Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack: Including a War Story

Ah, yes... take us back to 1977:



So, there I was... at the ADCOM NCO academy down at Tyndall Airplane Patch in late 1977.  Tyndall had a fine, fine NCO club which was my local watering hole during my six or seven week stay there.  And there was this fine, fine late-20-something waitress who worked there who was built like the proverbial Brick House.  I made a habit of playin' "Brick House" on the jukebox when she was on duty and servin' us... and also made a point of sayin' "that's YOUR song, Darlin'."  She'd grin and we'd exchange friendly banter.  I hit on her numerous times but was always rebuffed... kindly and gently... until my very last week at Tyndall.

It came to pass that the academy graduation ceremonies were capped with a Dining Out... which differs from a Dining In in that spouses and significant others are allowed to attend... and it also came to pass that I asked our waitress to be my date for the evening.  I almost fell out of my chair when she accepted, given the fact she'd resisted all of my previous attempts to get to know her better.  There was a rather significant fly in this ointment, however, in that I was chosen by the academy staff to be Mr. Vice (the person who proposes all toasts), and Mr. Vice sits at a small table at the foot of the mess, all by himself.  That meant that I wouldn't have either the time or the occasion to chat my date up, given as how she would be seated at another table.  But, no matter.  I sat my date with a group of instructors and their ladies and hoped for the best.

A short digression... after dinner and during the course of toasts, one of the instructors wives stood up and said "Mr. Vice!"  "Yes, Ma'am," sez I.  "I'd like to propose a toast to News In Briefs!" says she.  My face IMMEDIATELY went red as the lady laughed but I recovered sufficiently to address the President of the Mess and say "Mr. President... to News In Briefs!"  And we drank the toast.  

Explanation:  There was a daily ritual at the academy, rotated among the four flights of students, wherein a group of four or five students did a daily presentation consisting of news and current events.  This presentation was held in the school's auditorium and was about a 15 minute affair, which was almost always boring.  I took it upon myself to liven up things a bit when it came my flight's turn to present and I made sure the table at which we sat had a skirt around it which concealed all the presenters from the waist down.  So... we each gave our short presentations until such time as it came for the "news in brief" portion... when I announced to the assembled student body and cadre... "And now... the news in briefs!"  At which time we all stood, clad only in our blue shirts, ties, and underwear.  The room went nuts... and I think I secured my place in ADCOM NCO Academy history.

So there's that.  I noticed after the toast that the lady who proposed it explained the significance to my date who threw her head back and laughed about as hard as I've ever seen any woman laugh.

Fast forward to the end of the formalities and the subsequent dance, yadda, yadda.  My date and I spent a couple o' few hours of quality time together during the rest of the festivities and it also came to pass that she and I didn't part company until about 0900 hrs the following morning.  That night remains one of the fondest memories of my entire military career.  She most certainly was a Brick House... and mighty, mighty... as well.

And the girl?  We promised to stay in touch and we did, for a brief time.  But I was committed to The Second Mrs. Pennington (who was my intended at the time, so there was no technical infidelity involved), there was all that distance... she remained in Florida, I returned to North Dakota... and life went on.  I often wonder what happened to her, though.

Good tune, this.