Plan B Forum

I'm not actually asking that, it's a question I thought of when reading a recent comic strip (a guy was being questioned about his whereabouts on a particular day, said he didn't know, but the questioner found that off since it was the accused's 21st birthday.)

I sort of remember what I was doing on my own 21st. Not for reasons most would, but for the opposite. Can't say exactly where since only the ships quartermasters and a few officers would know where we were more precise than "the middle of the Pacific Ocean". And I remember I spent part of that day chipping paint on the 02 level M frames.

The thing is, that seems to be the one birthday most people have recollections of. Even mine, when it was really no different than the days before or after (well, I don't remember chipping paint much on that deployment as I wasn't a Boatswain's Mate or an undesignated deck sailor at the time).

Other birthdays, not so much. I can't say where I was on my 18th, 20th, 22nd... heck, I can remember very few details of any birthday. I don't really remember much of this years version except that I had taken vacation days and stayed home. The exceptions are my 19th and my 40th. Those I vividly remember, because of where I was or where I was going. I remember my 25th only because of the tragedy that happened that day in 1999.

Which makes me wonder if the 21st (for us US citizens where it has some significance) is memorable for most folks, or if it was just another birthday lost in the stream of time like most every other individual day in ones life.




In case anyone is curious, I remember:

19 - I was flying home from Orlando after having gotten disqualified from the Navy Nuclear Training program. Had a 4 hour layover in Vegas so my uncle met me at the airport and we took a short tour of the strip and almost missed my flight because we somehow managed to lose his 1978 Pontiac Bonneville in the Circus Circus parking lot. I made my flight only because another passenger was held up in check-in so they left the door open.

25 - I was on Long Island doing training at the corporate headquarters. Turned on the TV in my hotel room to coverage of Columbine. But my group still went out to dinner at TGIF. And yes, they told the staff.

40. I was about halfway through my solo trip around the US. It was Easter. I was in Norfolk, VA. I visited the ship my grandfather served on in WW2, the USS Wisconsin. Had dinner at Golden Corral, then phoned the family who were all gathered for Easter before heading through DC for my next stop in Baltimore. That was a good day.

I was in London - living in an apartment in Streatham (Northanger Road, as I recall) . . . drunk and pissed off because the age of majority for UK was changed from 21 to 18 in 1969 - when I was 19. So there was no long-anticipated 1971 "key of the door" celebration at age 21 and I'd already missed celebrating majority on my 18th birthday.

Bastards

I was in Platoon one, Company A, 4th Battlion, 4th Training Regiment, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Because of the extreme weather in summer and winter, it was proudly called 'Little Korea.' Because of a misadventure there, I was given a medical hold and taken off orders to go to the Army Jungle Warfare training center in beautiful Hawaii and thus missed Viet Nam. It wasn't the 'golden bullet' but looking back it was pretty close. But no, I also cannot remember details of that particular day.

snailgate

November of 1975 ... I was still living with my folks and already working (part-time) at the grocery store; can't recall if I was also working PT at the motel as the overnight desk clerk — I might have been at work for at least a part of the day.   Since I'd been legal to consume alcohol at age 18 there would have been no big "finally old enuf" blowout.  And since at that time I hadn't yet purchased my own vehicle (and even I was aware that one just doesn't ask one's parents to borrow the family car to go out drinking!), anywhere I would have gone would have been accessed either on foot or by bicycle.

So I honestly don't know... although I'm sure that I did have at least one or two celebratory drinks, either at home or at one of the neighborhood taverns after work (assuming that I had worked that day).

-"BB"-

Brighton, England with a newly minted chemistry degree and wondering what to do with it. Working at the wine store which had been my vacation and Saturday job for three years and although I enjoyed the work I knew it wasn't going to be my life calling. Had just seen an ad for a postgrad course in Oceanography which seemed interesting and I was contemplating it. I'm not entirely sure how an ocean scientist ended up in land-locked Kentucky but, as John Lennon said, life is what happens while you are making other plans.

I guess my 21st was not all that memorable. I googled to see what day of the week it was. It was a Sunday. Kansas was pretty much "dry" on Sundays 50 years ago, so I doubt I went out drinking. By then I had given up on my girlfriend of the previous 2-1/2 years, so I had probably spent that weekend practicing being a broke bored college student. Studying, and stuff like that.
I do remember #30. New girlfriend, rich daddy. Bigger milestone. She took me flying in her Beech Sundowner. I let her get away when I started chasing Mrs Mc. No regrets.

I'm pretty sure I had a final exam on that birthday; I usually did have exams on my birthday while I was in college (until my 22nd birthday). Like Bill, I could legally drink since I was 18 (really before that, at least in NY (were the legal age was 18, while it was 21 in NJ); I looked older and was rarely proofed--but had a card showing I was 23 or 24 just in case) so I don't think it was any big blowout, but I do think I went somewhere for dinner (likely somewhere pretty cheap, and not memorable given my finances at the time).

Was at a Gathering of Eagles, the race was bad for me, or as is often the case, it was good until it wasn't. The party that evening was nice, even if it wasn't "for" me, and I didn't go overboard. So, yes, I remember it clearly.

i was at a bar/poolhall that i had been frequenting for about a year at that point...

the fact that it was my 21st b day got mixed reactions....

i was also in a tv commercial at a local pizza joint , la roma, drinking beer, before i was 21...

someone ratted me out to the owner, who was sicilian...,

we had a conversation about that....