Monday, August 11, 2008

Uniforms and free lunches

I don't know if I've mentioned it here or not, but our new home is NOT a military town. Stretch is here working with Reservists. There is no base or anything else remotely resembling active-duty living. The Marines have a building that they share with the Navy, motor pool area, and parking lot that is all enclosed by a rusty chain-link fence. So coming here, we really had no idea what to expect.

So far, Stretch has found that reception the Marines receive here is overwhelmingly supportive. In fact, they dress up once a week and wear their Charlies. They can't wear their cammies out in town but they can wear the Charlies. On several occasions, Marines have had strangers pay for their lunches while out in uniform. In fact, it happened to us just last week. L'il Sis and I met Stretch for lunch. We needed boxes and when the waitress brought them by, she let Stretch know that the gentleman at the next table had paid for our lunch. Of course, he thanked him right away and again before we left. Outside, he chalked it up to L'il Sis being so cute (okay, he said me, too, but I'm not buying that). Hmm. Yes, she's cute. But she's never gotten me a free lunch before.

It's an interesting thing. It's very nice to have someone feel appreciative of the military and want to do something nice for its members. At the same time, it felt a bit strange to be the recipient of that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's wonderful. I'm glad the civvie-world is showing their gratitude. I know it must be harder not having the base and all the wives for an automatic support system.

I wonder if Marines who stand out physically (say 3/4 of a foot above the rest) get more free lunches? LOL, just joking...

The Mrs. said...

We too are in a reservist town, we have WP nearby but they dont really come up this far (its far in their minds!). We usually get a thank you here or there, flyboy doesn't go out in uniform much. When a bunch of guys go out for a farewell lunch or something they usually get quite a reception!

He does everything he can to avoid having to wear his charlies, he looks so darn cute in them but he's too used to the comfort of a flight suit. And if you think the Marines are tight about wearing cammies out, lord, flyboy wont even stop for gas in a flight suit (cammies either for that matter).

I'm always surprised when I see all the Army or Air Guard guys wondering around in their cammies. Its just so strange to me.

Butterfly Wife said...

The buying lunch thing always gets me misty-eyed.

C-ville is as close to a military post as I have been, and it is just an Army school on a college campus. But it is pretty neat seeing the little military community come together here. And the larger community appears to be very supportive too. We get the student discount at the grocery store. Nice!