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The OED defines it as ‘a man or woman who follows or hangs on to a camp or army, without being in military service.’ Camp followers are thus not necessarily prostitutes, but this citation form 1876 suggests they might be: Those unfortunates who are known under the euphemistic appellation of ‘camp followers’. However, as FumbleFingers has shown, the term ...

Blackguard rating is not an official term; rather, Nightingale is describing her encounter with Barry as the most scurrilous scolding she had received in her life. Etymonline has blackguard, a somewhat dated term, originating 1530s, scullion, kitchen knave. Perhaps once an actual military or guard unit; more likely originally a mock-military reference ...

I was in the military, but not Viet-Nam era. From my own judgment, I don't think it has anything to do with odometers. I think it's a dark humor reference. When sighting in an M-16, the sights are adjusted in clicks. Looking downrange at a calibrated 100 yard target, one click moves the projectile/impact one inch across the face of the target. ...

From The First Saint Omnibus: An Anthology of Saintly Adventures (1939), page 269: But the Duchess starts bimbling And wambling and wimbling And threatens to wallop his ducal behind; Such a lovely phrase.

A rating is a “sharp scolding or rebuke.” A blackguard /ˈblæɡɚd/ is a scoundrel, especially one who uses foul language. (There's even a verb form of blackguard meaning “to ridicule or denounce with abusive language.”) A blackguard rating is therefore an extremely abusive and probably foul-mouthed scolding. Nightingale is saying that she has suffered many ...

The expression currently has two clusters of meaning--literal and metaphorical. Your search has focussed on the literal meanings related to military encampments. In that sense, the term has been applied to both the families of the soldiers and commercial associates. The distinction between the two is not sharp: the widow of a fallen soldier far from home ...

It's slang and has use not just in military. It refers to older style odometers which produced a just audible click when a kilometer or mile distance passed in a car. Nowadays, with silent odometers, it's more common to refer to k's but, if you're talking to someone about their far holiday trip, you might say "So how many klicks did you do?"

Squadron is capitalized when used to refer to a number unit. So, in both examples you give the 12th Squadron would be appropriate. If you are referring to squadrons generally (as I have in this sentence) the word is not capitalized. According to the Air Force Journalistic Style Guide squadron Capitalized when used with a number to designate a particular ...

Your question is a bit confusing. What is the proper way to represent in popular press the status of a commissioned officer of the United States Marine Corps. who is not retired, has a continuing service commitment, but is no longer active for duty? This seems to indicate a person who still has a commitment to the Corps, but is not active duty. ...

As in my question, the following dictionary definitions suggest that the term camp follower has devolved into a derogatory term synonymous with prostitution. Webster: a civilian (as a prostitute) who follows a military unit to attend or exploit military personnel Wiktionary offers a fence-sitting definition albeit one leaning towards the derogatory a ...

Military grid reference system (MGRS) is metric, because it is used internationally within NATO. This may explain why US military use metric system for the distances on the ground. As for word itself, it is important for any military terms to be clearly distinguishable from the others on the radio. Kilometer can be easily confused with meter when radio is ...

The term arose from the use of forward observed non-line of sight artillery targeting and actually began with the United States Marine Corp during the interwar period between the Korean and Vietnam wars. The M19 mortar introduced at the time had dials for adjusting the azimuth and elevation. It produced a loud "click" sound when both dials where set to a ...