On Sunday night at our staff meeting, Gunny Pavelcek opened a conversation about building a small club (separately from the E-club) for staff NCOs and section heads. It seemed like a nutty idea to me, but I remained quiet on the subject. He ended his presentation with, “Think about it, and we will talk later.”
The consensus on Monday morning was to build the club. In the staff mess after breakfast, the vote was unanimous. “Let’s do this!” I drew the architectural layout of the club on butcher paper, and Reb enhanced the drawing with a graphic sketch of the interior/exterior view. We laughed at our diagram of a bunker style club with a lower level seating area.
Pavelcek’s eyes lit up when he saw the design. It would seat 6 or 7 Marines plus the bartender. The drawings were a subtle way of mocking the Gunny’s idea, but he was so invested in this project that the joke went over his head.
The completion of this enterprise would require a lot of persistence with someone acting as a driving force. We had stumbled into a can of worms, and this “Club” became Pavelcek’s passion.
I am a retired restaurant manager. My wife Jenny and I have been married for 50 years, have three grown children and two teen grand kids.
View all posts by TinyBites.com
My Vietnam Experience 