USMC Ball, Tunis Style

We attended the 235th Birthday Ball hosted by the Marine Security Detachment at the US Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia last night. It was held at the Golden Tulip resort hotel. On the grounds, they have a semi-permanent tent structure for events. The Birthday Ball was held there.

We went to a pre-Ball cocktail hour hosted by the Canadian contingent of ex-pats. They are a very gregarious group and they embraced DH as their token Marine immediately. We spent a lovely hour and a half with them before heading over to the venue.

I wish I could remember all the names of the gracious people who attended. We had a blast chatting with everyone and seeing how they fit into the local community. Some were business people like DH and myself. Some were state department workers or embassy personnel. All the Canadians were very interesting and best of all--they spoke English!

The Marine contingent at the US Embassy is only 8 enlisted members strong. But you would never guess it was a small staff by the party they threw! It had all the bells and whistles you'd expect, including a guest speaker from the US Embassy, Ambassador Gray, and a guest speaker from Headquarters Marine Corps.

The speakers did the best thing they could possibly do on this august occasion, which was keep it short and focused on the Corps. The ambassador gave some very interesting history about a time in the Barbary wars when a sitting ambassador in these parts led his Marine security detachment into battle. He said it was the first (and probably last!) time a member of the ambassadorial staff commandeered his Marines to lead them into a fight.

The most interesting part of this entire ball was that not a single Marine, retired or active duty, hollered OOOH RAH at any point during the speeches and presentations. I noticed it at the time and made a comment, then nudged DH a couple of times when I expected to hear someone yell it out. Marines use this expression as a kind of "here, here" or "You GO Girl" exclamation. It's something that gets yelled out as a positive affirmation of agreement or excitement. To go through an entire Ball without hearing it was kind of eerie. But I digress...

We enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of the official ceremony. They presented the colors and marched the birthday cake in to present a piece to the guest speaker, and the oldest Marine and youngest Marine present. DH was just so glad not to be the oldest Marine present! Of course, if he was, he'd get the first piece of cake!

I'm not sure the ambassador had ever done this ceremony before. He very happily accepted the cake, took a bite and then handed it back to the Marines. Usually, they keep the plates. Sometimes they hand them off to someone so they can walk decorously back to their places, but they don't just hand it back. I watched the Marines set that plate down on the cake table and just roll it back out of the ballroom. Pretty interesting. I wonder what they thought.

As always, the Marines were inclusive and proud to share their Birthday with other Marines. They even tried to get DH to pose for photos with them--which he was hesitant to do. He's an old retired Marine now and he doesn't want to mess up their memories with a unnamed guy in their midst!

We had a truly marvelous time. I can't wait until next year when we will know more of the staff and personnel. Parties are always more fun when you know more people. The DJ played fast music, so DH and I didn't take to the dance floor, but we had a marvelous time visiting and meeting new people. Hopefully, we can keep up with all our new acquaintances and make some new friends.

--Sandee Wagner