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How appropriate on the month after the Church of England announces with PRIDE the first transgender Archdeacon.
It underwent surgery in 2003 and was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 2005.
Thomas Beckett rolls over in his tomb at Canterbury Cathedral. Richard Hooker’s statue outside Exeter Cathedral shakes and cracks.
You’ve come a long way baby.
Can you say “Dame” anymore?
Jhon B-
“Dames” (1934)
Ray Enright / Busby Berkeley
https://archive.org/details/rec-20240119220648/Dames+(1934).mp4
(1:30:32)
I had to laugh at the guys showering when the gals run by.
My first tour, we set up our own showers in an old tent. Ran our own plumbing (we were engineers, after all), and used pallets for flooring. Very few showers on the FOB, at the time. Plenty of water, thankfully, so we had a lot of other units asking to use them.
It would get hot and steamy, so we rolled up bottom of the canvas side about half way for venting. and then we rotated through.
Felt great., after some of our days. Anyway, this night I got clean, dried, and dressed, and walked out just in time to see a line of females all waiting, positioning themselves to one side of the tent about 30 feet away. We dummies had rolled the side of the tent up enough that they got a really good view of all of us from the waist down. They had no idea who they were gawking at, but simply enjoyed the show.
One gave me a blushing shrugs and I moved on.
Fun times.
Sippin: great story.
Was this FOB like a MASH unit?
Sign of the times that a bunch of ladies were even up at a FOB.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is “FOB”?
FOB = Forward Operating Base
A FOB is a secure military installation, most likely a base used to help with tactical operations in an area.
These installations are temporary in nature and often supported by main operating bases (MOBs), which are permanent military installations that hold permanently deployed troops.
The best examples would be the various military bases set up throughout the many wars fought by American Forces in the Middle East over the last decades. Afghanistan forward operating bases were typically dusty camps in the middle of deserts and mountains used to help operations nearby.
The use of a FOB can vary. Some will have machine shops, communication stations, and supply caches. Others may have military hospitals or airfields, and there can be any number of combinations among these features.
I was Air Force.
We had co-ed barracks and shared the showers. Well at least on my floor. 25 men and 50 women shared 4 showers.
Good times, Good times
There ain’t nothin like Busby Berkeley neither.
Jhon B–
to answer your ponder– I don’t know if it’s “acceptable” to use Dame.
When I hear that term I tend to think mid-century B&W movies.
Trailer
“Father Goose” (1964)
https://youtu.be/T8rrJ8dbtjg
Young Dames….
Mr Z,
To expand a bit on Doubting Thomas’ comments, FOBs came is various shapes and sizes. No two were alike. Most were chosen for location with some previously existing facility (air strip or former military location). Some were big. some were gigantic. They were, for the most part, self sufficient, offering troops many services and support. The many folks who provided those services could spend their entire deployment there.
Some folks saw setting up FOBs as the same mistake the Soviets made in Afghanistan. So smaller COPs (Combat OutPosts) and PBs (Patrol Bases) were built. These smaller places were highly dependent on logistical support, usually only having ground access, and a small helipad. But they were also far more exposed. If you like to read war books, try RED PLATOON. I was fortunate to meet the author. It tells the story of a COP built in a less than suitable location.
As for the population of a FOB…
Those of us whose missions “outside the wire” were occasionally frustrated by the perspective of a few that had no need to do so. A derogatory term was quickly developed: FOBBITs, a portmanteau of FOB and Hobbits. Hobbits, of course, being well known for living in the Shire, under the hills.. A good Hobbit does not care about life outside the Shire, and certainly would never see a need to leave the Shire.
At first it only applied to a few with that attitude, but quickly spread to anyone that did not leave the wire. Some certainly earned the name Fobbit, in all of its connotation, but others only by association. There were good Fobbits and bad Fobbits. Good Fobbits understood the missions, and would do anything to help you. Their efforts were well appreciated, and word of their reputation was usually spread. This was the majority, to be fair. Others, a minority group, could not care less, were there to do their job, only their job, and wait their time out. There is an alliterative slur that was often applied as an adjective for this latter group of Fobbits.
Fobbits should not be confused with POGs (People Other than Grunts), an older but still popular term used by Infantry for anyone NOT Infantry. This is because those 11B guys (the MOS code for infantry) do not like anyone not 11B. B for Bravo. Also.. Bozo.
I am not 11B.
There is a lot more to this, and we are scratching the surface, hope that gives you an idea.
We called Fobbits, REMF’s in an earlier war. Rear Echelon Mothers’ Fellows. I guess the classic REMF today is someone who got credit for a wartime tour and wears a combat patch on his right shoulder, but never left the Green Zone. Bill Mauldin called ’em Garritrooopers – too far forward to wear ties, but too far to the rear to get shot. https://www.marlinowners.com/threads/aussie-hats.377082/#lg=thread-377082&slide=0
(The troop with corporal stripes and a T is a Technician Third Grade, paid as a corporal, but having no command authority and ranking as a private. NOT an NCO and apt to be put in his place, by real NCO’s if he started putting on airs)
Yes, you can call someone a dame. It is a British Commonwealth award for outstanding achievments that would result in the award of a knighthood to a man. Example, Dame Agatha Christie viz Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The wife of Sir John Jones would become Lady Jones, but the husband of Dame Susan Smith would remain Mister Smith, not becoming Sir Stephen Smith. How sexist!
My father is Old Army, so very familiar with REMFs.
We never shared the really interesting stories until after I had come back from my first tour.