This fish was in the middle of our table at the Military ball Saturday night. It didn’t even occur to me that he could be ingested by the end of the night, but once it was brought to my attention, my protective instincts kicked in. I borrowed a camera to take this pic of him, thinking it would turn into a memorial. Thankfully, he was quickly swept up with his other centerpiece buddies before the real party began, so (I hope) they all made it out alive. Those military boys are crazy, I’m telling you.
None of you may have noticed that in our photo, Mark is missing some stripes on his right sleeve. I know I didn’t know they were missing until I saw others and asked what they were for. If he had stripes there, he would have four, and they would represent the number of years over his military career that he’s spent in combat. On his left sleeve, the stripes represent the years of service, times three – or divided by three, depending on how you do your math. He’s got 5 stripes, 15 years in. In 5 more years, he can retire. His panel of ribbons – well, there’s a whole bunch and I’m not sure what they all mean, but it’s impressive, eh?
I did spend a lot of the evening asking questions. “What do those swirley things on their sleeves mean?” and “how come his stripes go all the way around his arm?” and “What’s the star mean in the middle of his rank?” You’d think after 17 years, I’d know some of this stuff, but honestly this was my first Military Ball and I’d never seen so many dress uniforms all in one place. There were military men there who commanded respect, they had so many stripes and such a large panel of ribbons. Blue lapels, special cords – these are the men who have dedicated much of their lives to serving our country. It was humbling to be in a room full of men who stood at attention without hesitation, “hooah’ed” in support of their unit and eachother, and you know that they’d pack their bags and leave their families to go to war and serve their country in 10 minutes or less.
The evening was steeped with National Guardsman traditions, of which I knew none. There was a grog, which is this wicked combination of drinks that they pour into a hat – then the two commanding offers drank a toast from the mixture – consisting of burbon, whiskey, wine, beer – and I think one other thing but I can’t remember now. But iew? That had to taste bad.
Dinner was nice, the award ceremony was interesting, the toasts required a reply from the guests, so I’m glad I had a script. 😛 We were about 5 feet from the dessert buffet – so do I need to mention that I had dessert first? And also last. Because I was too close, and should have sat further away.
We sat with some really great guys and their wives, people that Mark spent a lot of time with in Iraq. I met a lot of them for the first time, and a few that I actually remembered meeting before. Dusty Hill was there, he looks amazing and it was so good to see him, smiling and having a good time.
All in all, it was a whirlwind of an evening, and I think I’m caught back up on sleep now. Put a bunch of military boys, beer and wives together, and what you get is a night with a lot of hemming and hawing and not a whole lotta sleep. It’s sortof like a fancy family reunion.
{10 Comments}
Sounds like you had a great time!! I’m sure there was alot of emotion in that room, too…. Thanks for the link to Dusty’s story. How amazing. God bless him and his troop. WOW!
And thank you to all the men and women that are fighting for us in the military.
What a nice time!
How ignorant am I, do they really swallow goldfish? eck!!! LOL
Sounds like a fun evening! I commented yesterday, but my comment got lost or something? Just wanted to say that you looked beautiful, and hubby so handsome! Loved the dress from Dillards, too. 😉
Sounds like a wonderful time!! The grog, sounds awful though!! Ewww :jawdrop: And I see you are a woman who has her priorities straight….makes a bee line for the desserts first!!! :yahoo: My kind of woman!
Goldfish, grog, and guardsmen. What a combination! Sounds to me like you had a great seat being near the dessert buffet. YUM!
I think the Military Ball is a nice way for these men, who spent so much time together overseas, to reunite and be honored for their service to our country. Dusty’s story was so amazing. God bless him for his service and courage. And thank you Mark for all the years of serving our country. Words can’t express the gratitude for the sacrifices you have made. It is greatly appreciated! :camouflage:
You and Hubster look fab! Glad you had fun and learned so much!
Military balls can be a bit of an eye-opener, that’s for sure. My husband has been in the Army for 18 years now. He recently got promoted to E-7, which means in order to him to take advantage of it for retirement, he’s got to stay in three more years. It would be an understatement to say that I’m looking forward to when he retires. I’m getting a bit tired of playing all the games involved. Don’t get me wrong, I have the ultimate respect for those who serve this great nation of ours, but the games that one must play to get ahead seem so childish sometimes. My husband wants to be a school teacher after he retires which I think is really awesome. He’s such a great leader and molds new soldiers into finely tuned military machines. I can imagine that his ability to mold and shape lives for the better would translate well into being a teacher. It’s been so long since I’ve visited your blog. I went out and got my own domain and put my blog on it. We moved to Georgia in September of last year and then my mom passed away in November. It’s been a struggle getting settled and getting back on track. This summer I’m going to be going back to school, so I might not be blogging much during that time. I’ll have to see. Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough in this comment. I’ll be visiting more often now. Ta for now dahling!
Glad you had a good time. Things like this always make me nervous and I would have had more than 2 trips to the desserts no matter how far away!
:meow:
🙂 What fun! I haven’t been to a ‘ball’ in forever. Sometimes it’s nice to just get all gussied up and go out. But a military ball? That’s icing on the cake! The ceremony and the uniforms and the servicepersons…sends a chill up my spine and brings tears to my eyes!
If I had been sitting that close to the dessert bar, I would have made a few trips. They always have those yummy little cream puff things with the chocolate swan heads…I could gobble them up one after another!
heh – there was a chocolate fountain, surrounded by strawberries, pretzel sticks and marshmallows. mmmmmmmmmmmm.
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