What was your favorite bar/ recreational establishment from your Military Service? What do you remember most about this place and do you know if it still exists?:

Well, I’ve visited a lot of bars in my life, but the standout is the Cubi Point Officer’s Club, Tailhook, or “Cat Room,” which housed the infamous “Cat Room Catapult.”

I was a newly-minted ensign serving on a Fleet ATF/diving vessel during the Vietnam War. An initiation ritual for junior officers was a trip to this bar, a cinderblock space two stories beneath the club bar and dining room. An aircraft cockpit was mounted on rails that exited the bar through double doors and then plunged into a tank of water. Once strapped in, compressed gas fired the sled down the track with one chance to hook a cable and stop the sled from plunging into the water. A very kindly NAC officer provided me with a tip that saved me from that fate.