Posted on 07/22/2008 7:00:05 AM PDT by peggybac
For some sailors on the USS North Carolina, Wilmington's red-carpet treatment stopped at the doors of downtown's bars.
In April, crew members from the Navy's newest nuclear attack submarine visited Wilmington on a goodwill trip ahead of the vessel's historic commissioning at the state port.
But when Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo talked with them about their stay, he winced at what he heard. Sailors told him they'd been turned away from downtown bars for being in the military.
"It was upsetting to me," Saffo said. "I never knew we had that type of issue with military personnel."
But a broader pattern soon emerged when city officials asked the Marines at nearby Camp Lejeune for their experiences. In some Wilmington night clubs, they replied, military often means "no entry."
"The golden rule seems to be not to look like a Marine if you want to gain access," Master Gunnery Sergeant Michael P. Denman said in an email to base leaders after polling his company.
Other Marines gave similar impressions of downtown's biggest clubs, alleging that doormen enforce rules with them while others slide by.
(Excerpt) Read more at starnewsonline.com ...
Yes. Wilmington is a very LIBERAL town. I was down there this week and all the Obama hippies were out. Also lots of limo liberals. Big film industry down there. That being said it is a great town otherwise.
Well, okay, jarheads I see the logic of not want a bar getting trashed...BUT we’re talking gentlemanly SAILORS on USS Wilmington! Scheezech,
That’s typical. Bars do that all the time. The military guys fight, especially each other.
Our 17 yr old grandson just enlisted in the Marines. And my husband was in the Marines during Viet Nam. What kind of a world do we live in anymore...
what jerks.
PLEASE military coming into my bar, look military. wear your uniform or show me your military ID. i’ll buy you a drink.
I used to go to UNCW. One of the problems that we had was some US Marines and British Merchant marines would show up on the weekends and wreck the dorms and start fights. I love our guys and I respect the jobs the marines do, and I am 100% pro military. However, there are some bad apples who give the rest a bad name.
90% of the problems were actually caused by the little UNCW hookers running away from their boyfriends to party with us. Can’t turn them away for the sake of peace, can you ?
It was nice to know that Jodie worked both ways...
Semper Fi,
NYleatherneck
I went into a public-’ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:
O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.
Turnabout is always fair play.
Semper Fi.
L
I have no problem with the Marines enjoying company. Just the part about breaking windows and starting fights.
A soldier or sailor is the definition of the customer the club does not want: he does not have a lot of money to waste, he travels in a large pack of similar men, he and his friends are not afraid of the bouncers and are always prepared for a fight.
The dream male customer for a club owner is a single guy or a guy accompanied by at most one or two friends who is in his thirties, has plenty of discretionary income to spend on sending overpriced bottles of champagne to a table of women, and who is scared to death of his bouncers and will therefore not cause any trouble or fights.
Some Wilmington bars are wary of military patrons, as well they should be. Face it, folks, too many of Uncle Sam’s finest in too small of a venue, with no controlling legal authority figures about, is a recipe for instant wreckage. Just add alcohol. I was in the Reagan Army, the one the commies feared, and, while drinking and clowning with Buck, Chuk, Rock, Tex, and Gig, I committed acts of brazen, violent, hilarious(?) vandalism and destruction to which I will never confess. We weren’t vicious, I don’t think, but we were young, strong, proud, drunk, silly, selfish, crude, cool, and occasionally cruel.
I was a GI long enough to know that I wouldn’t want very many of ‘em drinking inside any room that I owned, not without cops, MPs or uniformed officers around. Weren’t many altar boys in the service then, and there probably aren’t too many there now. If I were a Wilmington bar owner, I’d try to treat ‘em fairly, but I’d keep two eyes on ‘em, too.
We live in a world in which we are lucky to have those such as your grandson willing to serve. God Bless him and all of our troops. Try to attend his boot camp graduation!
Semper Fi
It has nothing to do with liberal or conservative, it has to do with the fact they show up en masse and harrass the college gals. Which is not good for a clubs long term viability, if they get a reputation for being filled with nothing but military guys, they quickly go out of business.
This has nothing to do with politics, just folks protecting their businesses. That’s the facts jack. Have family in both Jacksonville, NC and Wilmington, and that’s the way it is. Its not a political statement.
See post 16, that’s the real facts of the matter.
Pass a law against this (if it doesn’t exist already) and enforce it to the max.
Reminds me of the signs I used to see in Norfolk....Sailors and dogs keep off the grass....made me feel right at home
I always thought we wanted less govt?
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