The Poo and Poop of Flight Briefings

Funny story told to me by a friend whose husband is also deployed with the same unit as my boyfriend.

Apparently he was at a flight briefing with another pilot. And the guy giving the briefing kept on saying something that sounded like "the poo." He didn't pay much attention to it until after the briefing, when the other pilot asked him if he noticed the guy kept on saying "the poo." He hadn't really.

So the next flight briefing, the lady giving the briefing once again said "the poo." And this time both guys start cracking up, because they are juvenile and can't help but think that she is saying "poo" the whole time. Finally, he had to ask what she meant by "the poo." To which she replied: Point Of Origin. So he asked: why don't you just say that?

I found this story extremely amusing, because it sort of reminds me of the story Emperor’s New Clothes. For those culturally ignorant among my readers (I am referring to my German readers, who sometimes don’t have a grasp on American culture…and the story I am referring to doesn’t have much notoriety here in Germany), this fairy tale is about an emperor who likes to dress up in pretty clothes. So one day some shysters come to his palace and say they are going to make him some gorgeous clothes out of the most beautiful fabric ever, fabric which is only visible to highly enlightened people. There really is no fabric and no clothes, but everyone pretends to see the clothes being made, because they want to be considered enlightened. And one day the king goes out to parade his new outfit, and a little child, oblivious to the whole story about the clothes only being visible to enlightened people yells out: “Hey, the emperor is nekkid!” And everyone laughs, because it’s the truth.

And that is what I think about some military acronyms. I mean, just because it is a military acronym meaning Point of Origin, like the emperor standing nekkid in the middle of the road, you are still standing in front of a group of soldiers saying “poo.”

Apparently, they are now trying to figure out a definition for the acronym POOP, and are going to try to bring it into briefings. Here are a few suggestions: Principals of Operation, Pre-Owned Office Products…or my personal favorite: People Order Our Patties (Sponge Bob Square Pants.)