New York’s Fleet Week is basically legendary in America. If you’ve never experienced it, Sex and the City’s Season Five had a great episode that shows a lot of what it’s like for a woman in the City during that time. For those unwilling to watch it, just imagine a beautiful, bustling city that sadly has more women than men. Now, imagine for one week in late spring — when skirts and open-toed shoes are finally able to be worn again — boat loads of athletic-built men (who’ve seen few women for the last four months) unloading into the city, uniforms and all. It’s basically every New York gal’s dream (well, you know, besides the job at the top of the masthead, the three-bedroom apartment in SoHo, or the new pair of Manolos). My first summer in New York, Fleet Week happened to be the second week of our stay. I’m pretty sure it’s what spurred my friend Kim and I’s pact that summer that we’d never leave a bar until both of us had gotten a drink bought for us (which definitely brought out some good stories by the end of the summer).
See, it’s not that we were the most beautiful girls stepping into the New York joints. But, well, guys in New York buy drinks for girls all the time. And military guys are often even more old-school…buying drinks (and dinner), opening every door, walking the girl home. It’s the kind of treatment girls like me grew up getting from guys, friends or otherwise, and tend to expect from any guy in pursuit…and it’s the kind of treatment girls who’ve never had love for its doting nature.
OK, OK…so I haven’t been watching any Carrie Bradshaw lately or reminiscing with old photos…so why bring all this up? Well, this past week in Perth was pretty much a mini Fleet Week with our own US Navy and Marines unloading more than 5000 service men and women onto the shores of Fremantle, near Perth.
It was honestly so entertaining watching their reception by the locals. The war in Iraq and US policy are extremely unpopular in Oz right now (to say the least). But none of that spilled over to how the Americans were greeted. The local 20- and 30-something women were practically out in droves hoping to meet up with a young Yank. One visiting British girl was telling how excited her coworker was to hear about the boats’ landing. “We’re SO going out this weekend,” she’d said. “The American Navy’s in town. You need to hook up with one. They’ll like buy you jewelry! But don’t sleep with them. You might get an STD.”
So, maybe dating an American sailor is kind of like doing politics with America. We strike up a lot of excitement and bring the promise of nice things for other countries, even if they know they might get a little dirty from it…and well, in the end, a little gold goes a long way in getting people to forget about the bad.
But when you’re a visiting American, politics definitely don’t matter and dating an American really has no novelty. You just need to think about enough banter to get you through a polite conversation with the 20-year-old based out of San Diego who bought you that drink (or how to play wing woman for your Aussie friend).
