A story about holding your liquor.

When I was Force Master Chief at SURFLANT, it was a different time in the military and the Navy in particular.  Drinking  was not only accepted, it was encouraged.  As a matter of fact, it was a requirement in some ratings.  In any case, this story happened during the Christmas season.  We had a tradition at SURFLANT of having a door decorating contest.  The Admiral and the Chief of Staff were the judges.  Bribes were encouraged and those bribes could be anything.  Booze, ice cream, exotic dancers, candy, cake, did I mention BOOZE?  You get the idea.  In any case the last Friday before  the Christmas leave period was the judging of the doors.  Now SURFLANT is spread out over three buildings, so this judging took a while.  During the judging, the Flag Writer, a Senior Chief, came up to the Admiral and discreetly whispered in his ear that the Chief of Staff had been selected for Admiral!!  The door we were judging had a bribe for the judges of Ever Clear!  The Admiral announced that the Chief of Staff had been selected for promotion to Admiral and the final part of that selection was to make sure the Chief of Staff, a Captain, could hold his liquor.  He told the COS that the test was, he had to drink three fingers of the Ever Clear, straight down, and then immediately count to TEN!  Then the Admiral said;  " I will show you how it is done."  And he proceeded to drink the three fingers of Ever Clear straight down and then, very loudly count to TEN.  Then, the Admiral poured the three fingers of Ever Clear for the COS.  He tried to beg off by saying, he did not want to be an Admiral that badly, but the Admiral talked him into the test.  The COS drank his three fingers of Ever Clear down, slower than the Admiral, and then hoarsely counted to TEN.  Then the Chief of Staff looked at me but I told him;  "I got my stars already!"

That was a fun Christmas and a great way to bring the staff together.  But, in today's Navy, we would all be fired!!