WINTER 2014


ACA QUARTERLY MEMBERSHIP NEWSLETTER A Salute to Combat Connie


By “Smoke” * For the past several years Air Commandos have enjoyed having Connie Mussari, aka Combat Connie, as the wel- coming and gracious hostess of the hospitality room at our annual


reunion. However,


with the change of venue of the most recent reunion the hotel provided the ity


hospital- staff and we all missed


Connie’s warm and cheerful welcome. But for many years prior to this recent annual tra- dition a whole generation of Air Commandos knew Connie as far more than just a once a year “hostess with the most- ess” and for them her presence at the reunion was as greatly missed as that of an old com- bat flying buddy. Connie goes back a ways with many Air Commandos both permanent party and the host of TDY personnel who passed through Hurlburt Field to who Connie is an old friend. We came to know her during her 30 year career with Hurlburt Field Of- ficer’s Club starting in 1976 as a hostess and then as manager of bars after her permission to that position in 1978. But Connie is best known for her final sixteen and a half year rein as “proprietor” of Combat Connie’s Hooch Bar. The hooch bar, which was


to become a Hurlburt icon, came about as a result of the officer’s club closing for re- modeling in the summer of 1990. In order to keep a bar in operation it was decided to obtain a location to open a temporary facility. A portable building that had earlier been used during a remodel of the enlisted club was moved from main base to the outskirts of the officer’s club parking lot on the sound side of the base. It was supplemented with ex- terior accessories consisting of


a free-standing walk-in cooler for beer storage and two por- ta-johns. It was kept basic as it was originally planned to have a service life of only six months while the remodeling was done. The interior was equipped with a simple bar, popcorn machine, juke box, tables, and seating consisting mostly of armored pilot seats salvaged from an upgrade of Pave Low helicopter cockpits. Connie personally spruced up the interior with a new paint job and it was ready for busi- ness. And business it got fol- lowing its official opening on 29 June 1990.


Aircrew and staff per-


sonnel alike quickly found a home at the hooch bar and it soon was the social center and “watering hole” for off duty activities. It was a place you could go to relax, visit with comrades, and “let your hair down” after the tension of a stressful flight, a week behind a large steel desk pushing bu- reaucratic paper work, or the strain of a long deployment. Under Connie’s management the bar became the site of many good times, war stories told and retold, all-in-good- fun practical jokes, and good natured if a bit rowdy hijinks. Ghost Rider crews from the 16th SOS asked permission to write on the freshly paint- ed walls. Having just painted them herself Connie at first hesitated but then led the way saying “not until I do.” She posted over the door the first of a vast collection of graffiti, unit patches, and flight suit name tags which along with a carpet of peanut shells on the floor became the décor of the bar. Connie’s posting, “It’s not a job - - it’s an adventure” was not only the hooch’s slogan it was Connie’s management philosophy.


PAGE 5


Connie Mussari says farewell to Hurlburt Field. (USAF Photo by SSgt Angela Shepherd)


Connie “earned her name”


when 20th SOS Green Hornet crews decided to initiate her with a nonscheduled swim in a kiddy pool maintained for tra- ditional celebratory dunkings. She became “Combat Connie” and the hooch was forever more Combat Connie’s Hooch Bar. There were many memo- rable nights there and stories are still told of the night the base commander had firemen “wash the place clean” and the night it was proven that 13 people can indeed fit into a porta-john. Other escapades continued and the stories grew - - most probably better left untold. By the time the club remodel was done and it was time to close the temporary fa- cility the hooch bar had, under Connie’s leadership, become an institution with a life of its own and was kept open by


popular demand. In fact, a sec- ond facility, the enlisted hooch bar, was added overlooking the waters of the sound. Over the 16 year history


of Connie’s supervision there was never a single DUI out of the hooch bar. Connie watched over her boys and made sure everyone had a safe and legal ride home. One of her innova- tions was the Combat Connie wooden “one for the road” token. When you had had “enough” instead of another drink you got a token good for “one on the house” on your next visit - - Connie’s polite way of letting you know you were through for the night. And if the situation demanded it, Connie would not hesitate to


resort to her wives tele- phone list to let a wife know See CONNIE pg 6


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