In the summer of 1942, I enlisted in the American Army.  When I took the oath to become a soldier, automatically I became a GI.  The term GI means Government Issue.  The uniforms that we wore, for example, were Government Issue.  There was no such thing as buying a fancy uniform to serve.  The covers under which we tried to sleep, were also called GI.  As you can see, the term GI had a very broad meaning.
Even the jeeps we used had a designation that closely resembled the GIs.  They were called general purpose Government Issue.  That is only to give you an idea of the high significance of the term Government Issue.
Now we get into some basic stuff.  The American Army ran its mess halls to serve as many as three meals a day.  The hygiene in cleaning the mess kits probably left something to be desired.  For example, in one case at a forward base there were steel drums that had the tops sheared off and were filled with water.  They were placed in great bonfires to heat the water.  Following a meal, the GIs, such as myself, would knock off what had not been eaten and would then plunge the mess kit in two or three of those barrels with the hope of cleaning it.  This was the way it was done and you took your chances with diarrhea.
And that brings me to the burden of this essay.  When a soldier such of myself developed a case of diarrhea, he would never say the term diarrhea.  That term was unknown at that time or at least was never used.  The GI with the diarrhea would say that he “had the GIs.”  Sometimes soldiers would get the GIs so bad that they would be disabled for two or three days.  Now I would be shirking my responsibilities as a lexicographer of Army talk by not telling you the following:  Using the term “the GIs” was one figure of speech having to do with diarrhea.  The full story on that condition was called “the GI shits.”  Nobody knows why this term takes a plural ending.  But there you have it in its unvarnished form.
I said goodbye to the American Army in November of 1945.  That was 67 years ago but I still refer to the condition of diarrhea as having the GIs; I rarely use the appendage in the plural.
There are a number of readers of these essays who do not understand the rigors of military life in World War II.  These essays are to be cited as providing vital information about a soldier’s life during that time.
There is no intent whatsoever in citing these terms as a means of folksiness.  The fact of the matter is clear.  When a GI was struck with a case of diarrhea, which occurred more often than I would like to remember, he would use the phrase, “I am having a case of the GIs,” or if he was having a bad time with the diarrhea he would add the last word.
So, having told you about this phenomenon having to do with the excretory function, I believe that my service is now complete.  With the completion of this description, I believe it is now time for me to retire from the scene having to do with the lexicographer’s version of the speech of American GIs.  I hope that none of you are offended.  But remember only this: we won the war.
 
E. E. CARR
October 29, 2012
Essay 713
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I had no idea.
Huh.
-Kevin