'CYA' as subject in an official military MEMO???

[dascallie]

This might be the single biggest deal breaker of all!! What military officer in his right mind would put together a memo titled 'CYA'?? Especially someone steeped in military protocols??!!

And who even used that idiom/hipspeak in 1972???

[Americanwolf]

Well possible Dan Rather and Co. :)

[EggsAckley]

Welcome to Free Reublic.


A lot of us used that idiom back then.

[WillRain]

What does it mean?

Is it an acronym? Or are we saying it means "See ya"?

[sonofatpatcher2]

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[chaosagent]

CYA stands for "Cover your A##"

[coloradan]

Somewhere, Hillary! Clinton is laughing as each new obviously fake aspect of the memo is discovered and reported on: The wrong abbreviation of rank, the font width, font centering, the ^th, the date of the reported author's discharge, "CYA" ... each one bringing a new howl of pleasure from the Hillary! 2008 campaign headquarters.

[GVnana]

CYA would show up in conversation, but not in a serious memo. It makes obvious the motives of the forgers, and will probably dupe gullible Democrats.

[Bogey78O]

Cover your a**

[Hillary'sMoralVoid]

Cover Your A**! Not only that, but a professional officer would never refer to a general by just his last name, even in a memo, even if he had retired a year ago (LOL).

[Tobor]

The term 'CYA' was in common use in the regular Army, in Texas, in 1973.

[VadeRetro]

And who even used that idiom/hipspeak in 1972???

It was around in the Air Force at the time. That's where and when I first heard it. I don't think you talked that way in official correspondence, though.

[N. Theknow]

'CYA' as subject in an official military MEMO???

For authenticity, we should compare this "CYA" memo to a "FUBAR" memo from the same person.

[Strategerist]

I've seen this happen before with a lot of stuff...especially profanities.

I remember one thread where some woman was absolutely certain that F*** had been invented in the 60s and that no one said F*** before then.

When the real issue was that F*** wasn't used in movies, or by men in the company of women, till the 60s.

[Krodg]

So he writes a CYA memo and then states he is willing to back date records???

[Americanwolf]

C cover Y your A architecture (rear end)

[Sabatier]

As I posted in another thread: Anybody who's been around military officers know they would never express themselves in such informal language in a memo that concerned official business. They just don't write in that colloquial fashion. Military types are extremely laconic, knowing that words used loosely can be harmful to themselves or others. The very precise use of language is very important in the services and they wouldn't write like a junior clerk in a commercial enterprise.

Read genuine military documents and they are extremely dry. Casual, expressive language is not the norm. This "memo" tried to be both personal and impersonal but in the military nothing is personal. There are precise rules and regulations for everything.

[shadowman99]

Was 'Cover Your Ass (CYA)' even common phrase in the early 70's?

There are language experts who could substantiate or debunk this.

[faithincowboys]

I think they are arguing that Killian made a memo to himself. And if that's the case, why on earth would he (a non-typist) make it so darn perfectly centered and everything. This is total jumk. They put forged documents in a dead man's file to bring down a Republican President because they want the Traitor Kerry to win-- this is not complicated.

[OhMike]

That is such a good point: What good does a CYA memo do anyhow? He's admitting he did something he shouldn't have because he was pressured to do it and he's fessing to falsifying documents. No memo gets him off the hook for that, so what's the point of turning evidence against himself?

Wouldn't the military code of conduct call for Killian to report the superior who was asking him to do this? Would having a "CYA" memo really cover his ass afterwards?