In
basic training, we counted
down to the last
day as "xx days and a wake up". The wake up being the day you got outta
bed and went the hell
away from basic training.
As far as I know, this was stolen from the soldiers in Vietnam counting down the time they'd get to go back stateside.
We did it so we could make ourselves think we were tough, being that B.T. pretty much scared the fuck out of a lot of us.