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TIME DESIGNATIONS:
Historically, military planners have designated the day of a major operation as “D-DAY,” and the hour of the kickoff as “H-HOUR.” The schedule is then adjusted so that surrounding times and dates reflect their distance from D-DAY and H-HOUR.
Going back to the allied invasion of Normandy (0600 on June Six 1944), for instance: the fifth of June, 1944, was designated “D MINUS ONE.” The ninth of June, 1944, was “D PLUS THREE.” A quarter after midnight on D-DAY, (when Allied Airborne operations in force commenced behind Hitler's Atlantic Wall) was considered “H MINUS SIX.” At 1000 hours (or “10 a.m.” when Omaha Beach was finally secure) the Operation Overlord planners thought of it as “H PLUS FOUR.”
In this novel, all listed dates and times are similarly designated by their temporal relation to one specific operation. In fact, as some chapters occur years prior to said operation, their place in the timeline have been measured according to their distance from the “Y-YEAR,” going back as far as “Y-MINUS 20.”
ACROMYMS:
Some acronyms have periods in between the letters; some don't. This is not inconsistency or oversight. This is to distinguish between terms which are spoken like a normal word, and terms which are verbally spelled out in normal conversation.
For instance: “PDQ” is not separated by periods because it can't be made to sound like a normal word without adding vowels. However, “S.O.P” is always spelled out verbally, even though it has the vowel needed to be pronounced as a normal word: “sop.”
“ASAP” is usually spoken as if a normal word in conversation: “ay-sapp.” The letters are not separated by periods unless meant to be spelled out verbally.
More examples:
GPS
S.U.V.
SNAFU
C.I.A.
DHS
