USMC Dining Out Dec 5 2008 Okinawa

The Dude in Cammies is an Instructor up at Career Course on Camp Hansen. They had their Dining Out on Friday, December 5, 2008 at the Palms on Camp Hansen. Usually it is a Mess Night but Ed decided to make it a Dining Out so the SSGTS could learn how to put one of these on. He is the SNCOIC of Career Course, so he gets to make these kinds of decisions at the Academy. It went really well, always a few that are beligerent but that goes with Marines and unfortunately just because of society today. I'll finish this story as soon as i have the right words for things. I call it a "Dining In Dining Out one is the Navy one is the Marine Corps, take a pick, you have a 50 50 shot at getting it right"! But Ed says, NO, must say the right words.....so i will double check to see if i have it all right before i finish posting, but here are some pixs, only a few as photography is forbidden during the actual event!


Okay, i think i have this pretty accurate, i'll double check with Ed to make sure i'm not writing out wrong info here.....but this is pretty much what a Dining Out/Mess Night is with the Marine Corps


The Marine Corps has many traditions, one is the Dining Out, more commonly known as a Mess Night, the only significant difference being that with a Dining Out the Marine is able to bring their Spouse or a Date. I have never, and never will, attend a Mess Night and can only assume that those events are probably just a little bit more wild and humorous, but needless to say, the Dining Out I just recently attended was quite entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The Marines were quite amusing and the skits were hilarious. The PT one had all of us at the Head Table almost rolling on the floor! Sorry Ponderelli! Ya gotta admit the pink shirt was the icing on the cake! I was asked to explain a Dining Out when one of my friends asked what I was dressed up for, so I figured I should probably type this out to go with my pictures before I get a flood of questions as to the who, what, when, where, and why’s that usually come back at me when I post pictures without a story. I will give a little bit of background info and somewhat of a brief synopsis of what goes on at a Dining Out for those of you that have never had the opportunity to attend one of these events. I was only able to slyly take only a few photos as photography is prohibited at these events!


I think the first formal Mess Night after World War 2 was back in 1953 with those in the Third Regimental Combat Team that was in Japan at the time. This Mess Night was in honor of the visit of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Lemuel C. Shepard, Jr. The members of the Third Regiment continued to enjoy their Mess Nights. When their commander, Col. Robert H. Williams, transferred to Marine Barracks Eighth and I, Washington, D.C. he reestablished the tradition at the command.


The evening begins with a cocktail hour. When Chimes is sounded, that is your cue that it is time to head in. You are not to enter the Dining Out with drinks or cigarettes. There are different ways that this can begin. At the Academy Ed chose to have all the Marines go into the Dining Room and stand at their chairs as opposed to walking in as he didn’t want to take the chance of one of the spouses/dates tripping. I wasn’t so lucky. Ed sits at the head table, so have to walk in when he and the other Marines march to the table. I stayed in time with the feet in front of me and amazingly did not trip! But I also did NOT do a pivot on the corners. That would have been a disaster! The Head Table marches in after all the guests are standing at their seats waiting. The Marines march, I walk, till we get to our seats and then we stay standing until an about face is called, than we turn to face the guests and an invocation is offered. Yes, the Marine Corps still prays! America has forgotten how, but our Marines pray at the beginning of every important event. Following the prayer everyone is seated.


