Yomp is
Royal Marines
The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
describing a long-distance
loaded march carrying full kit. It was popularised by journalistic coverage in 1982 during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
. The origin of the word is unclear, and there is no evidence to suggest that it derives originally from an acronym. Various
backronym
A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
ic definitions have however been proposed, including "young officers marching pace", "your own marching pace" and a connection with the term ''yump'' used in rally-driving in the sense of "to leave the ground when taking a crest at speed", apparently a Scandinavian pronunciation of ''
jump''.
Falklands War
The word and its meaning came to national prominence in the UK during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
in 1982. After disembarking from ships at
San Carlos on
East Falkland
East Falkland () is the largest island of the Falkland Islands, Falklands in the South Atlantic, having an area of or 54% of the total area of the Falklands. The island consists of two main land masses, of which the more southerly is known as L ...
, on 21 May 1982, Royal Marines and members of the
Parachute Regiment yomped with their equipment across the islands, covering in three days carrying loads. They were supposed to be transported by helicopters, but after the ''
Atlantic Conveyor'', which carried the helicopters, was sunk by Argentinian Exocet missiles on 25 May, the soldiers had to march across the island.
Photograph
The image of Royal Marine Corporal Peter Robinson with a
Union Jack
The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags.
It is sometimes a ...
fixed to his radio antenna became one of the most widely published of the Falklands War.
Now known as "The Yomper", it was taken by Petty Officer Peter Holdgate, Commando Forces Photographer, whilst working as part of the Commando Forces News Team. After landing with 40 Commando at
San Carlos, Holdgate accompanied British forces across the Falklands War zone taking hundreds of photographs as the Royal Marines proceeded along the Moody Brook track towards
Stanley.
When news of the
surrender of Argentine forces was received, Marine Trev Gillingham produced a small Union bunting flag from his
bergen
Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo.
By May 20 ...
, which he had acquired from
SS Canberra's bunting locker. Marine Gillingham first tied the flag to Corporal Robinson's radio aerial, who was the last man in the patrol. It eventually blew off and was then fixed with masking tape to the radio aerial. The photograph itself was entirely spontaneous and not staged. The original Union Jack has been lost.
Memorial
The image was used as the inspiration for a statue of Royal Marine Commando that was unveiled by
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
at the
Royal Marines Museum in
Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre.
Southsea began as a f ...
, Portsmouth on 8 July 1992 to mark the 10th anniversary of the conflict.
Similar terms
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
slang for the same marching conditions is "tab", while in
United States military slang, the terms to "ruck" (from the "
rucksack" being carried) or to "hump" (from the phrase "humping a pack") are used.
See also
*
Dartmoor Yomp
*
Loaded march
References
{{Falklands War , style=wide
Royal Marines
Falklands War
Military slang and jargon