floggings will continue until morale improves (1988) firing (1977) no liberty (1966)
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Mon Dec 7 22:46:55 UTC 2009
_RFM_ was the spoken abbreviation for The Great Random-Fuck Machine in
The Sky, which saw to it that anything that you did, whether by chance
or by plan, would simply become a snafu, totally beyond your control.
(In fact, we didn't use "snafu." When something bad happened to
someone, it was called "getting / taking the meat" and "eating /
taking the green weenie," plus the usual terms brought in from Civvy
Street.
At graduation in December, 1960, Language School-grads received thirty
days of leave and enough money to fly first-class to the ports of
embarkation to their permanent duty stations. There were three
openings at the Security Agency station at Shimiya (sp?) in the
Aleutian Islands. The POE for this post is San Francisco. Since
Monterey is only "down the road a piece" from Frisco, there's a
commuter flight - 13 bucks in 1960.
The three GI's assigned to Shimiya all came from Boston, including two
Harvard grads. They were given $13.00 for the commuter flight and
thirty days of leave. Consequently, they had to fly from San Fran to
Boston to party over the The Holidays and then fly back to Frisco to
ship out, all at their own expense. Of course, in a class of more than
400, there were probably 25 guys who lived in California and maybe as
many as ten who lived in San Francisco.
So, how did it come about that the three guys picked for the Aleutians
just happened to be the three guys who would be most hurt by being
sent there - the Security Agency equivalent of Alcatraz, except with a
dozen feet of snow and temperatures of 60 below zero? Like, anybody
who was assigned to the Aleutians would already be taking the meat
simply by being assigned there in the first place. Why pile it on by
picking people from the East Coast?? Were they in the bottom of the
class? Well-known fuck-ups? Simply generally disliked by higher
headquarters?
Nothing at all like that. As far as anyone could tell, it was just
simple bad luck. The operation of the RFM at its best.
For comparison: At the time, I lived on L.A., but my port of
embarkation for West Germany was Fort Dix, NJ. So, I received $750.00
in travel pay. But, it wasn't necessary for me to travel by air. I got
a free ride to L.A. by car with other Angeleños. Partied back. Took
the 'Hound to Saint Louis. Partied back. Took the 'Hound to Fort Dix.
Hung around the barracks playing pinochle - the snow-bound Fort Dix
equivalent of partying. Flew from the local AFB to Rhein-Main AFB in
Frankfurt. Hit the local Strip-Tease bars, etc., still spending the
dregs of the $750.00.
An example of the "planned" operation of the RFM:. Everyone going to
Germany was sent a telegram (is that word still in use?) stating the
he would be flown there by the the Military Air-Transport Service.
However, anyone who, for whatever reason, arrived at Dix without this
telegram in his possession, was immediately re-assigned from the MATS
to the Military *Sea* Transport Service, meaning that, instead of a
relatively-relaxing, eight-hour flight above the weather, he was going
to endure a tense, seasickness-inducing trip of at least eight days
across the North Atlantic in January, in the hold of a troopship.
As it happens, unless you're *big* brass, all summer return voyages
are aboard troopships. Cruising the North Atlantic in *July* requires
the use of a trench coat over a field jacket, as the ship takes the
Great Circle route north of Scotland. I'd hate to ponder what it must
have been like in January.
-Wilson
On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 3:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: floggings will continue until morale improves (1988) firing
> (1977) no liberty (1966)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The "RFM"? Am familiar with Fickle Finger of Fate and Green Weenie only.
> Please advise.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 2:52 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: floggings will continue until morale improves (1988)
>> firing
>> (1977) no liberty (1966)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> These both remind me of the traditional claim that enlisted men who
>> aren't always complaining are exhibiting the signs of low morale. In
>> my day, we EM *were* always complaining, because the Army sucks, not
>> to mention the working of the Great Random Fuck-Machine in The Sky
>> (the RFM) that ensured that the Army would suck, even when it didn't
>> intend to.
>>
>> As a consequence, I have no idea whether our morale would have been
>> low, had the military been a swinging scene.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 9:27 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject: Re: floggings will continue until morale improves (1988)
>> firing
>> > (1977) no liberty (1966)
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >
>> > Voltaire famously expressed a related sentiment in _Candide_: "Dans ce
>> > pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager
>> les
>> > autres."
>> > "In this country [England], it's a good idea to execute an admiral from
>> time
>> > to time - to encourage the others."
>> >
>> > Voltaire was referring to the execution in 1757 of Adm. John Byng, not
>> for
>> > cowardice but for failing to disobey [sic] an order during the Battle =
> of
>> > Minorca. Though most of the nation sided with Byng, and even the House =
> of
>> > Commons recommended clemency, George II refused to commute the sentenc=
> e.
>> >
>> > IIRC, Gen. Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) uses Voltaire's phrase "to encoura=
> ge
>> > the others" in justifying the executions that are the climax
>> > of Kubrick's _Paths of Glory_ (1957).
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 1:58 AM, Garson O'Toole <
>> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>> >
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster: Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> >> Subject: floggings will continue until morale improves (1988)
>> firing
>> >> (1977) no liberty (1966)
>> >>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >>
>> >> Wikipedia has an entry for the mordant phrase "The beatings will
>> >> continue until morale improves".
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_beatings_will_continue_until_morale_impr=
> oves
>> >>
>> >> Searching for similar phrases I have found that the punishment varies.
>> >> Flogging, whipping, beating, and even hanging appear as variations in
>> >> the saying. Less physically severe sanctions include firing and no
>> >> liberty for naval personnel.
>> >>
>> >> Wikipedia presents an origin story involving the Japanese Imperial
>> >> Navy during World War II, but I have not found any evidence for it.
>> >> The oldest citations that I have found for three versions of the quote
>> >> are all relatively recent. Perhaps others can do better.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Citation: 1988 June 30, The Prescott Courier, page 1B, Prescott,
>> Arizona.
>> >>
>> >> "The floggings will continue until morale improves," said a sign
>> >> posted outside the Senate minority caucus room.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3DwKoOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3DIYEDAAAAIBAJ&p=
> g=3D4911,7453596&dq=3Dfloggings-will-continue&hl=3Den
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Citation: 1977, Quote Unquote by Lloyd Cory, page 214, Victor Books.
>> >> (Caveat: snippet view)
>> >>
>> >> (Sign in a boss' office): Firing will continue until morale improves.
>> >>
>> >> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DRf8C-KoKFTwC&q=3Dfiring#search_anch=
> or
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Citation: 1966, Dictionary of Military and Naval Quotations by Robert
>> >> Debs Heinl Jr., page 197, Naval Institute Press.
>> >>
>> >> There will be no liberty on board this ship until morale improves.
>> >> Excerpt from Plan of the Day,
>> >> USS * * *
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=3Dtg8xIiEfFL0C&q=3Dmorale+improves#v=3Ds=
> nippet&q=3Dmorale%20improves&f=3Dfalse
>> >>
>> >> Garson
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
>> > Platypus"
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> =96=96=96
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint t=
> o
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> =96Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> Platypus"
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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