U.S.S. YANCEY AKA-93

Ken Grooms's Navy A story for the USS Yancey

Your Government at Work

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Sometime before 1950, I remember an article in The Life Magazine. It was about how the congress was looking into standardizing military underwear. Just think of it there must be about 15 sizes to accommodate one branch alone - and each branch has its own colors. I don't know about the color change, but the result was a design of a pair of boxer shorts (skivies) that accommodated sizes from 28 thru 36 by the clever use of "Ties" on each side of the waist. If you were a size 28, like I was, you had enough room in just one leg - what were they thinking of? Siamese twins? The guys with size 36 were doing just fine, but us on the lower end of the waist scale wouldn't dare be caught outside in a wind over 5 knots for fear of being blown away with sails like that. Most of us got rid of those after a few months unless we were able to gain enough weight to make them actually fit without ties.

Ken Groom

Submitted 2/10/07
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