3 Character Search Failure

[ripcurlksm]

Can anyone help me figure out why this MySQL query is not returning any results when a three-letter search or smaller is tried (ie- "red" or "cat")

This search is suppose to be a VERY BROAD keyword search if anyone can suggest an improvement I would appreciate it:
SELECT u.id
, u.username
, p.user_id
, p.report_id
, r.id
, r.company
, r.description
, r.market1
, r.market2
, r.market3
, r.market4
, r.market5
, r.market6
, r.location
, r.date_year
, r.date_month
, r.source
, r.video
, r.audio
, r.pp
, r.execsum
, r.report_url
, r.exec_url
FROM user as u
INNER
JOIN user_reports as p
ON p.user_id = u.username
INNER
JOIN emt_report as r
ON r.id = p.report_id
WHERE username = '$username' AND MATCH(r.company, r.description, r.market1, r.market2, r.market3, r.market4, r.market5, r.market6, r.source) AGAINST ('%$P_search*%' IN BOOLEAN MODE) ORDER BY date_year DESC, date_month DESC, company ASC

[mattyblah]

not that i have the slightest clue what I'm talking about, but what does the * do in %$P_search*%?