#stephen patterson

[thalkonvotes]

Stephen Michael Patterson

Party: Democrate

From: Inkster, MI

Candidacy Info:

Statement of Candidacy Filed: 1/6/25

Current Candidacy Statement Amendment Filed: N/A

Identification Number: P80007115

Running Mate: TBD (announced closer to election)

Political Committee:

Name: Patterson 2028 (FEC ID #: C)

Email:

Website:

Policies: TBA

Social Media:

Announcement Video

[sinceileftyoublog]

Hamilton Leithauser Live Show Review: 3/1, Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago

Hamilton Leithauser

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On recent tour dates surrounding upcoming album This Side of the Island (Glassnote), Hamilton Leithauser has gotten the chance to expose his tendencies as a troubadour. He's the type of songwriter whose process isn't linear or chronological, who takes his time making records, storing past episodes and characters in his memory bank and notes app until they, for whatever reason, surface once again. 2020's The Loves of Your Life consisted of 11 songs each inspired by a specific individual. Conversely, based on the tracks released so far from This Side of the Island, it appears that there's less of a 1:1 relationship between subject and song. Rather, the folks that exist within the songs, whether real or fictional, feel familiar because they're at varying degrees of mid-life reflection and desperation, trying to survive in a country that's crumbling.

From left to right: Matt Oliver, Leithauser, Stephen Patterson, Greg Roberts

On Saturday at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Leithauser immediately revealed just how long This Side of the Island has been in the cards. Introducing album opener "Fist of Flowers", he said, "I recorded this piano when Obama was president...I was still optimistic." The statement carried more weight than a tossed-off quip. In Leithauser's songs, which he contextualized for the crowd, and in life these days, the political climate is always in the back of heads, informing how we interact with friends and strangers. You can picture the stoned lover from "Knockin' Heart" and the incorrigible woman on her 6th husband from "Off the Beach" bonding at a dive bar over their "live in the moment" attitude, less outwardly bothered by impending nuclear doom than are the meditative narrators of "This Side of the Island" or "What Do I Think?"

Oliver, Leithauser, & Patterson

Where does Leithauser land? It's a mix of these people. The teenage version of "Happy Lights", pulled over for drunk driving outside his father's house in D.C., gets off easy because the city had bigger problems. The 40-year-old counting his lucky stars, on "Ocean Roar", celebrating his birthday, is thinking about the late, great Richard Swift. Like The Loves of Your Life, This Side of the Island is somewhat of a family affair, co-produced with not just The National's Aaron Dessner but Leithauser's wife, Anna Stumpf, who previously contributed backing vocals to Loves. In his stage banter, Leithauser was honest about the location-based circumstances encompassing songs' histories and the warts-and-all looks inside him. What he was thinking and feeling, how wasted he was, it's all important. Because when he encounters the person having a rougher go of it than he is--even if his "rough go" is mere boredom or a few too many beers--his empathy shines. If it wasn't for the routine task of taking his daughters to the park in Long Island, Leithauser wouldn't have written "The Stars of Tomorrow", a Loves of Your Life standout about a Polish immigrant who approached him on a bench and spilled her guts. She claimed to be leaving her Mexican billionaire husband that night in a car whose make and model she misidentified. ("She kept saying, 'I'm taking this Ford;' I didn't have the heart to tell her, 'That's a Chevy," said Leithauser.) The woman kissed Leithauser and his daughters on both cheeks and, right then and there, gifted them a jar of pickled beets. He never saw the woman again. It's a story so maddening it has to be true.

