I am shocked that anyone is shocked that a high ranking military officer engaged in extra marital sex. It's been decades since I had direct involvement on a military base but the story of Petraeus' affair with Paula Broadwell leads me to the conclusion that some things never change. What's news here is that not all the participants were in the direct chain of command. In my experience, military cheaters prefer to stay close at home which reminds me of the rule which was promulgated at a New York club at the time it went co-ed: "Women may be the overnight guests of members provided they are wives of members." 

The Petraeus affair prompts a tale of military life and particularly the social scene at an Officer's Club at an overseas base. As a young officer I was "ship's company" aboard a Navy vessel stationed in Japan when our ship was infamously selected to host a dependent's cruise to Hong Kong. It has only come to me recently what a gigantic cover this cruise was intended to effect at a level way above my rank. But as an adjunct the pleasures of the cruise were serendipitously bestowed upon Navy and Marine personnel up and down and across the ranks.

The preposterous caper was that our troop ship was temporarily fitted out for the wives, and it turns out, daughters, of military men stationed in Japan. It seems someone at a high level felt that wives and their progeny should not be stranded in Japan during those three month periods in which their husbands were serving in other parts of the Pacific. Searching for worth while cultural and entertainment options, it was decided to take them all en masse to Hong Kong for a week of shopping, and what not.

Our commanding officer was not at all happy with the decision of his superiors because he foresaw the true risks associated with what on the surface was an innocent mission to provide entertainment to several hundred females in a land even more foreign than Japan. All of the light bulbs in Japan were requisitioned and strung about the passageways of the ship. Bunks six high in the troops quarters were refashioned for ladies, rank being respected, the highest ranked wives getting the preferred lower bunks. The Officers Mess was strictly segregated, the ladies' meals being served at different hours than the male officers aboard.

Within 24 fours of embarking from Japan, most of the precautions the Captain had taken to prevent intermingling of ship's company with lady guests had been subverted. That's when I learned that relationships among the military were complex, and may have been nuanced by the existence of an Officer's Club and cheap drinks. On board I myself found a spot topside where I could play my ukulele and draw a small, appreciative mixed crowd. By the time we reached Hong Kong and shore leave was granted, the folks left the ship in pairs, reminiscent of Noah's ark.

Much of what happened ashore remains classified but a few memories remain. I bought a tailored Madras sport coat which disintegrated the first time it was cleaned. A pair of shoes fell apart at the seams later when I wore them to an office, having just run through the rain. The ship's small boats ferried everyone from our ship in the harbor to the mainland and the young bosun's mate from Mississippi who piped the small boats away from the ship made us erupt in laughter each time he announced on the P.A. system, "Small boat, departing for Calhoun."

Against my advice a fellow officer, graduate of Princeton, approached Frank Sinatra's table at a restaurant/bar and in a drunken tone insisted that Frank sing us a song. In answer to the request for a song two body guards bounced my friend back to our table, oblivious to the respect we deserved as Naval Officers.   

As for myself, I succeeded in making one of the better judgments in my life about the opposite sex, particularly in reference to a senior officer's spouse. It was judgment that quickly escaped me a few months later when an Admiral's daughter traveled to Japan to visit with her parents during Spring break. But that's a different story altogether.