A Reunion Remembered

Although it's been a month since I returned from the 2006 reunion of the Navy Musicians Association in Louisville, a day has not gone by that I haven't found myself recalling the joy of seeing old shipmates and making new friends.

The NMA is an organization of MUs: retirees, one-hitchers, in-betweeners like me (13 years of fun in the sun), and even a few active-duty Navy musicians. This was the first NMA reunion I've attended, and I was astounded by the cameraderie and music that are the hallmarks of annual reunions:

• Big band rehearsals throughout the day.
• Jam sessions at night.
• Sea stories 'round the clock.

The Holiday Inn provided us with group rates (over 200 members, spouses and guests attended), as well as rooms for rehearsal, registration and display of memorabilia. Management also met the major, inflexible requirement of an NMA reunion: we take over the hotel bar for the week.

Our rhythm section gear remains set up in the lounge for the duration of our stay. Each evening, sometime after dinner, MUs begin drifting in. After some tall-tale-telling, a pianist spots a bassist, the two of them nab a drummer and the trio steps up to the bandstand for a few tunes. This is what the horn players have been waiting for. They put down their Miller Lites, pick up their axes and join in. The place is filling up, the MUs performing, taking in the music, telling sea stories--and the evening has just begun.

We had concerts, clinics, even a day-trip to the race track. The reunion culminated with a Saturday evening banquet that featured a patriotic opening by the NMA Concert Band and dance music by the NMA's own big band.

As a crusty old warrant officer asked me during the evening, "Who would have thought that, 30 years later, we'd be getting misty playing 'Anchors Aweigh' again?"

If you do not belong to the Navy Musicians Association, you can get more information--and download photos from the last few reunions--at the NMA website.

I urge you to consider joining us at the next NMA reunion: you will enjoy it!
Frank Mullen, USN 1974-1987