Poll (RSVP ?): interest in military "dining out" e

fishpilot · Post by **fishpilot** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:10 pm

To all military:

I am trying to ascertain how much interest thre might be next year for a semi-formal, all branches, Military Mess, a.k.a. 'Dining Out' event.

I know there is a surprising number of other "under cover" military folks out there on the Playa other than myself. I figure there might be a lot of you that might enjoy an evening of comraderie in one of our most historical traditions.

I might also assume that there may be quite a bit of opposition to our presence on the Playa. To any who may be of that opinion, let me reassure you that this absolutely would not be in any way detrimental or contrary to the the ideals of Burning Man. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact. For at least two reasons. 1. The fact that we all come home to The Man every year, and 2. It is very literally the sworn duty of any military person to uphold and defend the rights and freedoms that allow all Americans to participate in such an astonishlingly open, spectacular, and all-around way cool event such as Burning Man.

The Mess would be open to all branches, all rank, including all active, guard, reserve, and retired personnel. Spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and significant others, would of course be invited.

As far as dress code, my initial inclination is to encourage all Class A uniforms (Mess Dress), or even better, historical uniforms, but of course casual dress (or anything in-between) is more than welcome. All 'Formal Mess' rules should apply and would be posted for review at ones leisure.

I am essentially looking for a head count to determine if this would be feasible and/or worth putting on.

Thanks for reading,

-Dan
Capt. USAF

SED · Post by **SED** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:35 pm

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:40 pm

Hey, I have no problem with it. You guys work harder than just about everyone.

Have a great time!

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:12 am

I'll give you any support I can provide... rides home in the art car? Extra booze? Bonus points for those in uniform, might be able to wrangle some entertainment too. Oh, and have you mentioned this on tribe.net? There are a large number of burners there in the Burning Man tribe.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:27 am

diane o'thirst wrote:Hey, I have no problem with it. You guys work harder than just about everyone.

Have a great time!

And I would add, just for those who might not have thought of it, that this probably wouldn't be just about the guys. There are probably plenty of service women including active, guard, and reserves who participate as well.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:05 am

Hats off to those that serve and have served.

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:33 am

Larry still looks dashing in his crackerjacks, sadly my uniforms aren't even a memory of a tight squeeze. I may stll have my hat though.

If any of you met Ranger Boytoy at our camp, he's currently in Navy bootcamp.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:46 am

What Toolmaker said....

joel the ornery · Post by **joel the ornery** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:19 am

ditto...

when i hung up my uniform, i hung it for good... unless some lusty woman wants to see me in a uniform... but that is totally different matter.

good luck onthe dining out. i won't be there.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:12 pm

geekster wrote: And I would add, just for those who might not have thought of it, that this probably wouldn't be just about the guys. There are probably plenty of service women including active, guard, and reserves who participate as well.

[brushing lint off my shoulder] Hmph! "Guys" as in "term generic."

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:16 pm

Yeah, I thought that was how you were using it. Just wanted to point out to the others that it isn't just men. Seems when many think about "those in uniform" the mental image they get is that of men and I wanted to point out that it's women too. Your post provided a convenient place for me to say that. Sorry if I appeared to be "correcting" you, it wasn't my intention. Your use of the word "guys" simply jogged my memory is all.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:30 pm

fishpilot wrote:The Mess would be open to all branches, all rank, including all active, guard, reserve, and retired personnel. Spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and significant others, would of course be invited.

:(

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:48 pm

I wouldn't think you'd find much if any opposition at BM.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:34 pm

MikeVDS wrote:.. if any opposition at BM.

not true. in fact its likely to draw something from anti-war oriented people since not everyone sees a separation between supporting soldiers and supporting the war.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:59 pm

spectabillis wrote:
MikeVDS wrote:.. if any opposition at BM.
not true. in fact its likely to draw something from anti-war oriented people since not everyone sees a separation between supporting soldiers and supporting the war.

/
That is just fucking sad.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:23 pm

spectabillis wrote:
MikeVDS wrote:.. if any opposition at BM.
not true. in fact its likely to draw something from anti-war oriented people since not everyone sees a separation between supporting soldiers and supporting the war.

In my opinion only from the self-centered ones who feel it is not only important that people know what their opinion is but also feel that making life difficult for anyone who doesn't share that narrow minded opinion is somehow a desired trait.

The military also performs initial disaster response to places around the globe that are sometimes inaccessible by any other means. Often the first medical, ambulatory and basic survival services and supplies someone sees after a major disaster are those provided by our military, no matter where they might be on the planet. It is also how many have broken out of a cycle of poverty and climbed up the social ladder. There's more to it than the political issue du jour.

Silver 2 · Post by **Silver 2** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:47 pm

Don't know that I agree with spectabillis, we hold PDF at the Viet-Nam Veteran's Motorcycle Club of Delaware and a couple of years ago on the Sunday before Memorial Day one of the Vets got on stage and recited a poem which I believe he wrote. The poem was in honor of the fallen and maimed. Now I will admit that I and a few others passed the word that we would not be at all amused by any disrespect I also believe that such word was not needed.

