Honky Tonk Cruzers: Pier 8 Christmas Party

The Pier 8 Christmas Party is one of the biggest social events of the year for the twelve Dept of Defense and Dept of State units stationed at Pier 8 in Busan, Korea. This year, the party was held in the Crystal Ballroom at the Lotte Hotel in Busan. It was a great time with lots of good food, an open bar, raffle prizes to include hotel packages, restaurant gift certificates, Ipods, flat screen TV, Wii game system, etc, a live band, dancing, an ice luge (more on that later) and some good camaraderie.

Me and Carol, Marty and Tripp Blanton, Debbie Harvey and Brigadier General Harvey, Commanding General of the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. The General was our guest speaker for the evening. General Harvey has spent a lot of time over his career working at Pier 8. We were honored to have him as our guest speaker.

Some of the key members from MSCO Korea and 837th Transportation Battalion that helped put the party together. There was a lot of hard work and planning to make this such a successful event. That's our XO in the middle, Lieutenant Commander Chris "Bunky" Marlar. He is a C-2 Greyhound pilot.

Along with the Pier 8 folks, we had many community leaders attend our event, to include the US Consul, members of the Korean American Busan Association, Korean American Partnership Association, People To People International, Daedong Scholarship Association, Busan Foreign School, Busan Veteran's Hospital, Busan International Women's Association and the Sung Ae Won Orphanage. We also raised over 600,000 won that evening for the two orphanages that we sponsor through the sale of raffle tickets.

Folks from the American Presence Post and Busan Foreign School.

Here's the XO with the duet that came down from Seoul. We were honored to have them sing a couple of Christmas classics for us. They were awesome.

We were also very fortunate to have Paul and Shiela sing at our party. I was ecstatic that it worked out. They sing nightly at O'Kims in the Westin Chosun Hotel in Haeundae Beach. They're also close friends and two of the nicest people you'll ever meet. And man, can they sing! It really was a special night. Paul and Shiela had a lot to do with that.

The dance floor got a serious workout that night.

The "Triad." Here are the Commanding Officers of Military Sealift Command Korea, Republic of Korea Port Operations Group (ROKPOG) and the 837th Transportation Battalion. We work together closely on joint and combined exercises such as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, Key Resolve and Turbocads and collaborate on logistics, CJLOTS, anti-terrorism/force protection issues, community relations and team building events. We also know each other on a personal level. COL Lee recently had his change of command ceremony. He is now with the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul. He will be sorely missed.

This is what you call a shot luge or ice luge. Any good Navy party has one. Although I'm surrounded by Army types in Korea, this Naval Aviator found the perfect spot for an ice sculpture of an aircraft carrier.

Here's how this thing works. You take your favorite libation - Coke, Sprite, umm, other stuff... and have a friend pour it down the shot track on one end of the aircraft carrier while you await said libation on the other end. This is Chief Henderson and I testing the thing out.

LS1 Ade and Mr. Yun from MSCO Korea displaying their ice luge skills.

Yes, the Army folks got into the act too. Everyone loves aircraft carriers!

We had a very different kind of dance contest that night - blindfolded musical chairs. Sounds silly but I dare you to watch it without laughing your booty off. It was hilarious! Love the blindfolds.