The End of the Officers Club

[desertoasis]

He's also helping with AWG's, ensuring the word gets out that they are approved wear for API studs.

That's news to me. Where was this word getting out to? I never heard any mention of AWGs at all during my entire time attached to NASC (Yeah, I have one more week attached to them, but I'm already looking ahead to my big cross-base move...can you tell I'm excited??? )

 

[MasterBates]

AWGs as approved API wear.. Brilliant! (legal for A pool muster too?)

 

[statesman]

AWGs as approved API wear.. Brilliant! (legal for A pool muster too?)

No word on that. A Pool reports to someone else. API director said he fully supports and encourages the wear of AWGs to class however.


I got more than a dozen comments from O-1 to O-5 on friday night. My guess is that if AWGs becomes more common around 633 and the VTs support will begin pick up even more momentum. People LOVE seeing them.

 

[A4sForever]

.... and this is why the thread was originally on the 'Private Naval Aviator' forum ... try to focus, guys ...

O'Clubs ... the 'end' of the O'Clubs and what you can/should do about it ...

It's not about Aviation Greens ... or the 'Pool' ... we've already got 2-3 threads extant if you want to post there ...

Try to focus ...

 

[KCOTT]

Way to solve the O-Club issues...MORE GIRLS. Seriously, infuse a bunch of local females in the setting and I'm sure there will be more JO's there than at an A-Pool muster. I went on Friday after not having been in almost two months (other than lunch) and it was alright I guess, didn't seem like a whole lot was going on. I invited 3 other studs to come by to try and support the club but we just ran out of things to do and got bored playing shuffle board. We left after about an hour and a half to hit up some of the local bars because the other studs were getting bored I could tell and they wanted to go somewhere more ratio friendly.

By the way, is CRUD only an AF thing? The other studs and I used to play it at the college bars back home and were slightly tempted when we saw no one at the pool table. But I'm wondering if such an event now would be frowned upon. I don't know, there's got to be a way to make the place more lively and interesting other than drinking beer and talking about API with other dudes and playing shuffle board. Maybe I just went on a bad night. Will try again this Friday though.

 

[desertoasis]

Deleted.

 

[Flash]

It is part of the problem. Making the O-Club Fridays mando-fun will defeat the purpose of the event.

O-Club gatherings should not be mandatory. Though you should go to some for many of the reasons stated in this thread..

My first squadron often held AOM's at the club, especially in the summer. While it was mando to be there for the AOM it was not after. It lightened things up a little and there was little to no pressure on guys to stay if they did not. But it definitely got a lot of guys to hang out at the club that would not have normally made the trek, as short as it was.

Way to solve the O-Club issues...MORE GIRLS. Seriously, infuse a bunch of local females.....

You have to keep in mind where some of the clubs are. You are not going to find a lot of 'quality' local females in Oak Harbor that are not off limits one way or another. It may help with some but not others.

By the way, is CRUD only an AF thing?

I have seen a few Navy guys play it but it is still largely an Air Farce 'thing', thankfully.

 

[FMRAM]

You are not going to find a lot of 'quality' local females in Oak Harbor that are not off limits one way or another.

Reason #101 why I moved to Anacortes as soon as I got the nod to leave the barracks.

 

[Hozer]

Way to solve the O-Club issues...MORE GIRLS

Agreed. Skipper Reavey is intent on finding a way to get the word out. It's funny as he put after a few beers that along with a shitty economy (it's always shitty in P-cola), girls should be all over the club looking for a meal ticket. Civilian girls are allowed on base, but we need a couple of other things as A4's has already hit upon: A band, transportation to and fro, and a way to alleviate the fear of "running a gauntlet of cops" to get home.
He has access to buses, but where to go? UWF? Hud housing? Palafox shuttles?

My suggestion is a O-club, UWF, Palafox bus run three times a night, and a freaking band. Chicks should have $1 drinks/$2 cocktails too on base on Fridays. If Gene's lounge can do it, and they pack the whales in every Wednesday night, we sure can.

 

[brownshoe]

Say it ain't so Joe! Crap, traditions are soon gonna be a thing of the past.

The only O-club I ever attended was at Andrews during the 70's, early 80's. I had a friend who was an Army O-5 stationed at Walter Reed. Nothing much happening at the WR O-club sooooo we went to Andrews every Friday night. Puss' ah, excuse me... Women galore! Open mess, all of the 'gubment' cuties from D.C. showed up, dirty shirt 'till eight, then the band started. Mike and I always asked the women we met to attend church on Sunday. We were very successful! Loved it! A dollar steam table for food, and drinks were cheap.

Now a little thread jack! EM-clubs during the 60's. Happy hour, Go-Go dancers, and beer at ten cents a can. Ah, life was good!

Steve

 

[KCOTT]

Agreed. Skipper Reavey is intent on finding a way to get the word out. It's funny as he put after a few beers that along with a shitty economy (it's always shitty in P-cola), girls should be all over the club looking for a meal ticket. Civilian girls are allowed on base, but we need a couple of other things as A4's has already hit upon: A band, transportation to and fro, and a way to alleviate the fear of "running a gauntlet of cops" to get home.
He has access to buses, but where to go? UWF? Hud housing? Palafox shuttles?

My suggestion is a O-club, UWF, Palafox bus run three times a night, and a freaking band. Chicks should have $1 drinks/$2 cocktails too on base on Fridays. If Gene's lounge can do it, and they pack the whales in every Wednesday night, we sure can.

