We can’t decide if this is an intialism or an acronym since we’ve never heard it aloud, but we can’t imagine how it could realistically be pronounced without sounding like someone is choking you. But whatever it is, it’s fricken ridiculous. If you find another acronym or initialism longer than this in the world of military bureaucracy, we’ll get you a Phase Zero t-shirt and hail you as a Master Defense Jargon Analyst and Technician.

The drought in America is historic, affecting more than 30 percent of the United States and 37 percent of the lower 48 states. My friend, John Fleck , who used to write about nukes at the Albuquerque Journal, is the doyen of all things water in the west, and when we met last year in New Mexico, he put the fear of God in me. “This is unknown territory for all of us,” the National Park Service said this weekend of Lake Mead. The government drought portal maintained by the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Energy, and Commerce is a scary destination. The States are seized by the problem; no sizable precipitation is forecast through July.