Grant Ward: There are two ways we can do this.
Skye: Oh, is one of them the easy way?
Grant Ward: No.
Skye: Oh.
Maria Hill: What does S.H.I.E.L.D. Stand for, Agent Ward?
Grant Ward: Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
Maria Hill: And what does that mean to you?
Grant Ward: It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out "shield."
Chosen answer: Coulson believes he was resuscitated then sent to Tahiti to recuperate. "A magical place," he calls it. But in the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." episode "The Magical Place", Coulson, through a mind-reading machine, learns that he was treated by S.H.I.E.L.D. and a fake memory of Tahiti was placed as a "mask" of sorts over the painful memory of the operation, which involved a drug seemingly of alien origin to repair the damage, coupled with a lot of morally dubious surgery.