noncom = 'enlisted person'

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe just a flub:

1994 Jeffrey L. Ethell _Bomber Command_ (Minneapolis: MotorBooks) 78:
[Caption] Unfortunately the 340th Bomb Group enlisted men had to pitch
their tents in snow and ice behind the officers' chateau at Longuecourt.
Army life never seemed to be fair for noncoms, a fate most endured with
resignation.

Ethell was a well-known writer on aviation subjects, but Wacki doesn't say
he ever served in the military.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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