:>)

My first long range cruiser was just a 30 footer. We named it "Looking Glass" because it was like a portal into seeing distant places, such as Alice Through the Looking Glass".
But I kept getting ex Air Force types rowing over to the boat asking "were you in the Air Force command?" (the code name for an airborne command and control center operated by the United States)

It is used the same way in the poem, but they are in Alaska and I always thought that the word came from Athabaskan Eskimo. Maybe some language similarities? In Alaska, one is either a "Sourdough" (experienced) or Cheechako (tenderfoot). In the Ballad, Major Brown is arrogant and pretending to be a sourdough when in fact he is the quintessential cheechako.

Hah! I don't know that one. I'll have to look it up. Cheechako in NW native indian terms means "tenderfoot" or "newcomer"

Every time I see your name I think of "Cheechako Major Brown"! ("Ballad of the Iceworm Cocktail" by Robert Service)