A couple of weeks ago, as part of a conference of attorneys on the west coast, I attended a dinner function staged at MCAS Miramar. This turned out to be a lot of fun. I had not been to the base since the late 80s, when it was still Fightertown USA and had not been (as the current occupants described it) captured by the Marines.
They do this type of thing on a regular basis there. They have a hangar where they set up the stage, dance floor, and buffet. Guests serve themselves on mess trays. They pulled out, in this case, a couple of Hornets, a Herc and an H-53.
Restroom facilities were a line of porta-johnnies. Like any airshow hound this was no big deal for me, but I think it was an unusual experience for some of my friends. I will say that the caterer provided something I've never experienced before -- an attendant to direct me to the next empty porta-johnnie and hold the door open. I've asked myself many disturbing questions on leaving porta-johnnies over the years, but whether I should tip someone on the way out was not one of them.
Many of the guests don't get close to military aircraft that often and were fascinated by the opportunity to peek in and walk through.
There was also an F-18 in the pattern which provided a few incidental flypasts.
I'm more accustomed to the aircraft, but what made the event enjoyable for me was the participation of Marine airmen and other personnel. Several airmen from each of the base's squadrons showed up, mingled with the guests, shared our food and booze, and politely hit on some of our women. (To be fair, though, I observed more women hitting on Marines than vice versa.)
We were treated to pre-dinner addresses by the officers who command the base and the air wing, both of whom entertained the crowd with stories of the exploits of Marines in the mideast which, they claimed, we have not heard because the media are interested only in stories where Americans die. It was clear that the Marines had more contempt for the media than almost anything, except possibly the V-22 Osprey.
The various base squadrons had a table where they were selling professionally made apparel, patches, etc. emblazoned with the squadron insignia. They clearly had quite a competition going. I wish I bought more swag myself. At least I persuaded a few of my colleagues to make extra purchases of "zap" stickers by explaining their traditional habit of mysteriously appearing on aircraft visiting the base.
My point in this thread, besides look-what-I-did-that-was-fun, relates a little to Dan's recent post about his victory ship cruise. Most people don't know that you can do this type of thing. In this case, Miramar hosts this kind of event about once a month, and it is listed with agents who are in what is called the "destination management service" industry (how do I get that kind of job?), so that when a group that is having a meeting calls a DMS agent and says they want to do something cool, this is an experience that the agent can offer up.
How many warbird museums do something like this? I'm aware of a few that do. I am not sure they are listed with the right agents and so forth. There's an investment that needs to be made in being able to accommodate this type of event, but it may be a worthwhile source of funding.
August
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