That sounds awesome! Make it happen!

 

[statesman]

While I agree it would be nice to see some single women in the O Club, I am not sure that their presence alone would fix the club....

I'll also take that a step further and say that I'm not sure I would WANT single women to be the answer to the club's problems.

I go to the club to drink heavily and socialize with folks that I will eventually work with, to get advice, and to act like a fool around people that share a similar lifestyle.

I do NOT go to the club to meet women, and I'm not sure I would enjoy an O Club environment in which that was the case. I feel like busing in loads of females might turn the O Club into a classier version of Seville Quarter.

More to the point I don't think the Officer Clubs have one single problem. I think there are several... all of which have been in some way addressed in previous posts...

- Lack of single ladies
- Demonization of Alcohol, officers aversion to drinking on base
- Young officers not wanting to mix work and play

The last on the list I think is the bigger issue. I know half a dozen or more of my close friends that have no desire to frequent the clubs because they see the Navy as a job, and they dont want to hang out at work at the end of the day/week...

I think this is the bigger issue. The lack of women, and the drinking on base are definitely contributing factors, but I think the biggest problem this Navy faces is a lack of interest by young officers who don't want to drink with their DH / CO / Commodore ... I may be wrong, as I have only seen a little sliver of the aviation world as a whole, but my efforts to bring people to the club have been hampered more by the lack of interest than the lack of ladies.

 

[KCOTT]

While I agree it would be nice to see some single women in the O Club, I am not sure that their presence alone would fix the club....

I'll also take that a step further and say that I'm not sure I would WANT single women to be the answer to the club's problems.

I go to the club to drink heavily and socialize with folks that I will eventually work with, to get advice, and to act like a fool around people that share a similar lifestyle.

I do NOT go to the club to meet women, and I'm not sure I would enjoy an O Club environment in which that was the case. I feel like busing in loads of females might turn the O Club into a classier version of Seville Quarter.

More to the point I don't think the Officer Clubs have one single problem. I think there are several... all of which have been in some way addressed in previous posts...

- Lack of single ladies
- Demonization of Alcohol, officers aversion to drinking on base
- Young officers not wanting to mix work and play

The last on the list I think is the bigger issue. I know half a dozen or more of my close friends that have no desire to frequent the clubs because they see the Navy as a job, and they dont want to hang out at work at the end of the day/week...

I think this is the bigger issue. The lack of women, and the drinking on base are definitely contributing factors, but I think the biggest problem this Navy faces is a lack of interest by young officers who don't want to drink with their DH / CO / Commodore ... I may be wrong, as I have only seen a little sliver of the aviation world as a whole, but my efforts to bring people to the club have been hampered more by the lack of interest than the lack of ladies.

Good post. It is true that an abundance of single women alone are not going to fix the club, but it sure as hell would help. Unfortunately, a lot of us (including myself) are still in tune to the college type bars that feature skimpily dressed sorority girls getting drunk and us chasing them. MBOC doesn't quite offer that, which is why when trying to figure out what to do on a Friday night, most of the times the O-Club isn't even considered. Sometimes when I used to go more often when I first came down here, I felt like a lot the studs I invited to come out felt obligated to be there, like it was something they should do, not necessarily to go because they enjoy it. I don't know, that was just the vibe I got. It seemed like my fellow student naval aviators just got bored easily and were just waiting it out until the next bar.

Maybe it's sad, but it's definitely true, within my group of friends down here, we choose bars to go to where we think there will be plentiful single ladies. As of right now, that's just how our minds think. We can't help it that we were born as straight men with one thing on our minds .

But you're right on about younger JO's not wanting to mix work and play. I know a lot of guys are fed up with A-Pool shenanigans, API, the frustrations of dealing with flight management, voluntold events, and what not, that most of us try to stay away from base, especially on Friday nights that are meant for us to enjoy. Some people try to only be affiliated with the Navy from Monday morning until about 1600 or so on Friday.

I've heard so many awesome stories about the O-Club in the past from older generations before me and it is obvious that times have changed. I would love to revert back to the old days, but how exactly do you make it happen nowadays?

 

[KCOTT]

I have seen a few Navy guys play it but it is still largely an Air Farce 'thing', thankfully.

Ahhh, crud ain't so bad. I remember two of our 1/C middies back in the day did their first class cruise in Lemoore and that's where they learned the game. Came back from summer cruise and taught the game to the rest of us middies. Before you know it, we had 20 or so of us going to different bars in Columbus and causing a public spectacle. Great game, one of the few things I'll commend the mighty AF for.

I think it would be hysterical to play at MBOC, as long as everyone else there is cool with it and we don't get thrown out for it (because they can get a little heated).

Coming to think of it, it would make things more interesting. I think I should start recruiting an All-Star crud team.

 

[AJTranny]

By the way, is CRUD only an AF thing? The other studs and I used to play it at the college bars back home and were slightly tempted when we saw no one at the pool table. But I'm wondering if such an event now would be frowned upon. I don't know, there's got to be a way to make the place more lively and interesting other than drinking beer and talking about API with other dudes and playing shuffle board. Maybe I just went on a bad night. Will try again this Friday though.

Crud is big in the fighter squadrons at least. It would be a very strong asset for any FNG to have. Not sure if it's cool to bust out on just any pool table but Oceana has it's own dedicated crud table.