More Confessions of Research Addiction

Was in a forum for the Flames of War game, and a fellow was asking about a U.S. Army unit crest pin he had found. Well, that search led me to The Institute of Heraldry, the U.S. Army's official designer/assigner/databank of unit and uniform insignia. I didn't find the specific unit he was seeking (because he didn't have a graphic to work from), but the TIOH website is seductively browseable.

Some of the insignia I've seen there make me wonder what it would be like to serve in the units they iconize. "Acquisition Support"? "First Space Brigade"? "Expeditionary Contracting Command"? "Maneuver Center of Excellence"? "Industrial Operations Command"? "Technical Escort Unit"? If I had seen stuff like this when I was still in High School, it might have made me more curious about enlisting. Then again, I knew I wasn't soldier material fairly early on.

FP

Emergency Updata

The Bag Of Goodies I left at Aleks' place hadn't been touched when I went by Saturday, so I went to two places in the neighborhood he visited regularly. One place, they hadn't seen him and were worried. The staff at the other told me a rumor that he had been hospitalized, for causes they couldn't specify. I went to the two biggest hospitals on that side of town--Parkwest and Baptist Turkey Creek--and neither would admit that he was there. I'm going to call more hospitals when I get done here.

PS: Found out he's in Critical Care at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. It's too late today to go visit him so I'll try tomorrow. No more facts are available yet.