DANCES

Wow, y'all are mischievous puppies.

I was friendly with a girl at Notre Dame. She was the sister of a fellow cadet. I went on a few dances there and she came to FUMA. I got to be good friends with his family. They lived north of Richmond so they would come down at least once a month for weekend day passes. She'd write me letters scented with bad, teenage-girl perfume. I kept it all very quiet as any guy in the platoon getting "love letters" was hounded percilessly. Never made it to the Military Ball as she broke her ankle playing field hockey a week before. I was sooo ticked. We still saw each other after I left FUMA but then college came along......

Jesse, I remember the bus going into the snowbank. I think it was 1987 as that was the winter that snow covered campus for something like three months.

Dances were held routinely during my stay at FUMA between 1969 and 1971. Girls from Fluvanna County attended regularly, but I cannot remember for sure whether the private girls schools participated. For those without a date, you could host a young lady, arranged site unseen, and the "couples" created during this venture were often a topic of discussion for weeks on end....

The military ball was always well attended, particularly by the upperclassmen. During the last military ball I attended I had been dating another cadet's cousin, and we kept getting warned by Red Pulliam that we needed to "keep our distance" during slow dances. I guess FUMA is where I learned the fine nuances of being a gentleman. :lol:

I also remember one time up at a Stuart Hall dance- Whiteside, me and a friend from Blue Ridge School(his sister went to Stuart Hall) all of us snuck into their dorms with a few girls. We had to hide out in the shower until the coast was clear for us to sneak back down. The next weekend we were on leave and went up to Stuart Hall to take the girls on a date. Prior to the girls being allowed in town with us we had to formally be introduced to the headmistress for her approval of granting them time in town. When Whiteside pulled his hand out of pocket to shake her hand, something fell out of his pocket onto the floor right in front of all of us including the headmistress. Let's just say Whiteside was "prepared" for his date. We were mortified and the headmistress gasped out loud. Needless to say, Whiteside's date was not allowed to leave campus. The rest of us went to the movies and laughed the whole time.

Remember it will... "sing us a song, you're the piano man". :P

So...the Military Ball is comming up very soon according the calendar I see. Is everyone's sons excited about going?

I seem to recall a service supplied by former TAC officer CPT Watson in which dateless cadets were paired up with girls from Fluvanna County HS who wanted to go to the Military Ball. I know CPT Watson isn't around FUMA anymore, though, and I'm not sure if anyone else took over that job.

FUMA doesn't get involved in the date transportation at all. If the cadet has a date from home she comes down with her parent(s) or maybe the parent(s) of the cadet or sometimes both. Some cadets (seems like mostly from the Richmond area) have dates arrive in a limo and that gets the parents out of the loop. Dates are supposed to be delivered to the ball site (I forget if my son told me Estes athletic or dining hall) and not "paraded across the circle" per Col. Ivens but it always seems like some do and then some poor cadet(s) who just can't control themselves whistle and Col. Ivens has to come find the offender(s) :oops:

It is not possible to go to the ball stag. Some lucky cadets get set up by their buddies who have more female friends or sisters than arms. Some cadets get tapped by a faculty member who has a daughter who would like to attend and she usually has at least one other friend that wants to join in.

Mostly the rules are no different than any other event at FUMA. You must be in good standing with demerits below a certain level, wear a specific uniform, and follow the procedure if you're going on leave overnight.

Barbara

I'm interested in how the dance procedures work. Say that a Cadet does not have a date, how would he get one? Would they fly one back from his hometown, or go by himself? For the cadets who have a girl that is able to attend, how does that go? Does FUMA provide transportation for her, or does she bring herself? What are the rules for the dances is mainly what I would like to know, I'm mainly talking about the Military Ball. I'm just interested since we didn't have them back when I was a FUMA.(If we did, I didn't go to any.)

You've gotta love a girlfriend who encourages studying and sports!

As far as I can tell, no trips to Foxcroft or Madiera in the last couple of years........................ :roll:

Barbara

LOL -- that would be interesting if we'd been forced to go...

all dances - home and away -- are optional.

J

Oh, there was trouble alright... best kinda trouble there is!

:D

But without those trips, we might have killed each other.

I never went to a dance. I was too busy on weekend leaves or away at athletic competitions. No big deal to those around me. If I could not go home, I would have made my best attempt at dancing..something to this date, I do not do.....

That's because she was a he AJ! :lol:

In the 50's there were no dances at FUMA although I do recall attending a few at various girls schools in the area during Band trips.As for saltpeter(KNO3) in the punch or food-forget it!
A large dose would not only taste nasty but would probably make one quite ill.It might even pickle your prostate and would definitely make your urine useful for making pyrotechnic devices.It is a major ingredient of explosives and fireworks and is used in preserving meats under the guise of Prague Powder.Since it is used liberally in the manufacture of sausage and ham it will not suppress horniness and may even preserve your meat.They may have put something in the food at FUMA just to kill any remaining vestige of flavor.I do recall one time at a girls school in Charlottesville where something was added to the Punch changing the Punch into a Wallop.My date and I became WATFU (well and truly.......) and she almost ralphed on me while we were making out in the
garden.As a gentleman I suddenly felt the urge to follow suit and we spent the rest of the evening retching.To this day I avoid the punch bowl at parties and just grab a very plebian beer

Capt. Wilson once crashed our dance bus in the snow at Foxcroft; this is no lie, there's gotta be documentation to prove it (1987, '88 or '89): We actually HAD to spend the night there, at the school. We stayed in the gym. It was, well...interesting.

:)

JBW

Ah yes, the away dances. That was always fun. Those were some pretty exclusive girls schools we visited.

It's true. Mikey even got me to the military ball one year. After that I only went to one other Ball and it was not nearly as fun. (pre-arranged date through my roomie's girlfriend. Girl had the personality of stale cheese. Maybe that was just her perfume...)