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Monday, March 1, 2010

How I go from semiformal to punk rock in 1 night...

On Saturday the Jetplanes attended their 1st Warrior Banquet which was also our 1st 'dining out' experience together. (I couldn't attend his OTS graduation due to being in a wedding.)
It was very interesting and actually quite a bit of fun. At our base there are 4 squadrons, 2 operational and 2 training, each is designated by a number, mascot/name, and color. We are the Eagles and our color is blue, therefore the military attendees where a blue bow tie and cumber bun with their mess dress and the spouses are suppose to wear something blue as well - dress, purse, wrap, shoes, etc. etc. The other squadron colors are yellow, red, and hunter green....yeah we had the best option, I think.

Here's our spot in the back of the room, which the boys selected. Away from the important people. All good since we were close to the back bar, but bad since we were one of the last tables to eat...

The banquet is to honor those warriors with us in that room, across the ocean fighting, and those we've lost. This is my 1st experience being part of something like this, sure I've attended Mr. Jetplane's selections, pinnings, etc., but this is the 1st time we've been with hundreds of other men and women that do what Mr. is training to do. I was moved when they toasted to their fellow comrades from our base that are no longer with us, toasted to the heroic acts of some people in that room, and toasted to an instructor in our squadron who is ridiculously funny (Mr's man funny crush) who has more hours in this jet then ANYONE in the USAF. Who knew this joker who makes crude comments at my CRUD practices is actually this awesome, amazing aviator...


(Here are the Jetplanes at the end of the dinner)

The drinks were decent, the food....umm...well its banquet food, and the comradery was great. We had a speaker, a General in the Air Force who made fun of the fighter community being arrogant jerks...which if you want a good laugh at one of these things...that's always the way to go, that's for sure.



There was all the rules of Mess that had to be followed..no clapping allowed must hit table with spoon, you can't leave to go to the bathroom until it is granted by the President of the Mess, etc. etc.


Then there is this thing called the "Grog Bowl" which is a bowl (sometimes Toilet Bowl) where each squadron donates booze and 'other' substances to it. The mixture is stirred and people are toasted and asked to drink from it. Its gross and funny all at the same time. Commander's wives were not spared and all of them in attendance (past and present) drank from the bowl. I would have thrown up, especially since I knew that our squadron donated Everclear and Ranch Dressing....yeah disgusting.

Here I am with some of the other wives from our training squadron, all our husbands are in class together. The blue fans were on the tables, our tables were decorated blue, plus fans were made of feathers...and we're Eagles...get it?!?

The dinner ended and low and below my husband is alittle intoxicated....drinking Johnny Walker Black I think can do that to a person, right? So I was the designated driver, driving us and another couple to an after party at one of the guy's in his class's house. We all got in the car, and as I was closing the door to the driver's seat. I realized that I couldn't really reach my door very well with my dress on. It wasn't tight, but I seemed to be sitting on it in an odd way. I stretched out and slammed the door shut. Then I felt a rush of coldness down my back. Well the top portion of my dress is open so I thought that might be it. But then that rush of coldness went down all the way to my rearend. I swore I could feel the satin lining of my coat on my back...no that certainly couldn't be it...I then slid my hand under my coat and what did I find... Oh just the entire zipper of my desk busted from my bra strap down past my butt....Oh yeah...

So we are in route to the after party and I'm looking for a drug store to go buy safety pins, and my drunk passengers are sure they can fix my dress. (I find out that our CVSs and Walgreens aren't 24 hrs...damn them) Mr. Jetplane even calmly responses... "Don't worry babe...I fix my backpack all the time when the zipper does that..." Ummmm...Jackass!! My dress isn't your backpack!

So needless to say we got the party and while Mr Jetplane attempted to fix my dress, another wife who happens to live in the subdivision, annoyed with her drunk husband, and wants to get out of her shoes/dress, offers to take me to her house and we can fix my dress.

Low and below, homegirl had like 100+ safety pins. At my house, you're lucky to find 1 when you need it...

So this is house my dress looked at the after party....


Nice huh? I just told everyone, I was going for that Punk Rock look... I really didn't care if you saw my bar strap...I was concerned about the rest of my back and my underwear.

Yeah it was quite a night...

FYI - Everyone LOVED my shoes...even the guys!

14 comments:

Samma said...

You looked gorgeous! Even with the punk rock look :)

~Mrs. Guru~ said...

You still looked very pretty in that dress!

Piper Jacquelyn said...

O hilarious! I think this is something that would happen to myself, argh! Sounds like otherwise you had a great time (and now have a fun story to tell!) and I think I would have totally been all over this Grog Bowl action, ha.

Anonymous said...

You looked beautiful! Mr.Jetplane is a lucky man. :-) And I think the safety pins gave the dress a nice touch of 'edginess'. Haha!

Patience said...

You looked beautiful, punk rocker and all.

Elle said...

Uggghhh... what an awful time for your dress to tear, but thank goodness for safety pins! You looked simply stunning!

Windy City Kelley's said...

Cute dress, sounds like a fun night! You're a trooper though. I may have just gone home if my dress ripped like that.

Bumpkin on a Swing said...

You and I have the same look, but hell at least the shoes were a fabulous hit!

Sara said...

You are VERY wise to stay away from the Grog Bowl. I drank from it one time (at a military ball with a guy friend) and I swear the only reason I didn't puke right then and there was because I couldn't bend over in my dress!

Note to self: From now on, wear cute underwear with all tight dresses. Just in case...

Allison Hasel said...

Again, the dress looked fab! I cannot believe that happened though – funny, but not. :)

The Grog Bowls in ROTC couldn't have alcohol, not all college students are 21 of course, so they were filled with some of the nastiest things like ranch dressing mixed with oj, etc. Sick! The addition of alcohol has to make it a smidge better. I was under the impression that it was all alcohol in real AF, but apparently not! :)

Sounds like y'all had a good time regardless of the dress mishap!

The Adventures of Maverick & the Mrs. said...

How funny! You probably sent a new trend!

Pug(s) and Bugg said...

Ok regardless of the punk-pins it is a GORGEOUS dress! Reminds me of a subdued version of an Alexander McQueen that Drew Barrymore wore. That is a hilarious story, by the way!

Once I split my pants at a job interview! I nabbed a stapler and stapled up my pants crotch in the bathroom, LOL!

-kjpugs

Jessica said...

love what you did with the dress! ;) In the marine corps we call that "adapting and overcoming" and oh you did just that!

Hannah said...

Wow, that is an awesome story! haha. I'm so sorry that your dress ripped though. Think it can be fixed?

I can't believe they made the wives drink from the Grog! Those things are nasty!

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