Batman (army)
From Free net encyclopedia
A batman is a soldier assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant.
The term is derived from the obsolete bat, packsaddle (from French bât, from Old French bast, from Late Latin bastum) + man.
Duties often include:
- acting as a "runner" to convey orders from the officer to subordinates
- maintaining the officer's uniform and personal equipment as a valet
- driving the officer's vehicle, sometimes under combat conditions
- other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not himself (or herself) have time or inclination to do
In the German army the post was known as 'Der Putzer'. A popular German army song 'Ich war der Putzer vom Kaiser' sung during World War I tells of a soldier who missed the horrors of service on the Western front by being the batman to Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was set to a contemporary tune for a whistling version in 1967, and released under the title 'I was Kaiser Bill's Batman' in the United Kingdom and United States. The artist, John O'Neill, recorded it under the name 'Whistling Jack Smith'.
In the United States Army the term "dog robber" was used, but it could also be applied to a junior officer who acted as a gofer to somebody with high rank. The position was made famous by James Garner in the movie The Americanization of Emily.
In the Indian army the word batman is now replaced with the Hindi word Sahayak which translates to Assistant or care taker. Orderly was another term which was used, which is also now done away with.