Jill Olszewski posted on June 22, 2010 22:28
Settling into life at the Association has been quite an experience. The deluge of emails and daily reading materials has continued (and perhaps increased), and with it has come a variety of terms and acronyms with which I have had to make myself familiar. Initially, I found myself consistently "Googling" acronyms and terms such as NGRER (National Guard & Reserve Equipment Report), AAFES (Army & Air Force Exchange Service) and DODPWC - The Department of Defense Pet Welfare Commission - okay, I made that one up. I even made the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms a quick link on my internet hompage. However, now, I finally feel like I have a better grasp on the issues and, more importantly, the never ending list of acronyms and why they are important.
For example, I can tell you that HCFA is the the abbreviation for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and that SAC-D stands for the Senate Appropriations Committee - Defense; however, when it comes military acronyms, I am still learning the ropes. The various ranks, uniforms, pins and devices, associated with members of the armed forces, may still take some time to learn, but in the mean time, I can confidently tell you that RADM is the acronym for Rear Admiral and that he/she wears two stars on his/her shoulder board, and that VADM is the acronym for Vice Admiral and he/she wears three stars on his/her shoulder board.
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend Carol Pottenger's promotion ceremony to Vice Admiral at the Pentagon. An historic event, RADM Pottenger was nominated for promotion to VADM for assignment as deputy chief of staff for capability development, Supreme Allied Command Transformation - she became the fleet's fourth female three star. Surrounded by Ensigns (ENS), Captains (CAPT), Admirals (ADM), and other men and women in uniform, I continuously asked questions about uniform color, medal, ribbons and ranks, while simultaneously attempting to remember the answers I was being given (probably a time when access to "google" or another military insignia dictionary would have been helpful).
Hopefully I'll be an expert by the end of the summer, but I can't say I won't fall for another DODPWC.