"good to go"

[Wilson Gray]

On Nov 2, 2004, at 11:38 AM, Mullins, Bill wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: "good to go"
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>
>  Another military phrase -- this one is new to me:
>
> "day on stay on"
>
> "They have eaten MREs day on stay on."
> " I worked  day-on stay-on , which means that I was on call 24 hours a
> day"

If the example immediately above is a military usage, it's changed
slightly from my day, 1960 (no surprise there, I guess). I was on guard
duty when a Europe-wide alert was sounded. The entire post - Badnerhof
Kasern in Heilbronn - suited up, putting on, among other articles of
clothing, olive-drab "Mickey-Mouse" boots - and moved off to battle
stations. Except for those actively on guard duty (as opposed to those
in the guardhouse passively waiting their turn to *go* on guard duty).
That was "day-on-stay-on" duty: we stayed behind at our posts until the
alert was over, however long that was. Normally, guard duty was two
hours on and four hours off over a period of 24 hours.
That is, you weren't merely on call. Rather, "day-on-stay-on" meant
that, if you were actively carrying out a particular duty, then, under
certain circumstances, you were stuck with it for the duration, with no
possibility of relief.

-Wilson Gray

> "This type of assignment is day-on stay-on, meaning that the
> firefighters
> will work till the flames are out"
>
> Do a Google search for the exact phrase, and most of the initial
> responses
> are military related.
>