Leithauser

The tricky situations Leithauser's characters find themselves in was perfect fodder for The Walkmen's ramshackle sound. On Saturday, he and his band (guitarist Matt Oliver, bassist Greg Roberts, drummer Stephen Patterson) returned to that aesthetic. Leithauser's wailing sneer and pedal-affected rhythm guitar and Oliver's fast picking showcased musicians giving max effort to squeeze every last bit of clanging echo from their instruments. Patterson's propulsive beat imbued "Knockin' Heart" with appropriate post-punk tenacity. Even the buttoned-up crooner jams of I Had a Dream That You Were Mine, Leithauser and multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij's collaborative 2016 album, slightly came apart at the seams. In fact, it was that record's "The Bride's Dad" that seemed most at home alongside Leithauser's newest material, in a post-Manning Fireworks 2025. Another true story, the song stems from Leithauser's experience at a wedding, witnessing an inebriated man giving a toast that included verses from traditional Scottish/Irish folk tune "Wild Mountain Thyme", only to be escorted out once done. As it turns out, the man was, indeed, the father of the bride, uninvited, but to Leithauser, a lovable loser. Leithauser wrote the song from the father's point of view. When, performing it, he sang the words, "For years and year I disappeared / Tonight I'm here and I'm giving my best," it may have been a raw, show-stopping moment from one of indie rock's unmistakable belters. But the persona of the bride's dad endures in any of us who have ever felt regret, who have conquered the unflinching urge to let it go, despite our better judgement.

Leithauser, Patterson, & Roberts

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Hello resident animorphs expert! I'm terribly curious: do you have physical copies of all of the books, some favorites, none? I have all my favorites, but every time I'm in a used book store I wonder if I should clear out every copy just to have them all.

Answered here!

If it's within your budget, I say go ahead and get copies. Used bookstores often have to recycle books that don't sell to make room for ones that do, so buying them is preserving them. And not having to go through Rainforest-Destroying eCommerce Monopoly to do so is a huge bonus — I finished my collection with Ebay and Bookshop.Org, but neither place has everything.

[dinosaurwithablog]

Season 1, episode 1, Flowers on her Grave, we see the first of Castle's famous poker games with his very famous author friends

I love how they help to solve cases at these games by talking about how they would write the story. Castle employs this technique throughout the show with his buddies and on his own.

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

[witchblade]

truly some of the worst examples you could have cited

[preblesboys]

Since it’s taking me like 10 million years to draw Preble’s Boys as animals, here’s the list that I’ll eventually get to.

The Man himself Edward Preble: Polar bear Isaac Hull: Otter (originally Winnie the Pooh for cuddly reasons) Jacob Jones: Barn owl (he gives me the Owl from Winnie the Pooh vibes; intelligent and friendly but dude is literally in his own world) Stephen Decatur: American Water Spaniel (the goodest boi in the whole damn American Navy!) William Bainbridge: Persian cat (pathetic wet cat syndrome) James Lawrence: Sacrificial lamb from the Chesapeake lmao! Isaac Chauncey: Beaver (He’s a builder) David Porter: Wolverine (bro just wants to fight somebody!) William Burrows: Porcupine (he’s a bit touchy….) Lewis Warrington: Mr. Peacock Man James Biddle: Mink (don’t touch his mink fur coat people!) Charles Stewart: Fennce fox (I thought he was a redhead this whole time but guess not? Also he’s a bit sly) Thomas Macdonough: Northern Cardinal (absolutely for religious reasons) Daniel Todd Patterson: Chipmunk (adorable and resourceful)

Major side characters under cut

John Rodgers: Wild cat (Edward Preble’s rival)

James Barron: White tailed deer (Stephen Decatur’s complicated Virginian acquaintance. Look up the scientific name)

Oliver Hazard Perry: Osprey (let’s face it, a cool bird of prey)

Samuel Evans: Fruit bat (don’t believe them when they say Evans was bat shit crazy)

Johnston Blakeley: Magpie (I originally thought he was a “Preble’s Boy” but found out he never served with Preble but with Rodgers.)

William M. Crane: You guessed it (Lewis Warrington’s mildly annoying brother in law. A Preble’s Boy but for a crane symbolizing good fortune, bro has the opposite of that.)

