Posted on 05/19/2009 9:18:17 AM PDT by franksolich
I was reading some badly-photocopied financial records earlier today, those kept by the U.S. Army at Fort McPherson, near North Platte, Nebraska, in 1869.
I came across some most curious entries that made me wonder about something.
In this instance, back in 1869, in Nebraska, the U.S. Army had washerwomen on the payroll, one for every nineteen "enlisted men" (no mention of how many for officers).
Such laundrywomen were paid, fed, and housed, although housed far segregated away from quarters for "enlisted men." One assumes they had to be out of necessity pretty rough women.
Which got me to thinking--who does the military laundry?
I'm assuming that there are no laundromats on base, and it's quite obvious there are no laundromats on the battlefield.
Are dirty clothes shipped out to a central area, cleaned, and then redistributed?
Are dirty uniforms treated differently from ordinary clothes?
Is dirty laundry handled differently now, than it had been during the first and second world wars?
(Excerpt) Read more at conservativecave.com ...
Ping for the list.
When I was in Vietnam,we had a mama-san do it.
ping
There are laundromats on base, and where they have access to do laundry, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen do their own laundry and ironing (or their poor wives do).
Signed,
Former Army daughter and former Marine wife
I think that the plan is to contract it out to ACORN, they have HUGE experience in handling ‘dirty laundry’!
When I was in Vietnam,we had a mama-san do it.
_________________________________
Hootch maids.
It’s a function of the Quartermaster Corps.
They have what’s called the Quartermaster Laundry in the Army.
Send out on laundry day and get last week’s back. Payroll deduction for the service.
Military bases have laundromats. I used the military provided facility. Even the personal stuff came out starched to the dickens...
“Hooch” should be the correct spelling. 38 years makes the mind a little fuzzy on some things.
The Quartermaster Corps has “field laundry units” located in the rear areas that are relatively secure. They get the dirt out is the best way to put it.
The Marines coming back onto the ship from the field had some funky laundry. You do it however you have too. A lot of times over seas I had a local person do it. I buck or two to wash a bag a laundry is a good deal. I didn't have to do it, and the local economy got a buck or two.
Usually in the field we just stunk real bad. Baby wipes are a soldiers best friend in the field.
This is my 40th anniversay and we’ll be in Hong Kong next
month.I wonder if the Yellow Submarine bar is there?
After a 20 mile hike there wouldn't be any starch left, by a long shot. Fatigues could be like washboards. By day's end, though, the starch was gone. In fact even the act of putting on the fatigues broke down some of the starch...
In Iraq KBR did it.
We sailors had it easy; drop it into the laundry bin in our living compartment and it would come back clean and folded on our rack two days later. For the dress blues, we could take them down to the ship’s dry cleaner and pick them up next day.
The Royal Hotel in Bangkok was our HQ for R & R.
I did order a nice leather jacket from Hong Kong through PACEX.
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