"little joe from kokomo" and "african billiards"

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 15, 2005, at 1:36 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "little joe from kokomo" and "african billiards"
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>> (Probably this has
>> never occurred to any of you civilians, but, strictly speaking, any
>> civilian outranks the highest-ranking officer in the military.)
>
> OTOH, somewhere I read something (humorous) to the effect that some
> Army
> lifers consider "civilian" to be the only rank below "private". I
> suppose
> this is logical given that conventional career steps such as Private
> -->
> PFC --> Corporal are preceded by Civilian --> Private.
>
> -- Doug Wilson, Civilian E-zero
>

In my original unit at Fort Leonard Wood, the quartermaster-sergeant, a
lifer, used to say "I hate civilians!" almost as a mantra. He probably
had in mind the fact that civilians are basically free to do as they
will, since they don't live under military discipline, with a total
lack of privacy. In my day, even taking a dump had to be done in
public. OTOH, nothing on civvie street guarantees you "three good hots
and a decent cot and you don't even have to buy no clothes."

-Wilson Gray