Washington Irving: Coyote (David Porter’s smart ass bestie)

Charles Morris: Iguana (not a cold blooded reptile; just observant and no nonsense)

Richard Somers: Poodle (there was puppy love once upon a time)

John and Robert Henley: Eagles solely for “The Eagles” joke (Don Henley) “Preble’s Boys” and Martha Washington’s nephews. *I’m convinced they knew Lewis Warrington since all three grew up in Williamsburg VA. HC all three attended William and Mary together but the brothers aren’t exactly friends with Warrington; more like coldly polite. Lewis Warrington had somewhat of a rough time growing up since his mother wasn’t married when she had him and the townspeople looked down on her even before him.*

[dianessunflower]

Carrie Preston promoting Elsbeth (CBS) premiering 29 February 2024

[bookhouseboy1980-blog]

The Company of Wolves (1984) (Review)

Sub to my channel for more: https://www.youtube.com/@borednow5838/videos

@horrorfixxx @thecompanyofwolves

[skywastherobot]

After reviewing the first three HARRY POTTER movies, Sam and Natalia watch and react to THE GOBLET OF FIRE.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his fourth year with Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After Harry is chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, he joins forces with Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) to investigate a dark conspiracy at Hogwarts.

Topics of conversation include our Homer and Marge impressions, Dumbledore screaming “Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?!”, tonal shifts, CITIZEN KANE, normies, Mike Newell, Rita Skeeter, little elf boys, bad CGI, David Tennant, the ending, PRINCE OF PERSIA, Neville replacing Dobby, SPEW (the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare), Natalia’s defence of the controversial elf subplot, “My boy!”, Voldemort’s return, THE CURSED CHILD, the new HUNGER GAMES book, and Natalia breaking up with Sam over his objectively correct HARRY POTTER opinions.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and ⁠⁠⁠find us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠⁠⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS⁠⁠⁠ with your comments included as part of the review.

[rwpohl]

the story of temple drake, stephen roberts 1933

[thrillerthoughtsbookblog]

Welcome bookish friends! Bekah here! I’ve been an avid reader since I could put letters together and dive into an entirely different world. My passion for reading and mysteries began way back when Hank the Cowdog was set in front of me at age 6. Since then I’ve graduated to Agatha Christie, Frieda McFadden, James Patterson, Mary Kubica, and Stephen King (just to name a few of my favorites).

Join me as we dive into a world of suspense, intrigue, and heart-pounding twists as I check off my TBR list and review my favorite thrillers and mysteries (and least favs)! From psychological thrillers to action-packed adventures, I’ll be reviewing it all. Get ready to unravel mysteries, uncover secrets, and discover your next favorite thriller!

If you’d like to check out my book blog, click the link below!

[clivechip]

Friday Funnies 6

It’s been a couple of months since my last post in my occasional Friday Funnies series, so it feels about time for a few more clips to amuse you ahead of the weekend. There is no particular theme to these: they are just a random selection of things which I’ve seen on YouTube and which have made me laugh. Let’s face it, we all need something to laugh about these days, don’t we! This might look a…

[preblesboys]

[dykesbites]

i was at the library browsing shelves recently and it made me think about judging books by their covers so!

(these are just examples i got from quick searches online, not representative of the quality of the books content)

[askarsjustsoswedish]

GENERATION KILL - MILITARY TERMINOLOGY AND SLANG USED IN THE MINISERIES (Part 1, A-M)

// I've been reorganising my files I thought this may be useful for some GenKill fans. //

All rights HBO

For Immediate Release                                                          June 25, 2008

.50 Caliber:  the standard heavy, vehicle-mounted machine gun used by U.S. forces since World War Two; aka “Fifty cal,” “the Fifty,” “M-2” and “Ma Deuce.”

5.56 Machine Gun Rounds:  the diameter of bullets in millimeters used by US forces in all rifles and light machine guns; aka “NATO rounds.”  Distinguished from Iraq’s Soviet standard military, which uses 7.62mm rounds in their weapons.

507 Maintenance:  U.S. Army unit that took a wrong turn into Nasariyah and was ambushed.  Note: This is best known as the unit to which Jessica Lynch belonged, though the platoon will not learn of Lynch by name, or her status as the most famous U.S. prisoner of war, until Part 3.

