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September 09, 2004

A Semi-Valid Question About the Possible-Forgeries « Blogging »

I've been trying to find out the origin/etymology of "CYA" through online searches. So far, all I've found is this article that seems to attribute the phrase to Viet Nam.

Fair enough.

I still have questions, however:

Was it an Air Force term at all? Or just Army? Or even just Infantry?

Would a desk jockey back at the home station be familiar with the jargon of the front-line troops? Enough to use it in a memo?

These days we think nothing of obscenities. In the early 70s, however, it was difficult to even imply obscenities in public. True, the military was more coarse than the general public at the time, rather than the politically correct organization we see these days. However, I'd like to know if there are any other memos from that time period that actually use the "CYA" acronym.

Any help from those of you more knowledgeable than me would be helpful.

Posted by Nathan at 06:44 PM | Comments (2)
» Ambient Irony links with: Set The Wayback Machine To 1972!
» Skyler's Rants links with: CYA
Comments

I was a Radio Teletype operator in Korea at the time and I don't remember the CYA term being common during that time. I learned about it later but am not surprised that it might have come from Vietnam. However, I recall that internal memos had to be done in a specific format and that acronyms and jargon were not common. The military was extremely rigid about this and taught that only the correct format was proper. Consider that military personnel were all from various parts of the country and these kinds of terms would likely be confusing when communicated in writing. Just my two cents on this.

Posted by: Robert Villegas at September 11, 2004 04:03 AM

CYA is/was a term used in the military for Cover Your Ass. But no one in there right mind would have used that in a memorandum. Besides why would someone use that term in 1972-73 totally unknown of what would be happening in 2004, that is one more reason why this whole document is a fabrication on the part of J.F. Kerry, CBS, 60 Minutes II, and Dan Rather. They clearly got caught, with more lies a deceit, like liberals do without expecting any recourse.

Posted by: allioop at September 11, 2004 07:47 PM
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