Next is the “Parade of the Roast”. The President of the Mess will than taste the roast to make sure it is good enough for human consumption. Now, this is another funny tradition of the Marine Corps. The Marines attending the Dinner will sabotage the roast that the President has to taste. They are quite creative in how they want to spice it up. This time, wow! My eyes were watering and I was two people down from him. It was covered in hot sauce and the underneath was thickly coated in wasabi. If you have been to the Orient, you know how hot wasabi is! Shoot, my sinuses were cleared up just from the whiff I got from it! The President of the Mess must eat the entire portion given to him. Upon finishing or should I say gagging down the roast, he than pronounces that the Roast is fit for human consumption. Dinner is now served. It is a five course dinner and very delicious. While the Palms Staff was serving dinner there were a few pranks played. Pizza Hut showed up with some personal pan pizzas. They were for Ed and the other 3 Instructors that work with him. This prank backfired on the pranker/students as now a Marine was called forward for something, I do not recall, and forced to consume all 4 pizzas in front of the head table. Marines can request to speak to the President of the Mess, but they must first ask permission from the Vice to address the President. The Vice can grant or deny this. The Vice may also grant this after asking the Marine to sing a song, do a dance, etc. before he is granted permission. The same goes forth with the President. He may deny the request the Vice granted or, again, have the Marine perform another task to entertain everyone. In this case, a Marine asked if he could come up and help his fellow Marine eat the pizzas. It was granted, however the President said that he could help by drinking water the entire time the Marine was eating the pizzas. There were other such things similar to that and were hilarious to watch. The Marines are very animated doing this and thoroughly enjoy putting on a show! You are not allowed to leave the Dining Out once it has begun, for no reason. Marines do try to slip out when they need to use the restroom, but the Head Table sees them and makes note to fine them when the floor is opened to fines. I will explain that soon. Towards the end of dinner the Vice will suggest that they Shed a Tear for Lord Admiral Nelson. This means that they can visit the head, or in English, go to the bathroom. This came from the fact that Lord Admiral Nelson’s body was preserved in a barrel of brandy after he died at Trafalgar. The Head Table stands and marches out first, lovely, I got to attempt to not trip and fall, again. I made it out without a slip or a slide. After the break, everyone goes back in and stands at their seat and then the Head Table marches in again; well not me, no marching just a walk and staying in stride and step with the rest of these guys. We stand again at our chairs, have to remember to hold my tummy in as everyone is getting a good look at my profile while I wait for “about face” and then I get to turn and face everyone and be seated. Yippee! I did not trip or slip! The floor is opened for fines. The Marines decide ahead of time what their fines are going to be. They all know to have money on them as it is easy to end up being fined. Marines are good at pranking each other. You need to guard your uniform with your life prior to one of these events, as you never know what a fellow Marine will do to punk you out at a Mess Night/Dining Out. The first fines were for the Marines that were late. The next set of fines went to the Marines that had brought drinks in with them. The fines also include any sort of punishment the President would like to inflict on the violator. I heard a beautiful rendition of “I’m a Little Tea Pot” sung by a big ole Marine as well as watched a fabulous performance of YMCA; saw a fantastic Moonwalker, a beautiful duet of “Blame It On The Rain”, etc. Thus the law, NO PHOTOGRAPHY or VIDEO EQUIPMENT! Marines are also known to show other Marines something they are going to do and then not do, just to have someone make an accusation against them. This is a perfect example….a Marine stood up and requested to speak to the President, the Vice granted this and the Marine told the President that he had Intel that there was a RECON Marine not wearing the proper belt with his trousers as he had come in RECON tradition. The Intel wasn’t strong enough to identify the Marine, soooooo all Marines had to lift their top and parade past the Head Table to be inspected. The Marine who supposedly had worn the wrong belt was not found, however, many Marines were seen to not be wearing any belt at all. They were fined and had to do a performance. The evening continued in that fashion. Fines were paid and laughter was in abundance. During the calling out of all these accusations you have the constant comebacks of “Say It Isn’t So” and “Hannious” Later another call will be made to shed a tear and the Head Table marches out again and later marches back in, again, I am amazed that I have yet to fall on my face! Next, the skits are performed. This is the Academy and these Marines are at the end of their school and they now have the opportunity to put on skits that usually make fun of either the Instructors or events that happened during the course of their schooling there. As usual, these were hilarious and the Instructors are already thinking of ways to kill the students at Monday mornings PT session. (I’m thinking it will be a combo of hills, rifle pt, um, maybe some table tops, and a few more odds and ends. Yeah, Ed will come home sore on Monday!) Following this there will be another tear shed, yes marching out again and in again. I’m actually very good at this, I’m just also easily distracted and can fall at any given moment, but tonight was not my night to fall. The Guest of Honor will then speak. We had another great one. After the speaker is given their thank you gift the staff will begin filling everyone’s wine glass. You can choose to have alcohol or non alcohol. The first toast is to our Commander In Chief. You rise for each toast and then sit until the next toast is given. (You do not rise if you; or in my case, my spouse, has been in the conflict/war being toasted.) The toasts include the President of the United States, The Continental Marines, The Marines of the 19th Century, The Marines of WW One, The Marines of WW Two, The Marines of the Korean War, The Marines of the Vietnam War, (I love being able to toast my Daddy on this one), The Marines of Lebanon and Grenada, The Marines of Desert Shield/Desert Storm, The Marines of Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, (can’t toast on this one), The U.S. Navy Corpsmen, Currently deployed Marines, All Marines who have died for the Corps. The Vice will than talk about the table that is set and no one sits there. He explains the symbolism of everything on the table, ending with the blank dog tags as those could bear the names of any of the Marines sitting in that room. Taps is played. Next the Rum Punch is brought in. Everyone gets one of these little glasses. A toast is made-Long Live the united States and success to the Marines! You drink this all up and I put my glass down while the Marines slam their cups on the table upside down. The Marines will than sing out all three verses to the Marine’s Hymn. The Head Table will exit the dining room, for the last time and everyone will join the President at the bar. It was a fun night. There were times my face hurt from laughing too hard. The end is always sobering as you think back on the illustrious history and the many sacrifices our Marines have made over the centuries. I hope I explained this somewhat right. I know I should know these things quite well by this time in my marriage……………but I still manage to get things confused. So, sorry to anyone I may offend if I have this not quite right!