Alpha Company:  Bravo’s sister company in First Recon Battalion, commanded by the highly popular and respected Captain Patterson, the polar opposite of Bravo’s commander “Encino Man.”

America’s Shock Troops:  a catchphrase invoking Donald Rumsfeld’s plans of a lean, stripped-down invasion force modeled after German forces of WWII.  This is a deliberate reference to the German Shock Troops, the SS, used to spearhead blitzkriegs across France and Poland.  Ferrando takes pride in knowing his battalion will be the premiere shock-troop unit of the entire Marine Corps.

Amtrac:  a loud, ungainly amphibious vehicle used to transport Marines on the ground in Iraq; also used as a mobile fighting platform.

A-O (Area of Operations):  an A-O can be as large as all of Iraq or as small as the area around a Marines encampment.

Ass:  Marine slang for any weapon system or unit that packs a lot of fire power.  “We’re rolling with a lot of ass today” means “We will be accompanied by tanks or attack helicopters today.”

Assassin:  radio call sign for First Recon’s Alpha Company.  “Assassin Actual” is Alpha’s Company Commander, Captain Patterson.

Assault Through:  primary Marine tactic when encountering a close ambush, linked to the mantra drilled into every Marine since day one of boot camp when every Marine must repeat, “I am a Marine, and every Marine is a rifleman and a rifleman’s duty is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire...”  This is, in a nutshell, the doctrine of the entire U.S. Marine Corps.

AT4 Rocket:  the ubiquitous anti-tank rocket carried by Marine ground forces.  Fired from a self-contained plastic tube about a meter long and weighing just a few kilos, it can destroy a heavy tank.  During the Iraq invasion most AT4s are fired into Iraqi homes to clear out potential enemy forces.

Atropine injector:  atropine is a chemical that counteracts certain nerve agents.  Atropine injectors are issued to troops who expect to be preparing or receiving chemical attacks, and in this instance, Iraqis.

Attriting:  to wear down; verb version of “attrition,” peculiar to the military.

B.R.C. (Basic Reconnaissance Course):  the school a Marine must attend and graduate from to become a Recon Marine; the most sought-after training course in the Corps.  Only about one percent of all Marines qualify to enter B.R.C. and half of those who enter fail to complete it.

Battalion Commander:  Lt. Colonel Stephen Ferrando, commander of the 370-man strong First Recon Battalion, call sign “Godfather.”

Beanies:  black-knitted watch caps typically worn by sailors.  A powerful status symbol; only Recon Marines are allowed to wear them within the First Division.

Belt-fed:  excited; refers to linked rounds fed through a machine gun.  Can also be used an intensifier, as in, “That guy is a belt-fed son of a bitch,” i.e., a real son of a bitch.

Blouse his boots:  to tuck pants-legs into the tops of one’s boots and keep them in place by wrapping a metal spring around the fabric just below the boot-top; part of Ferrando’s hated Grooming Standard.  Not only are the springs used in the boot blousing uncomfortable, blousing one’s boot ensures that all the ambient sand will pour directly into the wearer’s boot.

Blue Force Tracking Antenna:  an antenna for the Blue Force Tracker, a new computerized mapping system that – when it occasionally works properly – identifies the locations of all “blue,” or friendly, forces and the locations of all known “red,” or enemy. forces.  Locations of such forces across the entire Middle East are updated every 30 seconds.  Sgt. Colbert possesses one of only a handful Blue Force Trackers in the entire battalion.

Boonie Cap:  a standard issue floppy field hat, like a camouflaged version of the hat worn by Gilligan on “Gilligan’s Island”;  aka soft cover.

Bound past:  “bounding” is a specific form of maneuver favored by the Marine Corps, employed by two-man fire teams or the entire division.

Buck Fever:  too quick to identify threats; a hunting term that comes from the expression to “put buck’s horns on a doe,” i.e., seeing a valid target when there is none.

Butterfly Trigger:  a safety trigger that requires two thumbs to actuate.

