86 noob status
In the U.S. Navy, there is an Allowance Type (AT) coding system used for logistic purposes. The Allowance Type Code is a single digit numeric code which identifies the reason material is being carried in stock. Throughout the life-cycle of a warship, many pieces of equipment will be upgraded or replaced, requiring the allowance of on board spare parts associated to the obsolete equipment to be disposed of. The AT code assigned to parts designated for disposition is AT-6. Following WWII, there were a great number of warships being decommissioned, sold, scrapped, or deactivated and placed in reserve (commonly referred to as “mothballed”). During this process, labor workers would bring spare parts up from the storerooms and the Lead Supply Clerk would inform them what the disposition of their parts were by part number. Anything referred to as AT-6 (or by similar phonetic, eighty-six), was to be disposed of in the dumpster. This is where the term became synonymous with throwing something away
