Some folks are truly gifted. I’m talking about those rare gems who can flip a switch and go from clean living to chain-smoking and beer-chugging without breaking a sweat. And then there are the seasoned NCOs who can party all night long and still function like nothing happened. Welcome to my Turkey TDY.
We arrived in Turkey around 4:30 PM local time after a six-hour flight from England. Jetlagged but eager, we sat through the in-processing briefing before hauling our bags to “tent city.” Picture this: 20 rows of about 10 tents per row, each tent featuring rooms for five people plus a cozy TV room and a kitchenette. It wasn’t exactly the Ritz, but it had its charm.
Enter Clark. This guy had a unique superpower—he only smoked and drank while on TDY. Back home? Model husband and non-smoker. TDY? Chain-smoking like a chimney and drinking like a fish. He didn’t hide it, either. It was like someone flipped a “party mode” switch, and boom—Clark was ready to roll.
Clark and his buddy Ryan, both in their mid-40s, invited me for a night of drinks. At 21 and full of youthful confidence, I thought, Pfft, I can hang with these old guys. Spoiler alert: I couldn’t.
We kicked off the night with drinks at our tent before heading to the club to meet up with some other troops. A few hours—and many drinks—later, it was around 4 or 5 AM when these two NCOs, clearly drunk as skunks, decided it was the perfect time for a TI party. For the uninitiated, a TI party is where you strip the room of all furniture and clean it from top to bottom.
At this point, jetlag and exhaustion hit me like a freight train. I waved the white flag and told them I was heading to bed. They gave me some good-natured grief but ultimately let me off the hook.
By 6 AM, as others were waking up and heading to work, Clark and Ryan were dragging furniture outside, still drinking, and vacuuming and mopping the TV area. People walked by, shaking their heads in disbelief. These two were a hot mess—but an oddly entertaining one.
Finally, they crashed around 6:30 AM, only to wake up by 2:30 PM, fresh as daisies with zero hangover and no regrets. Meanwhile, I was still recovering from the night’s antics, marveling at their resilience.
The moral of the story? Some NCOs are like fine wine—they only get better (and somehow livelier) with age. And me? Well, I learned that keeping up with seasoned pros isn’t for the faint of heart—or liver.
**Tell your loved ones he or she is in your top 100 favorite people.**
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