At least I didn't have to wear jump boots with it.
"I'd be willing to give it a try!", I told her.
"Behave! Now get your key and we can go.", she laughed at me.
As we left the cabin, I ran my hand across her ass. "I don't think you're wearing panties.", I whispered to her. She swatted my hand and told me to behave myself, but she also turned bright red, so I suspected I was right. I was going to enjoy the evening!
The various newlyweds in the group all ended up queuing up in a lobby area towards the stern of the boat, outside of a door to one of the larger lounges. Probably two-thirds of the men were in tuxedos, with the rest in dark suits, and all the ladies had on something in the way of fancy dresses. I did notice that I was the only person in uniform, which surprised me a touch, since I had figured more than one soldier or sailor had gotten married in uniform. Still, it's not a requirement, and it's perfectly legal to wear a civilian tux, at least off base and at non-military events. With three out of four in my wedding party in the service, it had seemed like a good idea to me.
As we stood in line to enter and meet the captain, Marilyn began talking to the people right before us. They looked familiar to me for some reason, and it quickly came out that they had been a couple of deck chairs down from us out at the pool this afternoon. John and Mary Smith were only a couple of years older than we were, and he was in a traditional black tux while she had on a dark grey evening gown. Marilyn introduced us. Mary smiled at me and said, "Very spiffy! Is that a uniform?"
John and Mary were much nicer than Harrison and Melissa the other night. She just didn't know anything about the Army. I explained the types of uniforms as we slowly moved towards the front. John commented, "I thought you were in the service earlier, when I saw your dog tags."
I nodded. "I've been wearing them so long, I forget I have them on.", I told him.
"What are they for?", asked Mary. "Some sort of identification?"
"Precisely."
"In case something happens to you, right?", asked John.
"Precisely."
The others contemplated this, Marilyn perhaps for the first time. Her only comments over the years had been that they tickled her sometimes when we were fooling around. Mary then asked, "So why do you have two?"
"Well, originally you only had one. The tradition started in the Civil War. At some of the battles, the men knew the casualties would be so bad, they wrote their names on pieces of paper and pinned them to their backs before attacking. At Cold Harbor and Petersburg, in fact, it was really gruesome."
"You mean...", asked John.
I lowered my voice a touch. "I mean that you could walk across the battlefield from one end to the other without stepping on the ground."
Marilyn looked a little green at that. Mary said, "Yuck!" I just shrugged. Hey, they asked. "So why do you have two, then?", she continued.
"That's some more 'yuck.'" She nodded in curiosity. "Okay, you asked. In the event somebody buys the farm, I take one of the tags with me back to base. Since I might have to leave the body on the battlefield, I take the other and jam it into the teeth so it won't fall out."
Now it was Mary's turn to turn green and Marilyn went, "Yuck!"
"You asked."
John commented, "Not going to be too good looking in the casket, I would guess."
I smiled at that. "You buy it in combat, it's a closed casket, no matter what!"
"Will you two change the subject!?", asked Marilyn.
I just smiled and shrugged. John grinned back. We started talking about his job as an insurance adjuster, which bored me to tears, but the only people who like insurance are other insurance people.
Eventually we got towards the front of the line. Your names were taken by a formally dressed woman from the cruise staff, and then when you got to where the captain was standing, she announced you to him. You would shake hands, perhaps make a little chit-chat, and then head into the lounge for the champagne and caviar. It was then that I had a sudden case of nerves. The captain was in his full dress whites!
So what? So, I was in uniform, too! My rank was a hell of a lot lower than his. Normally it wouldn't matter, since if I was in civilian clothing, there is no requirement to salute or stand at attention. We could have shook hands and moved along. But I was in uniform.
I was moving on automatic. John and Mary were introduced as "Mr. and Mrs. John and Mary Smith." I had automatically given my rank to the lady doing the introductions.
John and Mary moved along, and we stepped in front of the captain. Now what? "Lieutenant Carl Buckman and Mrs. Marilyn Buckman."
It was automatic. I snapped to attention, and said, "Sir!"
Marilyn looked at me in amazement, but the captain smiled and promptly said, "As you were, Lieutenant.", the Navy version of 'At ease.'
"Thank you, sir. I wasn't sure of the protocol, being in uniform."
He reached out and took my hand. "The protocol is that you are a guest in my home. Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Buckman, Mrs. Buckman."
"Thank you very much, sir." Marilyn also thanked him when he took her hand. At that point, to conclude things, I came to attention again, and saluted, and he returned the salute. Then we were off into the lounge.
I could feel several people staring at me, one of whom was my wife. "Do you have to salute everybody?", she asked.
"Let's just say that as a lieutenant, I salute a lot more people than salute me."
"Wow, I wasn't expecting that.", commented John Smith, who rejoined us. A waiter brought around a tray of champagne flutes and we each took one. "You have to salute the captain?"
"I was just asking him that.", chimed in Marilyn.
"I'm not really sure, but I think so, at least when I'm in uniform. Hey, he's a full naval captain, an O-6. In the Army he'd be a full bull colonel. My whole battalion only has a lieutenant colonel. You don't get a full colonel until you get to the regimental or brigade level.", I replied.
"But he's a civilian.", said John.
I shrugged at that. "I don't know about that. For one thing, he might well be Norwegian Naval Reserve. He's ex-Norwegian Navy, that's for sure. For another thing, in America at least, the Merchant Marine Academy ranks right up there with the service academies, like West Point or Annapolis. Like I said, I'm not really sure. I never learned it in any of my lessons."
"So, do you have to salute him all the time?", asked Mary.