Death - Where Is Thy Sting................
 

Definitly not !!! I would suggest that you are in pretty good company here !

I mean no slur to those stalwarts who have managed to avoid this, in fact quite the opposite !

Bill

Yes, I still remember a particular dining in might and that quite surprised that quite surprised me. Equally surprisingly no one said anything afterwards either.

Likewise at a certain nursing officers mess.

I have drawn a mental veil over the many faux pas, breaches of etiquette and social peccadilloes which have punctuated my career. I blame drinking from wet glasses and pray that all else present were suffering from the same affliction.

Some oldies but goldies from 20-ish years of PPRuNery here: https://www.pprune.org/military-avia...dn-t-said.html

The Mess Manager had quite a bit to say to our Boss after one of ours, and the Boss dutifully bollocked all those of us who had managed to crawl into the crewroom by 0800 the following morning. We didn't fly that day. Err, it was apparantly a 'ground training refresher day' or somesuch.. Wise choice.

CS

I thought that those feelings were SOP for those of us of a certain vintage

This a story from my initial training and hence a very long time ago.

It was an RAF Station with a lt cdr RN attached. There was a dining in night Friday and the station parade the following morning, it was a long time ago.

Parade supernumerary officers would March up and down at the side of the parade ground waiting to fall in and all other officers would assemble behind the flag pole.

As the stn cdr took post the RN officer could be seen marching to his office in full Mess Dress.

When duly summons he handed over his letter of apology.

If you can remember it, well it could not have been that bad

Commiserations, I have dropped a fair few social and professional clangers over the years. Learn from it, but try not to let it dog you is all I can suggest.

oh it waz, trust me :(

And Relax.......
 

Anyone remember the No. 1 Group dining-in night? No, I thought not !!

Bill

Nope but I remember rose bushes may have been involved.

IG

Ummm, I remember every 1369 debrief, all of which began with;
'if only you could develop a little more tact'
Says it all really

My career [such as it was] was saved by a boss who remarked that tact and diplomacy were essential when one was junior, but could be dispensed with at a suitably senior level. At this senior level the same traits were seen as "firm", "knows his own mind", "does not suffer fools gladly"..

My ACRs [copies of] show the trend accurately.

After a certain social occasion at an RAF base somewhere in Germany, held just before I was posted back to UK, I remember drinking beer that was being kept cool in a bath full of ice. It must have been rather nice beer because I don't remember much else except that it was a "schooldays" themed party.

I thought no more of it until I returned to said base on a temporary basis, almost two years later. I was advised by a certain pilot (the late GB, who had also been present on said occasion) that it might be a nice thought to give a certain lady who now worked in the PSI shop a peace offering. I quizzed him why but all he would say was: "You'd better ask her, I don't know what you did but she's mentioned your name quite a few times since that party!"

So I bought her a very nice bunch of flowers and delivered them in person. She accepted them but wouldn't discuss my alleged "misdemeanor". To this day I have no idea what I was supposed to have done to upset her. But whatever it was, my wife had also been present and more sober than I, so it can't have been too outrageous! :confused:

oh yes, vividly, but I am sure you were at a quite different event from mine, even in the same time and place :)

I do Bill!

Ralph

I do Bill! and the Coachride back to Cottesmore....

Ralph

Dinner with my English Boss and five Japanese senior managers. He liked to order the best Rioja, unfortunately I like to drink it.
At some point during the inevitable joke round, I decided to up the ante and told the most appalling joke, that I won't repeat.
As the tumbleweed rolled past, I knew I'd cocked this up big time. The following day he let me know what he thought of me and parked it there. I reckon in today's climate I'd have been sacked.
Hopefully I learned about diplomacy from that.

Was Joe Sevright OIC your coach?