were safe and well, and explained how to find their ranch house. A few minutes later she brought the Doyles a road map and a Clearwater National Forest map. On the latter she pinpointed the ranch.
The flight to the ranch took only three minutes. Blanca spotted the Quonset-style barn that was opposite the Grays’ property. As they circled, they could see a woman armed with a rifle in a large fenced garden behind the house.
Ian thumbed the mic switch for his Icom transceiver and said delightedly, “There it is, Blanca! That’s
Eyeing the trees below, Ian judged that the breeze was light. They circled and sequentially touched down on the gravel county road, with Blanca taking one extra orbit. They taxied until Ian’s Laron was opposite the Grays’ lane and mailbox. As they shut down their engines, Blanca radioed, “I sure hope we’ll be welcome here.”
Ian touched his mic switch and responded, “I trust that we’ll be. We just have to live by faith.”
Glossary
?: Ham radio shorthand for “I’m going to repeat what I just said.”
10/22: A semiautomatic .22 rim fire rifle made by Ruger.
1911: See M1911.
73: Ham radio shorthand for “Bestregards.” Always used singularly. (Not “73s.”)
88: Ham radio shorthand for “Hugsand kisses.”
9/11: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which took three thousand American lives.
AAA: American Automobile Association.
ABT: Ham radio shorthand for“about.”
ACP: Automatic Colt pistol.
ACU: Army combat uniform. The U.S.Army’s “digital” pattern camouflage uniform that replaced the BDU.
AK: Avtomat Kalashnikov. The gas-operated weapons family invented by Mikhail Timofeyevitch Kalashnikov, a Red Army sergeant. AKs are known for their robustness and were made in huge numbers, so that they are ubiquitous in much of Asia and the Third World. The best of the Kalashnikov variants are the Valmets, which were made in Finland; the Galils, which were made in Israel; and the R4s, which are made in South Africa.
AK-47: The early-generation AK carbine with a milled receiver that shoots the intermediate 7.62 x 39mm cartridge. See also: AKM.
AK-74: The later-generation AK carbine that shoots the 5.45 x 39mm cartridge.
AKM: “Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy,” the later-generation 7.62 x 39 AK with a stamped receiver.
AM: Amplitude modulation.
AO: Area of operations.
AP: Armor-piercing.
APC: Armored personnel carrier.
AR: Automatic rifle. This is the generic term for semiauto variants of the Armalite family of rifles designed by Eugene Stoner (AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, etc.).
AR-7: The .22 LR semiautomatic survival rifle designed by Eugene Stoner. It weighs just two pounds.
AR-10: The 7.62mm NATO predecessor of the M16 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner. Early AR-10s (mainly Portuguese-,Sudanese-, and Cuban-contract, from the late 1950s and early 1960s) are not to be confused with the present-day semiauto only AR-10 rifles that are more closely interchangeable with parts from the smaller caliber AR-15.
AR-15: The semiauto civilian variants of the U.S. Army M16 rifle.
ASAP: As soon as possible.
ATF: See BATFE.
AUG: See Steyr AUG.
B&E: Breaking and entering.
Ballistic wampum: Ammunition stored for barter purposes. (Term coined by Colonel Jeff Cooper.)
BATFE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a U.S. federal government taxing agency.
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation.
BDU: Battle dress uniform. Also called “camouflage utilities” by the U.S. Marine Corps.
BK: Ham radio shorthand for “Break,” this means “Back to you,” with no need to use call signs.
Black rifle/black gun: Generic terms for a modern battle rifle, typically equipped with a black plastic stock and fore-end, giving these guns an “all-black” appearance. Functionally, however, they are little different from earlier semiauto designs.
BLM: Bureau of Land Management, a U.S. federal government agency that administers public lands.
BMG: Browning machine gun. Usually refers to .50 BMG, the U.S. military’s standard heavy machine-gun cartridge since the early twentieth century. This cartridge is now often used for long-range precision counter-sniper rifles.
BOQ: Bachelor officers quarters.
BP: Blood pressure.
BX: Base exchange.
C-4: Composition 4, a plastic explosive.
CAR-15: See M4.
CAS: Close air support.
CAT: Combat application tourniquet.
CB: Citizens band radio, a VHF broadcasting band. There is no license required for operation in the United States. Some desirable CB transceivers are capable of SSB operation. Originally twenty- three channels, the citizens band was later expanded to forty channels during the golden age of CB, in the 1970s.
CHU: Containerized housing unit. ACONEX retrofitted with a door, window, top vent, power cabling, and air-conditioning unit, as used by servicemen in Iraq. Spoken “Chew.”
CLP: Cleaner, lubricant, protectant. A mil-spec lubricant, sold under the trade name “Break Free CLP.”
CO2: Carbon dioxide.
COD: Collect on delivery; cash on delivery.
CONEX: Continental express, the ubiquitous twenty-, thirty-, and forty-foot-long steel cargo containers used in multiple transportation modes.
COPS: Committee of Public Safety.
CP: Command post.
CPY: Ham radio shorthand for “Copy.”
CRKT: Columbia River Knife & Tool.
CU: Ham radio shorthand for “See you (later).”
CUCV: Commercial utility cargo vehicle. The 1980s-vintage U.S. Army versions of diesel Chevy Blazers and pickups, sold off as surplus in the early 2000s.
DE: Ham radio shorthand for “from.” This is used between call signs.
