Comedian Mollie Gross wants to know: What’s the deal with military acronymns?

“Why is it that you just can’t just say the whole thing?” she asks of her husband, Jon, a Marine reservist.

“What’s all this BAH, FRG TAD talk? If you don’t tell me what these things mean, I’m just going to make them up for myself, like BAH … Broke A** Homeowner, like PCS, is a Pretty Crappy Situation.”

“SOP? Jon says it’s Standard Operating Procedure,” she said, “but I say it’s the Same Old Problem ... MRE is a Most Rejected Entrée.”

Ann, the wife of a veteran with PTSD, wrote in the Oct. 19 Spouse Calls about the frustrations, the hope and the persistence required to persevere.

Another reader sent a similar e-mail to me the same week. She did not ask for advice, only to be heard.

The subject line said simply "I just wanted to tell someone ..." Here is her story:

The embers from the homecoming bonfire are cooling, but it’s time for high school seniors to strike while the iron is hot for college scholarships.

For the Oct. 12 Spouse Calls, I talked to Patty Carden, the counselor for my son’s senior class at Ramstein High School here in Germany. She has also been an Army wife for 27 years. Her third child is about to graduate from high school, so I knew she would have good advice.

Election Day may be more than a month away, but for those of us living overseas, it is time to think about voting.

If you have registered, but have not received your ballot yet, it may be time for Plan B.

A nonprofit organization, the Overseas Voting Foundation, has created an online tool to help Americans overseas to register and receive their ballots. The foundation, seconded by the Department of Defense, recommends this tool for voters who have not received their ballots before the beginning of October.

Find the tool at: www.overseasvotefoundation.org

and read more about the foundation in this Stripes story by Geoff Ziezulewicz:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64647&archive=tru...