I had been working on the Atlas ICBM program for several years and on one launch we veterans happened to overhear two guidance engineers from the home office who were watching a newly launched Atlas. One said to the other it's about time for BECO, several minutes later the other guy said it's about time for SECO.
Several minutes later, the first guy looked at his watch, because by now, the launch vehicle was out of sight and he said to the other guy that it was time for VECO. We were totally confused by their use of acronyms but we didn't wish to display our ignorance.
Later we contacted the home office and they told us what the acronyms meant. BECO was Booster Engine Cut Off, SECO was Sustainer Engine Cut Off and VECO was Vernier Engine Cut Off. One of the guys contacted the company newspaper and asked them to include the latest acronyms so that the guys in the field would be in the loop.
They included the column and for several months the new acronyms kept popping out. One day they announced that a certain girl working in the product support department had been assigned to a new position. She was the Failure Analysis Report Tabulator.
You figure it out.
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The Cat
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 11 November 2000).]