C.G. (Commanding General):  always means General Mattis, Commanding General of the First Marine Division, when these Marines use the phrase.

C.O. (Commanding Officer):  usually applied to the Battalion Commander (Maj. or Lt. Col.), or less frequently the Company Commander (Capt.), but never to a Platoon Commander (Lieut.).

C.O.I., freqs covered, freqs plain:  Encryption lingo necessary to operate radios.

“Captain America”:  derisive nickname for Capt. Dave McGraw, commander of Bravo’s Third Platoon, sister platoon to the heroes in Second Platoon.  Note:  Although Captain America is a rank above Lt. Fick, as commanders of respective sister platoons they are peers with one another.

Cas-evac:  casualty evacuation; similar to the older phrase med-evac.  Cas-evac technically means an evacuation in a combat zone of a patient who has not yet been stabilized, but it’s become the cool way to say any form of medical evacuation.

“Casey Kasem”:  a mocking nickname applied to Gunnery Sgt. Ray Griego, Encino Man’s aide de camp, based on the smarmy host of the Top 40 radio show and the voice of Shaggy in the original “Scooby Doo!” cartoon series.

Charms:  brand name of a hard candy provided to U.S. troops in the meal rations, but seldom consumed due to the belief that they produce bad luck.

Cleared hot:  given permission to fire your weapon by a superior.

Cobra Gunship:  armored helicopter used only by U.S. Marines,  unique because Cobras work in extremely close proximity to Marine ground forces.

Col. Joe Dowdy:  Commander of Regimental Combat Team One, popular among his troops for his reputation of caring about their welfare.  Later relieved of his command by General Mattis for not being aggressive enough and risking his troops to achieve battlefield goals.

Command Vehicle:  Lt. Fick’s Humvee, configured like a pick-up truck with a canvas covering.

Completely outside of what First Recon does:  this battalion is trained to swim or parachute behind enemy lines, not to drive into attacks in Humvees.  Their motto is “Swift Silent Deadly.”

Condition One:  a verb that means to put one’s weapon on red con one; rack a round into your chamber.

Contact:  a visual or physical encounter with enemy forces, said when you either see them or they start shooting at you.

Cyclone:  fierce swirls of dust common to Iraq, which dance across landscape and in some cases will collide with a person, tent or vehicle.  They range in height from a few meters to several hundred meters; aka dust devils.

D.C.U. (Desert Camouflage Uniform):  any field garment with desert camouflage.

DASC and DASC-A:  Direct Air Support Communications headquarters, with one based on the ground and one based in an AWACs plane.

Deck:  keeping with their nautical tradition, anything Marines stand on is the deck, be it on a ship, the desert or the floor of a tent.

Delta Company:  a company of reservist Recon Marines expected to be attached to First Recon Battalion.  Delta will prove to be a bunch of under-trained, overzealous, poorly equipped cops-on-leave and office guys who know nothing about war.

Deuce Gear:  a web of straps and hooks worn as an outer garment, to which one affixes extra gear such as ammo packs and canteens; aka Load Bearing Vest or L.B.V.

Devil Dog:  a Marine.

Dip:  smokeless tobacco used by American fighting forces; a dip is a quantity of tobacco placed between one’s lips and gums.  To dip is the habit of consuming smokeless tobacco.

Donkey Dicks:  venerable Marine Corps term for a variety of phallic-shaped implements from engine hoses, to gas can funnels, to cleaning brushes for large mortar tubes.

“Echo Four Lima”:  refers to Corporal Lilley, whose pay-grade is “E-4” and whose last name begins with “L.”  In radio code phonetics, he becomes “Echo Four Lima.”  Sergeant Colbert, whose pay grade is “E-5,” would become “Echo Five Charlie” over the radio.

“Encino Man”:  Captain Craig Schwetje, Commander of Bravo Company, Lt. Fick’s immediate superior officer; the nickname is a reference to the dim-witted Neanderthal hero of the film “Encino Man.”  This Encino Man is a former football star, none too bright, with an ape-like face:  he is also referred to in phonetic alphabet code, in which “Encino Man” is changed to “Echo Mike.”

