encore
dressed to Impress
an army lieutenant colonel arranges a successful visit to the
U.S. for two officers from cameroon but finds himself in an
embarrassing situation at the end of their trip.
A
s a lieutenant colonel, my gigantic, formal reception in
first assignment to the army one of the largest hotel ball-
staff in the Pentagon included rooms in the city.
arranging foreign military visits to army My wife, Katherine, and
installations in the U.S. one of the more i were invited to the event.
interesting tours i arranged was for two i did not own a complete
army officers from cameroon. civilian tuxedo at that time,
i knew this tour would be different but i had a “fort Sill tux-
from the others because i had learned edo” that consisted of tux-
from our military attaché in cameroon edo pants; a formal, ruffled
that although the senior officer was a white shirt; a red bow tie
colonel and the other officer was a major, and cummerbund; and
the major was a prince in the royal family. a fire engine red blazer —
of course, that brought up a host of that is as formal as you can
protocol questions from my officers. get at the artillery center in
the guidance i received was when the fort Sill, okla.
two officers were in military uniform, Katherine and i went to
the colonel was in charge. He should re- the reception, and when we
ceive the honors from any honor guard walked into the ballroom, with more
and any gift offered by one of our com- than 1,000 guests in attendance, we im-
manders; all deference would be paid to mediately noticed about 100 other men
him as long as the two officers were in were dressed exactly like me — the hotel
military uniform. However, when they cocktail waiters!
changed into civilian clothes for any din- Katherine was so embarrassed i
ner, reception, etcetera, the prince would thought she would faint. She said, “We
be the honoree. must turn around and beat a hasty re-
My protocol officers were very nervous treat and go home.” i said, “No, we
about the unusual circumstances of this dressed up for this gig, and we are going
visit, but our attaché assured me the cam- to stay and have a good time.”
eroonian officers understood the delicacy of all evening, people kept coming up
the situation, and said we shouldn’t worry. to me to order drinks. i think i could
When the cameroonian officers ar- have made some serious tip money
rived, all of their military installation vis- that evening. MO
its went well. However, that was not the
end of their trip.
— curt Hoglan is a retired Army brigadier
When they got to Washington, D.c.,
general. He lives in Niceville, Fla. For submission
the cameroonian ambassador threw a information, see page 18.
88 Military officer december 2009 illustration: elwood smith
Dec_encore.indd 88 10/28/09 2:36 PM
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