Army Terms to Know Part III and other things

PC: Patrol Cap.  Basically a pillbox-style baseball hat; rank on front, name on back.
RPG: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
RKG: Ruchnaya Kumulyativnaya Granata.  A Russian-made anti-tank grenade.
IED: Improvised Explosive Device
UXO: Unexploded Ordinance
EOD: Explosive Ordinance Disposal
NTV: Non-Tactical Vehicle.  Civilian vehicles used to move people/equipment around base.  Usually American-made trucks and SUVs.
JBB: Joint Base Balad, formerly Logistics Support Area Anaconda
Kiowa, Blackhawk, Chinook: Helicopters are generally named after Native American nations.
Bradley, Abrams: Tanks are generally named after Generals.  While the Bradley follows this naming convention, it's really more of an armed/armoured personnel carrier and some Bradley crews take offense to being compared to "death before dismount" tankers.

This is coming from another location in my tour of Iraq; new roommate and new routines to learn.  The laptop had a bit of a frightening fit recently, but it's working once more.  Internet connection here is less reliable but quite welcome after an absence.  Scrabble on the Kindle became rather popular in the interim, so much so that I visibly disappointed folks when I chose to read a book on it instead.  I have an as-yet-untested mailing address here, but email is still the most reliable way to contact me.

So you've probably noticed that I've changed the look of the website around a bit.  The old background was alright, but just one of the defaults offered by blogger.  This background is a picture I took during my first semester at Pitt of a lamp above a door to the Carnegie Library in Oakland.  It's been flipped and resized, but the colors are unchanged.

The header/title is based off of Brandon's over at UnscientificThought.blogspot.com.  Just taking the size/simplicity from him, really; I don't think I'm completely finished fiddling with mine.  This has the wrench lotus from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and a unique Cavalry patch as well as a more accurate/specific spelling of Arete.  One day I'll have the time, perspective, and research I need to do posts on those.