backfill
n.— «I was mobilized to a stateside assignment at Fort Eustis in Virginia, where I would administer anesthesia at the McDonald Army Community Hospital. I was known as “backfill,” a term for identifying someone who fills the void left by a soldier being deployed overseas.» —“Destination: Iraq” Rutland Herald (Vermont) Oct. 22, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A Virginia listener says that often when she’d leave the house, her grandfather would tell her Remember you belong to the land of the blue hen’s chicken. What in the world did that mean? The feisty blue hen is the state bird of Delaware...
“What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?” Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children’s joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation for the difference between...