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gymk> also, most of us don't review the original post once several responses have been added, so additional information provided therein will most likely go unnoticed. gk, I think we've proved *that beyond a shadow of a doubt! 
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re: also, most of us don't review the original post once several responses have been added, so additional information provided therein will most likely go unnoticed.
actually, we often edit posts.. but we leave in the original, and add an edit in red or blue.. with a big
EDIT and then the changes.. and sometimes.. (not to pick on Xara, but her edits are so much fun..) a complaint will be edited.. and the complainer will acknowledge.. oh, yeah, you did actually answer the question i asked.. but what i meant to ask was....
me, i just hang my head in shame, and mumble, mea culpa, mea culpa.. again and again..
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The beat of helicopter blades directly overhead woke her. As she stared, down out of it, hooked by a harness and cable to the mother ship above, came Brock Vond ... whom his colleagues were calling "Death from Slightly Above," had been out traveling in a tight formation of three dead-black Huey slicks, up and down the terrain of Vineland nap-of-the-earth style, liable to pop up suddenly over a peaceful ridgeline or come screaming down the road after an innocent motorist.... -Thomas Pynchon, Vineland (1990) I know this is of no help, since obviously the military expression inspired it and not vice versa, but it is literary. 
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this is a sort of off the wall answer... but sometimes putting out something that is totally off the wall -- get mind working in a better way..
there is the expression "by the nap(e) of the neck. (and i don't know which is correct, i think it is nape, but it is orally pronounced like nap.. ) cat carry kittens by the nape of the neck, and fathers and mothers place their hands on the nape of the their childrens necks to push them where they want them to go..
anybody else have some thoughts? nape of the neck morphed into nap of the earth?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Okay. We seem to have been flying by the seat of our pants on this one. Here's my guess, based on nothing other than being absolutely sick of Tornadoes and Jaguars flying over my house at altitudes with negative signs in front of them: If you look at a topographical map, the contour lines run reasonably close together, or at least trend together for any given geographical feature, like a hill or a valley between hills. If you think of corduroy, something similar applies. The ridges and valleys run close together. Assuming that nap of the earth flying involves flying at low level along contours, which it must usually do, there's your "nap". How it came to be used as military jargon, heaven only knows. Just remember, "military intelligence" is an oxymoron! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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veteran
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Does anyone know the origin of the phrase, "Nap of the earth?" It is used to describe flight that skims the landscape in order to approach a target undetected and to avoid enemy fire. It was used in US Army aviation as early as 1967. The ordinary meaning of "nap" is to doze off during the day. The secondary meaning is "to be offguard". Hence the phrase "Catch them napping" . Flying by the "nap of the earth" refers to the practice of flying low to the earth (undetected by radar) to catch the enemy by surprise (or "napping"). 
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Pooh-Bah
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[Adding to the general discussion, but not in any way approaching the original question emoticon] My Etymological Dictionary of the English Language indicates that nape and nap are unrelated:
Nap (1) a short sleep ... formerly a verb; ME, nappen, to doze ... AS, hnaeppian, to nap; hnaeppao is a gloss upon dormit, Ps. xl. 9, ed. Spelman. Cf. Bavarian knappen, to nod with the head ...; OHG. hnaffezen, to nap. ...
(2), the roughish surface of cloth. (MDu.) .... Prob. introduced by Du. clothworkers. ... M Du. noppe, “to nap of woole or cloath,” hexham; cf. MDu. noppen, to sheare of [off] the nap; ... Cf. Du. nop, nap; Dan. noppe, frizzed nap of cloth; MSwed. nopp, nap; Low G. nobben, nap; Bremen Worterbuch. Also Norw. napp, nap, and Norw. nuppa, to pluck off with the fingers; AS. knoppian, to pluck, ... AS. a-hneapan, to pluck off; Goth. dis-hnupnan, to be torn in pieces; dis-hniupan, to tear to pieces. All from Tuet. base, *hneup. to pluck, pull.
Nape, the joint of the neck behind. (E.) ... The original sense is projection of “knob;” and the term must have been first applied to the slight knob at the back of the head, felt on passing the finger upwards from the neck; cf. OFries, halsknap, nape of the neck. It is, in fact, a mere variant of ME. knappe, a knob, button, ... Cf. Icel. knappr,. a knob, stud, button; AS. cnaep, the top of a hill.
And I wonder how widespread is of troy’s pronunciation of “nape” as “nap?” I’ve never heard “nape” pronounced with a short a.
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stranger
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NAP(near as possible)
It means to fly as Near As Possible to the earth. I realize that you say NAP of the earth, and it sounds funny to say near as possible of the earth. But NAP is an acronym.
Should have asked an Army pilot first. Could have saved you some time :)
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ah! welcome, Black Hawk!
your answer gave me the clues to your name, plus you brought back an extremely enlightening old thread. too bad that a couple of the posters haven't been around for quite some time.
formerly known as etaoin...
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