At the time we had one active duty Major, one active duty Airborne, two ex-Airborne, at least one Academy grad and a few others that had been through the mill. including Fish who still has med problems left over from 'Nam.

I didn't hear all of the poem, one of the younger kids fainted.

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:34 am

If you need help with your event, I volunteer. Keep us posted on progress and let us know if we can help with donating food, transporting stuff, cooking, etc....

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:40 am

Call me closed-minded or narrow minded, but as I think more and more on this subject it could bother me from a very deep emotional base. Soldiers experience a lot of bad things. Soldiers do a lot of very, very bad things. To even think of these things while at Burning Man could just freak me out.

And I have met a lot of service personal at the burn, both american and others, not a problem out of uniform.

One of the first questions people will ask a service man who has experienced war, is "did you kill anyone".

So lets have that on our minds at while "camping on the Playa"

Some Vets are kinda fucked up, they might come to burning man to try and get it back together, to see a bunch of class A uniforms while trippin could maybe cause a flash back. Visions of fraggin and ears both come to mind.

I also find it interesting that only military and their friends can come... hummm.... (typical, if your not in the club stay the fuck out)

thanks for your time

Respectfully,
from a vietnam vet who still hates war and the people who pursue it

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:30 am

IF you want to do this thing, go for it. It's your gig, as much as a theme camp is their gig. It's art, and actually, a very specific type of art.

True, some may not get it, some (esp. civillians) may not understand the ceremoniality, some may scorn it (and understandably so) because they don't have good memories of the time they served, but Phoaq it, if you want to do it, do it.

And... there's more of a military bent now than before. Seen challenge coins out there. More militaristic themed theme camps. Saw someone in BDU's jogging the playa. Hell, we even toyed with the idea of doing a mess for our Kamp officers. So why not?

Ummm... Ad vice? Just make sure you have a good Ms (or Mr) Vice and a decent GoH and/or speaker, otherwise it becomes long and boring. (I got fined heavy for falling asleep at one aeons ago because the Mr. Vice was a boring sot and the speaker that evening was a monotone of unforgivable tonal dullness - think Ben Stein's Instructor character in Ferris Buehler's Day Off reciting a doctoral dissertation.) Also, have seen most of a Wing go Sick call the mourning after one because the lamb was so bad, the Ms. Vice should have declared the food fit to CAUSE consumption. Yeech!

So yeah, My 2 pfennigs, go for it, have fun with it. >heh heh heh<

bb

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:10 pm

wedeliver wrote:Call me closed-minded or narrow minded, but as I think more and more on this subject it could bother me from a very deep emotional base. Soldiers experience a lot of bad things. Soldiers do a lot of very, very bad things. To even think of these things while at Burning Man could just freak me out.

And I have met a lot of service personal at the burn, both american and others, not a problem out of uniform.

One of the first questions people will ask a service man who has experienced war, is "did you kill anyone".

So lets have that on our minds at while "camping on the Playa"

Some Vets are kinda fucked up, they might come to burning man to try and get it back together, to see a bunch of class A uniforms while trippin could maybe cause a flash back. Visions of fraggin and ears both come to mind.

I also find it interesting that only military and their friends can come... hummm.... (typical, if your not in the club stay the fuck out)

thanks for your time

Respectfully,
from a vietnam vet who still hates war and the people who pursue it

After thinking a little more I realized I was not at the Viet Nam Vets Against the war but at BURNING MAN. If there are soldiers who wish to party in the manner you have proposed then go for it. At Burning Man we can love each other not for what we are but because of who we are (huh). And at burning man. we all burners... and if any current service members need to talk about what they have done and what they have seen and what they can expect when they get out. there is help. hey maybe we could have a VFW Post (which means a bar) right there on the playa.....

peace

flipper · Post by **flipper** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 11:56 pm

My first thought was that going full dress is that while it's your right, it's clearly an invitation for some blowback.

Then I remembered that there are several theme camps with military overtones (Apcolypticka (sp?), Love Army, M*A*S*H 4027th, etc.) so people could also mistake you for one of them anyhow. Or perhaps there's even overlap.

So I'd say go ahead and do it. You deserve a chance to find like souls as much as anyone on the playa.

But I'd suggest finding someway to subvert the military image a bit. Whether it's getting Love Army dog tags, wearing Full dress tops with boxer shorts or bathrobes, or something, I think it will have a lot greater acceptance if you come off as a Hawkeye Pierce rather than a Frank Burns...

Keith

Pink Daddy · Post by **Pink Daddy** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 3:27 pm

After seeing this post, as well as talking to a good friend at the San Diego decom, I've created a tribe on Tribe.net called 'Burning Military', for all military members, past and present, to enjoy. This could be a central location for discussing this very topic on Tribe.net...

Poll (RSVP ?): interest in military "dining out" e

Poll (RSVP ?): interest in military "dining out" e

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Re: Poll (RSVP ?): interest in military "dining out&quo

after much thought

One one hand, on the other