'You beauty, only 364 and a wakey to go,' the countdown had begun and would continue, as few days passed without someone calling the time. I spared a thought for our temporary enemy whose tour would endure to the end of the war[…]2003, Gary Blinco, Down a Country Lane:
Morale was also usually high, helped by the men's recognition that their service in Vietnam had strict limits – one year, or, to use a soldiers' expression of the time, 364 days and a 'wakey' (the day the men woke to prepare to fly out).2010, Ian McGibbon, New Zealand's Vietnam War, page 542:
1 more example
When you became a 'short timer' (20 days and a wakey) you delighted in sticking it up to the new arrivals.2011, Richard "Barney" Bigwood, We Were Reos: Australian Infantry Reinforcements in VIETNAM (page 47)
wakey
intj
Etymology From wake + -y (suffix forming colloquialisms).