What The Heck Happened?

Weasel_Keeper · by **Weasel_Keeper** » 10 Jul 2010, 05:29

Showing my age a bit but "back in my day" on any weekend night on an AF base there was plenty of music, loud dorm parties, things going on at the club, etc. I didn't think things could change too much since I came in in 1986 and got out in 1990 before joining the ANG.

This year for training I did two TDYs for a total of 5 weeks at Moody AFB...and the weekends on base were DEAD! The dorms were quiet, the club was closed early. For a base in a town with not that much to do it was like a ghost town. Have things gotten THAT anal that nobody parties or has fun anymore?

A couple years ago we had the club at Nellis hopping pretty good, but I guess you'd expect that from a big time TDY base. Barksdale earlier this year was okay, and we rocked Moron AB Spain in 2007. Is it just some bases that are dried up or is this a trend that's growing among all AD bases?

Back to my age...it's not that I want to party at the dorms...I was on working TDYs and hit the rack by 2200 usually even on the weekends...lol. Just curious.

Elliboom · by **Elliboom** » 28 Jul 2010, 12:34

Sadly it's a trend and the only holdouts seem to be the large TDY bases where everyone does not already know you when you walk in the club. Moron for some reason always had a good club, I was there from 9-21-2001 until Ma7 6th 2002 and we rocked that place on an almost nightly basis. Of course there was a ton of transit crews and Pax coming through that place at the time. Nellis is still good, I was there for Red Flag back in Feb 2010, but again, it was mostly TDY folks. Incirlik is decent, Milldenhall used to be amazing, but the last few times I have been there it has sucked. Mostly becasue they quit allowing civilians into the club on base, so it took the talent pool and severely diluted it.

dfischer · by **dfischer** » 28 Jul 2010, 13:48

I remember the Club at Nellis was kind of lame compared to the places just off base. In fact I was in Leadership School and the Base Senior Enlisted Advisor asked we could get more participation in the club. A guy in the class popped up and said "Name it the 25 Club". The 25 Club was a joint just off base.
Zaragoza was always a place to party alot too.

Elliboom · by **Elliboom** » 28 Jul 2010, 17:31

Altus actually has a pretty decent club, surprising for an ACTC/AMC base I know, but it's usually full on the weekends and pretty busy every night of the week. Of course having good food helps the weekday crowd.

Raptor_DCTR · by **Raptor_DCTR** » 28 Jul 2010, 17:36

Weasel_Keeper wrote:Have things gotten THAT anal that nobody parties or has fun anymore?

Pretty much. The active duty air force is wound so tight it's stupid. They're so scared of offending someone they can't get anything done. This is one of the biggest reasons I PALACED CHASED into the reserves. Hell, the dorms up here at Elmendorf are dry. So instead of letting people drink on base and maybe minimizing DUIs, they make you go off base. Plus you work with the same people day in and day out and on the base all the time. Not many people want to spend the weekend on base drinking. Much more fun to go light up the town.

outlaw162 · by **outlaw162** » 28 Jul 2010, 17:42

And you would do what else in Altus, Oklahoma?

:lol:

OL

VprWzl · by **VprWzl** » 28 Jul 2010, 19:04

I was passing through Luke a couple years ago and they closed the bar at the O'club at 8:30 on Fri night . . . so much for it being fightertown.

Warning - the following is a soap box rant:
In reality, they are driven so hard (sts) on a daily basis that most guys who have families just want to see them for the first time that week. Also, the political correctness has driven the guys to try to get away from the fighter pilot condemning atmosphere of the AF. Who'd have thought that the warfighters would be the ones who get beat down - but it doesn't pay to be the best anymore. A space guy wears a green bag (for the high risk computer he sits behind), gets a leather jacket, and has wings . . . Everyone knows that the '8 hours a day' admin officer is just as much the warfighter as the guy who risks his life daily and spends 14 hrs a day making it happen. I say let's promote guys based on their Master's degrees and not on what wars they've fought over the last 10 years - oh wait, that's what we're doing. Sorry, but I'm just a little pissed about the guys I know who missed opportunities & promotion because they've been deployed 5 times to Iraq & Afg fighting wars while some guy who has never deployed to a real war zone (but he's a "warrior") works 8 hr days, finishes advanced degrees, volunteers a little and suddenly is below the zone.

Hhhhmm - I guess I need to get off my soap box now. I think we ought to let the support guys fight the next war and we'll take the promotions and school slots.

pitfu · by **pitfu** » 28 Jul 2010, 19:10

Hear, Hear VprWzl! Now go put on your reflective belt.

VprWzl · by **VprWzl** » 28 Jul 2010, 19:12

Sorry - I guess this whole political correctness, "everyone's a warrior" thing just gets my blood boiling. Tell that to the JTAC who watches his buddy get sniped or to the fighter pilot who watches his wingman impact the ground strafing to protect an army convoy (or just training to protect an army convoy).

Back to the o'club discussion - its just become too dangerous to have the ftr sq party there. We have to do it (sts) at guy's houses or in town to keep the cops or political correctness censors away.

Cheers from a now angry Viper driver

ViperDude · by **ViperDude** » 28 Jul 2010, 19:15

It all went they way of Kegger's on a Friday after work, Strippers being brought into the NCO Clubs, , beer machines in the dorms, and when weekend standby actually meant staying home waiting for a phone call.

ViperDude

outlaw162 · by **outlaw162** » 28 Jul 2010, 19:32

I was passing through Luke a couple years ago and they closed the bar at the O'club at 8:30 on Fri night . . .

I can see why they would do that.

At the club I go to, we're usually finished with bingo by 8 pm.

OL (ret)

VprWzl · by **VprWzl** » 28 Jul 2010, 19:43

Too true

VarkVet · by **VarkVet** » 28 Jul 2010, 20:02

Anyone remember the Galaxy Club at MHZ in the 80's :lol:

"British women eager to check out the hot spot would rent buses and come en masse to the club each weekend, hoping to meet an airman, he said. Once there, they’d bat their eyes and hope that an airman would sign them in to gain entry to the club, he said"

“Buses would come from Cambridge, Norwich, Ely,” Smith said. “The club didn’t organize those buses. The girls would get together and organize on their own.”

http://www.stripes.com/news/raf-mildenh ... ry-1.55803

dfischer · by **dfischer** » 28 Jul 2010, 21:02

Vark Vet, Remember the Corby Commandos being bussed into the Lakenheath club on saturday nights? I went home on that bus a couple of times and those gals were something else.......LOL.

VarkVet · by **VarkVet** » 28 Jul 2010, 21:19

dfischer wrote:Vark Vet, Remember the Corby Commandos being bussed into the Lakenheath club on saturday nights? I went home on that bus a couple of times and those gals were something else.......LOL.

Not familiar with that one.
However you cannot beat English Gals… Women with traditional values that like to Bonk. :thumb: