Batman (military)
In the German Army the batman was known as Ordonnanz ("orderly") from the French "ordonnance", or colloquially as Putzer ("cleaner") or as Bursche ("boy" or "valet").
In the modern Pakistan Army, civilian personnel are employed in this role and are designated as NCB (Non-Combatant Bearer) or (Non-Commissioned Batman).
The term implies that the present-day batman is not a soldier or part of the fighting cadre of the army, and works only as a personal servant to each officer.
In the Russian Empire higher-ranking cavalry officers often chose Cossacks for these roles as they could be reasonably depended on to survive combat, and were also known for resourcefulness on campaign.
Several ordirnartsy of the marshals and generals commanding fronts and armies during the Second World War wrote memoirs about their service.
Kalfaktor, derived from calefactory and entering the Swedish language during the 17th century, was a soldier assigned to tend to an officer from the rank of platoon leader and higher.
However, for infantry officers at the platoon and company levels, many of the batman's operational duties were still carried out by a designated runner taken from elsewhere in the formation, though without the prestige and privileges that the role previously held.
[9] In the British Armed Forces, the term "batman" or "batwoman" was formerly also applied to a civilian who cleaned officers' messes or married quarters.
In the Royal Air Force, free married quarters cleaning services were phased out for all officers except squadron leaders or above in command appointments as of 1 April 1972.
As such, he was not closely guarded by his captors and managed to escape with other members of his staff to rejoin Division HQ the following day.
Generally the personnel are military cooks; however, in recent years, any enlisted person could volunteer to serve in this position.
[19] In 1967, the pseudonymous Whistling Jack Smith (actually a session vocalist) recorded an all-whistling number called "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman", which went Top 5 in the UK.
In the earlier series, taking place between the 1400s and the early 1800s, he plays Edmund Blackadder's dogsbody Baldrick, a similar, non-military role.
In the Honor Bound book series (1993–2012), the character of Sergeant Major Enrico Rodriguez served in this capacity to Cletus Frade's father.
In the television show Archer (created in 2009), the eponymous character's valet, Woodhouse, was the batman of his superior officer in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War.
In the television series Blunt Talk (2015–2016), Adrian Scarborough played Harry Chandler, Falklands War veteran and former Royal Marines lance corporal turned Walter's valet.
Frank Herbert’s 1984 novel Heretics of Dune, Patrin, the aide of Miles Teg, is referred to as the Bashar’s Batman.
In the Hungarian movie Taxidermia (2006) Vendel Morosgoványi serves as a batman condemned to performing menial duties for the officer and his family while sleeping in an unheated shack next to the latrines.
So realistic are these fantasies that in one ambiguous instance, Morosgoványi sleeps with and impregnates the lieutenant's wife and "wakes up" to find himself engaged in an act of sodomy with a slaughtered pig.
The film Journey's End, and the 1928 stage play, are largely concerned with the comings and goings of the officers of a Company on the line in France.
In the novel Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, the batman of a Colonel, now serving him as a butler, helps fill up the radiator of Mr. Stevens car with water.
