I can’t remember when I first became a member of NCVA, but it seems like it was shortly after I retired in 1980. Each and every year I read with anticipation about the coming reunion. Each year I settled for attending vicariously through the post-reunion articles and photos in the CRYPTOLOG. Each year I promised myself that next year, I’ll get there. But, as time played out, there was always some reason standing in the way of being able to go. That is, until Washington, DC in 1998! Was I disappointed? No. Was it cheap? No. Will it ever be? No. Will I do it again? Definitely! As the time drew near for having to make my commitment, I reviewed the list of attendees on the NCVA web site. My reaction was mixed. I think that there were about 500 signed up when I first looked at the list. I recall thinking that even after having spent 20 years in this field, I knew so few of the people on the list. That was really disappointing. It hinted to me that I’d be adrift in a sea of people I didn’t know. When I made my commitment, at the deadline for an early registration discount, there were a little over 700 people on the list. Still, I knew relatively few of the people. Oh, there were quite a few names I knew of, or heard of, and a few I thought I might have served with, but I still thought this might turn out to be a disappointment. But, I figured it wouldn’t be a total loss, since I have in-laws, a son and a daughter in Maryland. My wife and I checked into the Crystal Gateway Marriott Thursday evening. I was unable to get away from work for the earlier days in the session. After we got settled in, I reviewed the ‘plan of the day’ and noted that the hospitality suite was open until 2400. Although it was 2200 by that time, I figured there would probably be some die-hards still at it. At least I’d get a chance to roam and locate all the rooms for the weekend’s activities. Sure enough, there were probably a hundred or so in the hospitality suite. I cruised the length of the room. Nobody recognized me; I recognized nobody. It seemed my prophecy was coming true. I was tired anyway, so I went to bed. Nancy grew up in Baltimore and I lived in Maryland and Virginia for ten years before coming to Florida, so we skipped the tours planned by the reunion committee. But Friday morning, we visited our favorite Smithsonian exhibits: first ladies dresses and then Air and Space. I’ll leave it to you to guess which one I liked best. By making this small excursion, I witnessed something that really made an impression on me. I saw NCVA hats on the Metro, on "the mall" that stretches from the Capital Building to the Lincoln Memorial, in the museums, in the Crystal Underground. . .they were everywhere. You can’t imagine what an impact 700-some people can have on a city, even as large as Washington, DC. Each one of those hats I saw made me smile inside too, because although we didn’t know each other personally, we had a common bond. We returned to the hotel so I could select our seats for the banquet before driving up the B-W Parkway to Nancy’s parents house for dinner. After figuring out where we would roost for the banquet, I made a strafing run on the hospitality room. The planners did well to reserve a very large room for this purpose; it was full of people. I gave up scanning the tables to find someone I actually knew and just walked over to a table and introduced myself. In a strange coincidence, I learned that they were from the Florida Chapter. When we returned from Baltimore that evening, I dropped in on the Hospitality Room again. The room was packed; laughter and chatter made the din as loud as the best of honkey-tonks. Everyone was, in the parlance of the owl, having a hoot. What a great idea it was to have a hospitality room with extended hours. It was the social center for the reunion. It provided an ideal mechanism for people to meet and rekindle friendships. I ran into, sometimes literally, people from my first to my last duty station. I met fine people I never knew before. I learned that there were, in fact, people actually reading AFTERTHOUGHTS and weren’t embarrassed to admit it. The General Assembly the next morning and the banquet Saturday evening brought more good times. I met new folks and I met several people from my duty stations. I met people I knew only by email or from the NCVA IRC-Internet Chat sessions. I met, for the first time, Grady Lewis and Judy Warren, who have been so patient with me since I began contributing to the CRYPTOLOG. I heard where "The Group" was in its evolution and where it was going. During those few days in Washington, I yearned to roll back the clock and still be part of perhaps the greatest mission in the Navy. For those of you who are social animals, but just haven’t been moved to attend a reunion, do what you must do to come to New Orleans in 1999. You won’t regret it.

 

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This page last updated: October 09, 1999