Some jargon of the old Army Security Agency/Berlin, 1957-1962

[Wilson Gray]

With the coming of the internet (does anyone else recall the days when
"the internet" was like unto obsolescent "the [planet] earth," no
upper-case?), there have appeared a bunch of "alumni sites" having to
do with various military units from all over the world. The site of
the 2nd Green Jackets of the King's Royal Rifles, a unit of the
British Army, is an especially impressive example of this genre.

http://goo.gl/0eOKw

[Slightly edited. The author apparently was never stationed outside of Berlin]

           "A note about [jargon] - words used within the company [and
within the ASA as a whole]. Linguists [in the non-scholarly sense] who
had been trained at the Army Language School at the Presidio of
Monterey were referenced as ‘Monterey Marys’ (German Marys, Russian
Marys, and so forth), while technicians trained at Fort Devens were
called ‘Devens Dollies.’ Those involved with Morse code were also
called ‘diddley-boppers’ [or 'ditty-boppers].' Newcomers were ‘Newks’
or ‘Weeds’ (someone kept busy pulling weeds and painting unmovable
objects) and held that designation until assigned to a trick or until
another and newer person arrived. [There were no "weeds" in my day.
You were assigned to a trick and put to work - OJT - right away. At
the Language School, people were first weeds - in my case, we
*planted* iceplant, now designated an *invasive weed*! - and, when you
were assigned to a "class," you then became a newk.] A ‘Shirt’ was a
person in command and generally considered as an operations officer
[the "First Shirt" was the first sergeant]. The term ‘Tread’ or
‘Retread’ referred to someone who had ‘re-upped’. We were all called
‘Spooks’ by the MP's [and all other non-Agency personnel] because we
didn’t nominally exist at all. We were told to identify ourselves as
‘Brigade Clerks’ if asked. Most personnel wore the Signal Corps
insigne [in my day, the "Unassigned" insigne, the same one worn by
recruits in basic training]   ‘Gators’ (unit shoulder patch for the
6th Infantry Regiment included an alligator) called us ‘goddamn
civilians’ in disgust, and even officers called us ‘linguists and
technicians’ rather than soldiers. ‘MOS military occupation
specialty]’ referred to our training and type of work assignment. All
linguists and technicians were ‘RA [Regular Army]’, with three-year
enlistments (that changed [after] 1960, when a four-year enlistment
became mandatory for study at Monterey). The expression, ‘when the
balloon goes up’ mysteriously referenced the beginning of World War
III or a major crisis that would terminate our operations or our
asses] in Berlin. ‘Chicago’ was a game of chance played in bars using
a cup of dice that was turned over on the bar - the lowest score paid
for the next round of drinks. ‘Buzz-bang’ was a group drinking game
that involved quick sequence counting - skipping any multiples of the
numbers ‘3’ and ‘5’. ‘Asshole’ was a favorite pejorative, as was the
term ‘Regular Army’ (even though we were all RA) - we were ‘Spooks’
and nonconformists/malcontents in the extreme. ‘GI Strip’ referred to
bars frequented by [military personnel] and where ASA personnel often
[yeah, right] got into fights. Everyone knew ‘Dirty Marge’ who cruised
La Scala or moved about - her favorite expression was ‘The 280th
Sucks’.
Work units were called ‘tricks’ and were divided into groups A, B, C,
and D. Once assigned to a trick, few moved from one trick to another,
and personnel tended to socialize and travel in ‘packs’ with fellow
trick-members. A ‘Trick-Chief’ was the NCO [usually only an
"acting-jack," an Sp5 who "acted" as an NCOIC; he was permitted to
wear sergeant's chevrons, if he chose, but a true Mary would never
cooperate with "The Army" to that extent] in charge. The day was
divided into three shifts - ‘days’ (0800 hrs till 1600 hrs), ‘swings'
or eves’ (1600 hrs till 2400 hrs), ‘mids' or 'graveyards’ (2400 hrs
till 0800 hrs). By far, ‘mids’ were the most difficult and boring,
mainly because things were so quiet [and everybody was drunk; the EM
club was open till 1100 hrs] - but mids were also a time for horseplay
and nonsense - the belching game and endless discussions. Since there
were four tricks, three were always working while one was on break or
‘off.’ Tricks generally worked six days on and two or three days off –
always (although several respondents recall more complicated
schedules). The only way to avoid this schedule was during ‘Rest &
Relaxation (R&R) Leave’ (Berlin [and all of West Germany] was still
considered as occupied territory), otherwise understood as a vacation
away from the post and the only time one could leave Berlin. [In my
day, it was possible to leave Berlin at any time, as long as one's
trick-chief signed off on it. Nothing in the rest of this paragraph
was true in my day.] One respondent mentioned that personnel on tricks
were allowed one day of break per 40 days in exchange for worked
holidays. There was also an additional trick known as ‘long days’ or
‘late days’. This trick was primarily composed of linguists although
repair technicians also were included. This trick worked most often
from 1000 until the work was finished (whenever that might be) and a
six-day schedule with Sundays off. Trick schedules during Christmas
and New Years holidays were adjusted to twelve hours in length, so
that all tricks had one of these days free and longer break time."

[In my day, when the unit had the designation, 78th US ASA Special
Operations Unit. during periods of "heavy traffic," when, for all we
knew, the balloon may have been on the verge of going up, the tricks
were "frozen," so that, whatever trick you were working at that time,
you stayed on that trick with no change, working right through your
normal days off, so that, when the crisis was over, you'd still be
working without a break. Since you'd worked through your days off, it
was, of course, time for you to go *back* to work, despite the fact
that you hadn't been *off* from work. You'd merely change from the
shift that you'd been frozen to to the shift that you would ordinarily
have been on. Sometimes, the Random Fuck Machine would have you
working for thirty days straight, with no days off. Of course, if you
happened to be on days-off when the freeze hit, well, it was
party-time. The fourth trick was frozen *off-duty*, just as the other
three tricks were frozen *on-duty*. It goes without saying that there
was no overtime pay or compensatory days off.]
--
-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

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