gravel cruncher

English

Noun

gravel cruncher (plural gravel crunchers)

1. (US, military, slang) A member of the military who is deployed on the ground rather than airborne.
   • 1952, Naval Aviation News, page 9:

     They developed a tremendous respect for the gravel crunchers after sweating out a few rounds of artillery and observing at painfully close range how rocky a Korean hill can be.

   • 2012, Daniel Denison, Robert Hooijberg, Nancy Lane, Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations:

     Nonaka seized on the critical importance of those who stormed the beaches first—the “gravel crunchers” as the Marines called them. It was a dangerous job.