>>>Eisenhower - who graduated at the top of his class at West Point, was a major languishing in the Philippines before WWII broke out and was ready to resign his commission because he saw no path forward.
>>
>>This is what I don't get. What's a commission in this case? I've searched the webs, years ago, and found only that it's some kind of a contract that a knight signs with a king, as an advance pay for the share of the loot he gets.
>>
>>What does it have to do with the navy, military [military what?] etc of the Republic, or the Starfleet for that matter (no king but still a commission!?) is beyond me.
>
>Indeed, wars have a strange effect on language.

You mean there's no commission in real life? And the phrase persists for all of the time since?

>Here's a combination I'll never understand:
>Civil war.

Wars should be kept civil as much as possible.