Enlisted Tent: Area where privates through to sergeants sleep.  The senior non-commissioned officers such as Staff Sergeants, Gunnery Sergeants, Master Sergeants and the Sergeant Major are technically of the enlisted ranks, and occupy an elite position somewhere between sergeants and officers.

Ephedra:  over-the-counter diet pills, now banned by Marines as a speed-like stimulant.

E-tool:  a collapsible shovel carried by all Marines; short for “Excavation-tool.”

F.O.:  Forward Observer; anyone spotting targets for Iraqi or insurgent forces.

Fedayeen:  a Baathist paramilitary unit trained in guerrilla tactics and established by Saddam Hussein’s son in the 1990s to infiltrate and terrorize the Shia populace, but in the current conflict, arrayed against the American invasion, they are also referred to generically as “insurgents.”

Fiddies:  fifties, i.e., .50 cal. machine guns; former ghetto car repo man Espera uses the gangsta counting system in which “fiddie” equals 50, a “buck” or a “hundo” equals a hundred, a “deuce” equals either two or two-hundred, a “grand” equals a thousand, etc.

Flak jacket:  a heavy yet flexible shrapnel-resistant vest.

Foot-mobile:  a person on foot.

Forty Mike-Mike:  40 millimeter; refers to either an individual 40mm self-propelled grenade round or the weapon that launches them, such as the M-19.

Foshizzle…Hajizzle:  a goof on Snoop Dogg’s hip-hop lingo to mean “for sure” and “Haji.”

Free-balling:  not wearing underpants.

Fucking Sixta:  Sgt. Maj. John Sixta, Sergeant Major for this battalion;  aka “The Fucking Retard,” “Mister Potato Head,” “The Coward of Khafji.”  His role and actions both dictate that he is despised by enlisted men.

Get some:  to “get some” means to do any thing really cool like run a fast mile or kill someone.  [Mo here: I’ve removed one extremely graphic sentence here, which basically says that the term can also apply to sexual conquest.] [O]ften used as an exclamation or cheer.  Latino Marines use the Spanish “Chingaso” and whites have adopted it, so “Get some!” and “Chingaso!” are interchangeable.

Godfather:  call sign of Lt. Col. Ferrando, as well as his battalion.  Ferrando earned the call sign because his vocal chords were removed after a bout with cancer, causing him to speak like Marlon Brando in the noted film.  Note:  Godfather often speaks of himself in the third person:  instead of saying, “I think…,” he will say, “Godfather thinks…”

Grape Beverage Base:  grape juice powder; the name printed on the packaging in the military rations.  Used by Marines rather than the more familiar civilian term.

The Grooming Standard:  not to be confused with Marine Corps standard grooming regulations, the Grooming Standard is Battalion Commander Ferrando’s much more exacting dress and grooming code for those who serve under him.

 G-Shock Wristwatch:  the popular xtreme sports watch, as essential to Marine fashion as Oakley sunglasses.

H & S Company:  the Headquarters and Supply company.  More than half the 370 men in the battalion belong to H & S, responsible for supporting the “line companies” or combat units, made up of Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Companies.

Habudabi:  a nickname for Arabs.

Haji:   an Iraqi or Arab or Muslim of any ethnicity, from the Arabic “Haji,” which is the honorific term for anyone who has made the trip to Mecca, the Haj.  Most Americans who use the term Haji are probably not referring to that pilgrimage, but to the once-popular children’s cartoon show “Johnny Quest,” in which the white boy hero’s turban-wearing sidekick was named Haji.  Not necessarily a pejorative term, Haji may be used as an adjective to describe anything Middle Eastern, e.g., Iraq’s customary flat bread is referred to as “Haji bread” or “Haji tortillas.”

Hardball:  paved road, as opposed to unpaved.

Herringbone:  to halt a convoy of vehicles at a 45-degree angle to the axis of a highway, much like the pattern of fishbones.  Herringbone can be used as a noun or verb.

