Hangin' out with the guys....

I've never been known to be the kind of guy to just hang out with other guys. Even as a kid, I quickly realized that whenever you get a bunch of males together, the machismo level goes through the roof. As each guy feeds off of all of the other's bravado, it seems as if it almost always turns into trouble.

In the few times that I have decided to throw caution to the wind and to meet-up with a bunch of other guys - it has almost always come back to bite me in the butt. Case in point, I was stationed at a U.S. Coast Guard training center in Petaluma, California back in the late 1970's. A couple of times a week, I would thumb my way into town (the base was about 10 miles away), and walk around town and explore it. In all of the times that I visited Petaluma, I was not harassed, insulted, or anything like that.

So, on one particular Saturday afternoon, while just hanging around the barracks on base, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him and some other "Coasties" as they went into town for a few hours. On weekends, the base had a shuttle bus that made trips back and forth between the base and town. The plan was, that we would ride into town, do some shopping, catch a movie, eat some dinner and then catch the shuttle back to the base. I was told that the guys I'd be with were "cool".

After a few minutes of contemplation, I finally gave in and told my friend that I'd go along. The trip into town and the first couple of hours was pretty uneventful. Things started to unravel though as we arrived back at the bus stop to await the base shuttle bus. As the four of us guys stood a waited, a car drove slowly past us, it was filled with at least six young men. Some of the guys started yelling obscenities at us and then drove off. As a couple of the guys in my group started to yell back, I told them to keep quiet. I tried to explain to them that we should just let it pass because we had no idea whom we were dealing with.

Of course, my solo voice of reason was totally ignored. As the same car began to pass by us once again a few minutes later, at least three of my fellow Coasties immediately started yelling obscenities at the occupants. One of my shipmates even offered to kick the butts of anyone that wanted to fight him. I immediately told him just how stupid he was. His response was "Hey, I know karate, I can even take care of all of them by myself!".

Yep, there was the bravado and the machismo!

After hearing the tirade of insults and challenges from my military buddies, the occupants of the car suddenly had no intention of just driving off again. The driver of the car found a place to park about a half a block up the street and he and the occupants all poured out of the car. I was right, there men - all very large. Those six men were also carrying some very interesting items in their hands. Items such as heavy chains, tire-irons, baseball bats, you name it. It wasn't a very pretty sight. I can clearly remember turning and asking the karate expert if he was trained to fight against those kinds of items. He did not appreciate my sarcastic question and he actually looked more nervous than any of the other guys.

As my mind reeled and I tried to decide which guy I was going to personally take on myself, I was startled by the sound of police sirens - lots of them. Because it was about 9 pm at night, we all could see the flashing lights pretty far off. And in a flash, the guys with the weapons had quickly turned and ran back to their car and they peeled off down the street before the police showed up. Me and the rest of the guys, just stood there nervously as the cops began asking us questions about the incident.

One officer informed us that a passing taxi cab driver had seen the men exiting their vehicle and had immediately called his dispatch to notify the police. We were all very thankful. As one of the guys in our group tried to explain how the occupants in the car had initiated the confrontation, the policeman told us that he knew the reason why there was so much hostility toward us.

"All of the young guys in this town think that you military guys have lots of money, and that you just blow into town, steal their women, and then leave."

All of us Coasties started laughing. None of us had ever thought of ourselves as a threat to a community. As far has being "rich" - that was also very funny. I mean, none of us could even afford a old car! I also asked the other guys when was the last time anyone of them had dated a local girl. Of course, none of us ever had.

No Money + No Car = NO DATES

Anyway, it was a very long time before I would hang-out with a group of guys again. And wouldn't you know it - it could have turned out REAL bad that time also.

I'll tell that story another time.