Odds and Ends

 The big 'F' was the most prevalent expletive we used. It covered just about every circumstance with the proper adjunct phrase.

FIGMO- F*** I Got My Orders or F*** you I Got My Orders or F*** it, I Got My Orders-- The beginning of  attitude deterioration, accelerating when 100 dys remain and the attitude of SHORT begins...like; I'm Short ,I give a f***?


FUBAR-- F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition--  Anything defying  conventional wisdom and sense. To us  most things Military.

"SHORT!" --Heard as a bellowed expression of exuberance at any time of day or night, especially under the influence of drink taken.

SHORT was celebrated by an sexually explicit drawing divided into numbered tiles which were colored in daily from 100 to 1. Several versions circulated, which was before xerox. Some admin. guy somewhere must have kept a mimeograph machine busy!!!
This was posted in ones locker and displayed on the open door when the 'lucky' owner was in residence. SHORT! was a 100 day celebration of going Back to the World. And now all these years later most of us privately celebrate this time at Ubon as the most exciting of our lives. But we saw things differently then. Life before us was longer and we had no idea of the value of our experiences.  Now we really are getting 'Short' and hope to extract the sweetness from the past that we were then unaware of. A sort of distillation after the second pressing of the fruit.
A far cry from living in the past , rather a savoring of it!


SHORT was counted on a small wheel counter worn on a chain through the top shirt buttonhole. 99 days and the bag drag!!!!( leaving the country for 'the World')

Don't drink the last bit out of a bottle of  beer or soda in town.  This is where the insect bits and other detritus settled. I don't think their filtration standards were very high.

Don't drink the Thai Whiskey.  Chunky floaters and possible blindness.

Baht bugs swarmed around the flightline lights and felt like getting hit with a tennis serve. 3to4 inches long and were eaten by the nationals. I knew of guys paying there rent in town with beer cases of the things.  1 baht= 5 cents.

A condom can be used as a floating balloon if inflated with helium from the tank in the radar shop.