>>A snafu is a general situation in a system where nothing works because it's chaotic, disorganized etc.
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>Not even close.
>Some chaos and disorganization would have been an improvement.
>
I think the reason you didn't know FUBAR and it's close associate FUBAB (beyond all believe) was that you were Air Force rather than Army. I spoke great GI and pretty good Navy ( I grew up in a Navy town and my middle son was born in a Navy Hospital) but when I went to work on an Air Force contract (16 years) I had to learn an all new language. Also watch out for the Marines. I worked on a contract that required me to go to Marine Corp Recruit Depot , Paris Island and I stayed on the Island. I wanted to go to the NEX ( Navy Exchange) which is called PX (Post Exchange) in the Army and BX ( Base Exchange) in the Air Force. I ask a Marine for directions which the gave me - all the way across the base. He also advised me that the NEX was secured. It took me about a 30 minute walk to get to the NEX and learn what the word secured means in the Marines - CLOSED.

>Have you read Catch 22?
>The late Joseph Heller understood SNAFU as few did.
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>One reason I saw for SNAFU was "time in grade."
>That means that the longer you stay in a rank the more likely that you'll be promoted. Think about that. If you're not promoted, that makes you more eligible to be promoted, and you usually are.
>So most of my sergeants were people who had been passed over for promotion so many times that they had to be promoted- and it showed.