The vocabularies built into Dragon NaturallySpeaking lack many military terms, abbreviations, and facility names. On this page are some military word lists that you can add to your Dragon NaturallySpeaking vocabulary.

These lists are text files that you can examine and modify with any text editor, such as Notepad, DragonPad, or Microsoft Word. If you make changes to one of these files, make sure you save it as a plain text file.

Importing Word Lists

After downloading the word lists of your choice, import them by following these steps:

1. Start Dragon NaturallySpeaking and open your user file.
2. Click Words, Import... The Add Words from Word Lists dialog box appears.
3. Check the box next to “Find known words with unknown capitalization.”
4. Click Next.
5. Click Add File... and then browse to the file you want to import. Click Open.
6. Repeat step 5 if you want to import additional files.
7. Click Next and wait for the words to be imported.
8. Click Next again, then Finish.

Military Ranks

Since many ranks are abbreviated differently by military service, choose the word list that is most appropriate for your service. These word lists are set up so that if you dictate a rank, the correct abbreviation appears for your service. To dictate the same rank but have it abbreviated as in a different service, say the service name before the rank.

For example, after you import the Army rank list, if you say
Captain Jones reports no complaints or problems

Dragon NaturallySpeaking writes it as:
CPT Jones reports no complaints or problems.

If you say:
Air Force Captain Jones reports no complaints or problems

Dragon NaturallySpeaking writes it as:
Capt Jones reports no complaints or problems.

Ranks US Army (last updated 02-12-07)		(4 KB)
Ranks US Air Force (last updated 02-12-07)		(3 KB)
Ranks US Navy (last updated 02-12-07)		(3 KB)
Ranks US Marine Corps (last updated 02-12-07)		(3 KB)

Military Facilities and Other Terms

This file contains:

• Proper names that appear in the names of US military bases, such as “Aberdeen” and “Fort Knox”
• Proper names that appear in the names of military treatment facilities, such as “Martin” and “Wilford Hall”
• Capitalized phrases that appear in the names of military bases and treatment facilities, such as “Air Base” and “Health Clinic”
• Commonly used abbreviations for names of facilities and agencies

MHS Terms (last updated 06-03-08)		(8 KB)

Deleting Inappropriate Words

Even after importing the above word lists, you may find that Dragon transcribes a term inappropriately; for example it may persist in writing “Capt.” when you say “captain.”

If this happens,

1. On the DragonBar click Words, View/Edit.
2. Type the incorrect word (such as Capt.) in the Written Form box.
3. When the word appears in the list, click it with the mouse if it is not highlighted. Then click the Delete button to delete it.

Contributing Words to This Project

The MHS word lists are undoubtedly incomplete. If you find that Dragon NaturallySpeaking does not recognize a military term or abbreviation that you use in your writing, please submit it to this project here.