Hitman Two:  “Hitman” is the radio call sign for Bravo Company and “Two” refers to second platoon, one of three platoons in the company.  “Hitman” can refer to the actual company commander of Bravo or the company itself.  All units have call-signs, rather like official nicknames, which are used in radio communications.  For example, General Mattis, commander of all Marine ground forces in Iraq, is “Chaos.”

Hitman Two One Actual:  Bravo Company’s Second Platoon Team One Leader, Sergeant Colbert.  While “Hitman Two One” refers to the entire team, “Actual” means the actual commander.  “Hitman Two” refers to all of Bravo Second Platoon, but “Hitman Two Actual” is the platoon commander, Lt. Fick.  In addition, “The Actual,” or commander, is also referred to as “The Zero.”

“I glassed it:”  “I viewed the object through binoculars or a rifle scope.”

“I got your six”:  “I’ve got your back”; from the clock point in which the hour of six is at the bottom of the dial, if you were oriented toward the 12 hour.  “On your three” would indicate something or someone on your immediate right.  “On your four” would indicate something or something on your right and slightly behind you.

I.A. (Immediate Action):  whatever you train to do when the shit hits the fan.

Javelin Team:  two Marines who carry and operate a powerful anti-tank missile called a “Javelin.”

K-bar:  a knife carried by Marines.

Kevlar:  a helmet; while civilians know Kevlar as the brand-name of a bullet resistant material, Marines refer to their Kevlar helmets simply as Kevlars.  Note:  Even though flak jackets are also made of Kevlar, they are never referred to as such.

Kill Zone, Kill Box:  the area where the enemy hopes to direct, channel and trap you in order to kill you, or where you hope to do the same to him.

L.A.V.’s (Light Armored Vehicle):  used only by the Marine Corps;  amphibious, eight-wheeled machines that look like upside-down bathtubs painted black.

L.O.D. (Line of Departure):  the border between Kuwait and Iraq.

Leatherman:  the all-in-one pliers, screwdriver and knife tool carried by Marines.

The L.T.:  nickname for a Lieutenant.  Note:  A specific lieutenant or other commanding officer is often also referred to as “The Sir.”

M.R.E.:  Meal Ready to Eat; standard military fare, food manufactured a decade ago and served as a complete, self-heating meal in a plastic bag.

M.S.R. Eight:  Main Supply Route Eight; any paved road is typically referred to as an “M.S.R.”

M.S.R. Tampa:  Main Supply Route Tampa.  Not only are roads designated M.S.R.s,  but American military planners have also given them names that will be easier for U.S. troops to pronounce than Arabic ones.

M-19:  a heavy, vehicle-mounted machine gun that fires armor-penetrating grenades instead of bullets; AKA MK-19, Mark-19, and Forty Mike-Mike.

M-249 SAW:  hand-held or bipod-mountable machine gun common to U.S. forces.  “SAW” stands for Squad Automatic Weapon and fires at a rate of 750 rounds per minute.  Notoriously easy to discharge by accident, hence Marine folklore:  “The SAW’s got a mind of its own, it wants to kill a motherfucker.”

M-4:  rifle carried by most recon Marines; similar to the standard U.S.-military M-16, but with a shortened barrel and collapsible stock.  Note:  Officers and POGs carry M-16s.  (2-3)

M-40:  standard, bolt action Marine sniper rifle.

Mathilda:  Northern Kuwait camp where these Marines stayed, with about 5,000 others, in the weeks before the invasion.

MOPP:  a nuclear, biological chemical protection suit; stands for Mission Oriented Protective Posture.  Can be an adjective, as in “we were MOPPED-up,” or “wearing our MOPP suits.”

Moto:  from motivational, anything that expresses the highly-motivated spirit of Marines.  Shouting “Get Some!” is a moto thing to do.  Moto films are the small movies and slide shows Marines make documenting the crazy things they see in this war.

Mud:  the white supremacist term for a non-white individual.