- APCD: Associate Peace Corps Director; a host-country national in charge of that region's program
- CD: Country Director; the one in charge of the volunteers in that country
- COS: Close of Service; the end of a volunteer's service
- Country Desk: the department representing regional countries, at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C.
- ET: Early Termination; leaving, for whatever reason, before close of service
- Homestay: part of training where the volunteer lives with a member of the community (the owners of the house are often referred to in kinship terms)
- HCN: Host Country National; person from the host country (it's slightly disparaging to call them "natives")
- Host Country: the country where the volunteer is serving
- Invitation: a formal summons to serve in a specific job/country after receiving medical/legal clearance, which marks the beginning of one's official Trainee status
- IOS: Interruption of Service; when local political or environmental conditions require the entire program to be pulled from an area
- IST: In-Service Training; a secondary training event that happens mid-service
- LCF: Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitator; trainers responsible for language and culture sections during pre-service training
- Medevac: Medically Evacuate; to return a volunteer to the United States for medical treatment, usually because they have an injury/illness that is untreatable in-country
- Medical Separation: when a volunteer cannot complete service due to a medical problem
- Nomination: a proposed invite to a very general region and job area made during the early application process, pending medical/legal clearance -- highly subject to change
- OMS: Office of Medical Services
- PC: Peace Corps
- PCMO: Peace Corps Medical Officer; the nurse or doctor in charge of all that country's volunteers
- PCT: Peace Corps Trainee; volunteer's title during training and before becoming an official volunteer
- PCV: Peace Corps Volunteer
- PO: Placement Officer; person in charge of officially placing each volunteer in an assignment worldwide; based in headquarters in D.C.
- PST: Pre-Service Training; the training program, usually 3 months long, that teaches volunteers language, cross-cultural sensitivity, and job skills before they begin their official service
- Recruiter: locally-based representative in charge of providing information on Peace Corps to potential applicants and screening applicants during the initial stages -- the "voice" of the PC
- RPCV: Returned Peace Corps Volunteer
- Site: the location where the volunteer lives and works for 2 years
- Staging: the first day of training, held in the U.S., before flying out to the host country
- Swearing-In: the ceremony that accompanies transition from Peace Corps Trainee to Peace Corps Volunteer
- VAD: Volunteer Assignment Description; the lengthy document given to applicants describing an assignment in detail, part of the official invitation
January 21, 2007
PC terms
There is a lot of jargon used when talking about the Peace Corps. Here is a fairly comprehensive list explaining them. A link is placed in the sidebar for future use.
