Yomp is Royal Marinesslang describing a long-distance loaded march carrying full kit. The origin of the word is unclear. It was popularized by journalistic coverage in 1982 during the Falklands War. "Yomp" has been compared to the yomp definition “young officers marching pace” term yump used in rally-driving in the sense of "to leave the ground when taking a crest at speed", apparently a variant of :wikt:jump|jump. The most famous yomp of recent times was during the 1982 Falklands War. After disembarking from ships at San Carlos on East Falkland, 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 on land.
Synonyms
slang for the same concept is "T.A.B.", of equally unknown origin. US Military slang for this concept is to "ruck" or to "hump" from the phrase "humping a pack".
The Yomper
The image of "the Yomper" became one of the iconic images of the Falklands War. The original photograph 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. Marine Gillingham first tied the flag to Corporal Robinson's radio aerial, which eventually blew off. It was then fixed with masking tape to the radio aerial of Corporal Robinson. The photograph itself was entirely spontaneous and not staged. The original Union Flag is still in the possession of Corporal Robinson to this day. The image was used as the inspiration of a statue that was unveiled by Margaret Thatcher on 8 July 1992 on the 10th anniversary of the conflict. It now adorns the entrance to the Royal Marines Museum in Southsea.
Media coverage of this war saw the term "yomp" become well known and enter general use. However, the term has since faded somewhat from general use in the decades since the end of the Falklands war.
In Charlie Higson's second novel in The Enemy series, titled The Dead, Bam tells Greg, "I grew up in the country, you see, always out yomping 'round the fields."
In Robert Westall's novel Urn Burial, the main character Ralph wonders, “if they’d felt as lonely as this, yomping to Port Stanley...”
