It really hits hard when you are now so old that you are looking for a San Diego O’Club venue for your kid’s wedding.
Aside from my old haunting grounds of the NKX WOXOF Room, you also check out for wedding purposes the MCRD Club .... which back in the day you remember used to have a couple of hundred women looking for love every Friday night, to the NorIs club (but not the I-Bar which was separate) which used to have live band beach keg parties every Sunday afternoon, to the Admiral Kidd Club where we held outrageous Dining-Ins and Outs and could always impress a date by stopping by for the view, to the Sub Base if we ever needed to go ‘sinker’ and even to the AmPhib Base O'Club if you wanted to tease the SEALS, etc. al.
Unfortunately although these visits of mine to clubs brought back a rush of vivid and indeed, WILD memories, the civilian scheduling bitches at each place slapped me back to 21st century reality.
She/they reminded me of how much our culture of warriors has been cheated. Indeed she – the little civilian bitch sadly knows nothing about ‘her’ club, with its long history of famous and heroic Naval Officers of days gone by and the guys who hung out there. No, she was now in charge! She ruled. No longer in charge, is the Navy. No longer are the ghosts of the hero’s who used to hang out there allowed or welcome. No, they don’t serve heroes anymore. Only boring meetings and lucrative weddings.
I only hope the spirit still burns, even if the venues are no longer available for one to express and feel comfortable within their serious and vital profession.
