Creating the ‘Mils’ Symbol

When writing documents that are used in the military or by contractors dealing with the military, it is sometimes helpful to create a special symbol called the 'mils' symbol. A 'mil' is an angular measure where there are 6,400 mils in a circle, compared to the usual 360 degrees in a circle. (Some nations, such as those comprising the former Soviet Union, use 6,000 mils in a circle, not 6,400.)

The symbol for a mil is a lower-case 'm' with a forward-slash through it. (It is impossible to show what such a symbol look like in this text-only newsletter.) The mils symbol can be produced through the use of fields. For instance, the following EQ field will create the proper field:

{ EQ \o(m,\s\do2(/)) }

Note that the forward-slash is set to a slightly larger font size than what is used for the letter m, in order to give a better appearance.