confronted with.

Due to the fact, that CIMIC is a subject with young histories and is still developing very rapidly, abbreviations may be outdated or replaced by others. The CCOE’s intention is to update and improve the guide every 6 months. In order to achieve this goal and to match the needs of any CIMIC related personnel you as well as any other user of this guide is kindly asked to contribute new, additional terms as well as those of your organisation. Also feedback on the guide and requests for additional services are appreciated by CCOE in order to constantly improve the guide and thereby create more added value for all of us.