Vern Padgett Reports on the Reunion in Concord

Reunion in Concord, North Carolina, was good. I've been to 9 Reunions now, and this was the best one as far as the leaders getting along. Absolutely the very best.

It was the absolute worst Reunion in many other ways. The meeting rooms were 20 miles from the hotels. So after leaving the commuting nightmare of L.A./O.C., we got to drive half an hour to the meeting, half an hour back, getting lost several times and wasting $4 a gallon gas, then we drove half an hour there again, and half an hour back. Or, we sat there all day, each day for 4 days. One day I was there from 8 am to 11 at night. I don't think I've worn the same clothes from 7 am to 11:30 pm for a long time.

During one of those long days we were all locked out of the meeting room building. People who had medical conditions and needed to use the restrooms were pounding on the doors to be let in, but the staff said they were "not authorized" to allow them in.

Even worse were the physical accomodations: Not a nice hotel, but a crummy "event center" with bare concrete floors, exposed ductwork, and so on. We ate off plastic plates and used plastic forks the whole time. It was too hot inside all the time. Quite different from the other reunions. And it cost more. A switch from the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, or that beautiful old hotel in Charleston, the year the Hunley came back in.

Worst of all, according to everyone but me, was the food. I like food, and I'm not complaining, but everyone else did. In my OCS class in the Marines in 1969, everyone lost from 6 to 25 pounds in those first 6 weeks. All except me. I gained 8 pounds. The sergeant instructor called me over and asked me if I liked the food. I said yes sergeant I do. He said how can that be. I told him "it depends on what you are used to."

I missed every one of the evening receptions. These have been the highlight of every reunion. I missed them because no one showed up at the event center 20 miles away, but instead stayed at their own hotel in Charlotte. I missed the best one the last night, even though I was in the same hotel!

Those informal gatherings are the real highlight of the Reunion, and often are worth more than everything else together.

Vern Padgett

Photo: Vern Padgett and his lovely lady at the Concord Reunion last week.