is a term I have not heard in years. I guess it goes back to the era of the draftees.
Still, to have been a Regular Army Clown you not only had to be Regular Army but a pompous ass.
I had a relative that was an incredible Morse Code (CW) radio operator that was draft exempt because he was wanted as a civilian to teach his skill to others. The LAST thing the Army wanted him to do was enlist because he'd be susceptible to the whims of every pompous ass captain, major and colonel that he passed by.
A specialist like that would often find he had a little more free time than the other guys and it didn't take long before some idiot would think up something annoying for him to do in his off time when most likely he was studying during his off time.
People don't realize that the pilots of the Military Airlift Command were told NOT to enlist in the Army Air Corps for just that very reason. As civilians they were untouchable because the military had no control over them.
The relative was a prewar ham and sent code in his sleep at about a jillion words a second and was wanted to train high speed radio operators. He was told NOT to enlist and told if there were any problems with the draft board to report it instantly.
From what I heard the old war widow running the draft board tried drafting merchant mariners, MAC pilots and everyone else that had legitimate deferments.
"It's not fair to the other boys," she'd say and send "Greetings" out to those that were busy in the defense industry and had deferments of one sort or another.
Anyway she every time my uncle got drafted the woman got paid a visit and he got undrafted. After a couple of times she got a visit from a few high ranking officers and a couple of senior NCOs that explained to her that if she kept it up she'd not only be fired but sent to a mental institution for the duration.
It takes about six months to make a basic soldier, six or seven years to make a basic farmer to feed soldiers and about 10+ years to make a truly talented high speed radio operator.
As far as MAC pilots went, they were not overnight wonders, either. The brass knew this.
I always wondered about how some Regular Army Clown colonel such and such made out when he tried to throw is weight around on MAC pilots. While he may have had the clout to send a flight out early, he'd likely never get away with the usual "The general is coming! We gotta paint a bunch of rocks white and lay out paths!" crap.
A pilot could (and often did) simply say, "I'm leaving on a 16 hour flight in seven hours and I need some sleep. Do it yourself." and walk off.
The stupid ones reported to the general that the pilots ignored him and if the general had half a brain blistered the idiot.
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