Flashback Friday When I joined the Marine Corps, I was 5'4" and weighed a whopping 103 pounds soaking wet. I had never owned a girdle in my LIFE. Then I got to boot camp. Welcome to the United States Marine Corps, where apparently my 103-pound body needed to be sucked in and brought under control. We had to wear a girdle under our uniform, along with a slip. And yes, we wore pantyhose not stockings with those little garter attachments you see on older girdles. I remember thinking, exactly WHAT are we trying to hold in here? My internal organs? But regulations were regulations. You put that girdle on, pulled on the pantyhose, added the slip, got into uniform, and went about your business like wearing three layers of underwear was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. And this was the SOUTH. In the HEAT. You were going to be properly dressed, properly pressed, properly covered and apparently properly compressed. Women Marines from my era will understand this one.