Acronym Hell
I've been warned. Threatened is more like it. Ann and Devon have conspired and said I have three slipups before I get shunned. Three acronyms is all I get, the fourth gets me silence. Ann says it's because I assimilate all too well and, unless she holds the line on me, she won't understand a single sentence I say.Now, it doesn't matter that Devon worked for the DOD and should be well versed in half the acronyms I am exposed to (he even knew some of them before I did). Nor does it matter that Ann works for RLID, Bill just argued before LUBA (yes, I know you're watching), and I'm subjected to acronyms of various sorts every time I IM (oh, instant message in case you didn't know) either Ann or Devon (ttyl, c u l8r, rofl, and all that stuff - and I don't even know how to do emoticons . . .). But I am the one threatened with shunning.
This is my cry for sympathy - I am in acronym hell. I live in a place called the NEC (new embassy compound) and eat at the DFAC (dining facility) that I use my CAC (common access card) to gain entrance. I'm subjected not only to DOD (Department of Defense) acronyms, but State Department (DOS if you so choose) and international acronyms as well. Even the acronyms are not consistent. I'm responsible for the QRF (quick response fund) applications for the ROL (rule of law) section of PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) Baghdad. However, walking around the NEC (that would be New Embassy Compound), I somehow suspect that the guys with "QRF Team" on their jumpers are not the quick response fund team. It's the sidearms they carry that give it away. I don't see them kicking down courtroom doors to say "We're here to provide books for your law library."
To give you a sense of how difficult it is to avoid acronyms, last week I attended a 2-day conference of Provincial Reconstruction Team Rule of Law (that would be PRT ROL) members. At some point, I don't recall exactly when, I started making a list. It includes: QRF (you should know that one by now-the one without the guns),MCROLD, ICITAP, GOI, HJC, ICS, DCG-DO, USF-I, HJC, USG, MOI, JIDD-I (pronounced Jedi as in Jedi Knight), NCTC, CATT, PSD, DSS, RSO, IFSCEL, CPREP, BDEJA, NIIA, P-PITT, KPOC-U, KLE, ITAM, SDTs, IGFC, PDOP, PCOP, RFI, LEP, IO, PAO, ATAE, CBP, CPA, MEC, PDP, KMOI, CPITT, TCSTs, FP FORGEN, AAB, LNO, KRG, JALEA, IHCAP, IJID, OPDAT, INJSAP, UNAMI, UNDP, UNCT (if you can't tell, we had a bunch of UN people talking to us at that point - that was a whole new world of acronyms), UNDAF, CPAP, PWG, CCA, OHCHR, MCU, PDU, TCU, UNOPS, UPR, EUJUST LEX, T3, CJS, MoLSA, DHoM HoOPS, POLAD, SSR, CPC, RIPC, SCPI, IPF, CIP, OIF, SWAG, CPJ, KRG, BSA, COI, JACC, UNCAC, ACCO, MENA-FATF, FIU, OBO, OSC, PRN, DHR, IOC O&M, DRL, IOM, SIV, ISF. I'm sure I missed a few along the way and no, I do not know what they all mean.
So please, show me a little mercy about being assimilated. Everyone tells me resistance is futile.