What to Wear to a Military Ball

This is not me. These are my hot friends.
What I wish you could see is her dress up close.
It's lace and beautiful.
I didn't know what to wear. I stressed out over long or short, floofy or straight, black or pink, etc... I did that so I could help you choose what to wear to your first/next/100th military ball. I've updated this since I originally posted it in 2011. It's 2014 now. Times have changed but being classy has not.

There were girls there with all of the above (long, short etc) and I felt silly for stressing out over such a minute detail. Some girls wore skanky things, and some wore long and elegant and covered up (probably because it was snowing outside! Weird!). There was one girl who wore a silky orange tight fitting dress which was actually really pretty but I think she should have worn some of those suck me up panty hose because her butt, albeit in shape, was jiggling around and if I was staring, so was everyone else.

But I'm not judging except for a little. However, I say go for it if you've got it I guess. Okay, I don't actually believe that.
 
This dress would be a really good example of a DON'T. Even the name suggests 'slutty'. This is the "Hanky Hem" dress. Don't buy it please.

If I could offer any sort of advice, it would be to go with something you already have. Chances are, you've already "been there, done that" with proms and homecomings so you probably have something in your closet begging to be worn again. If not, and you totally want to treat yourself because you feel like you deserve it, DO IT! You're so worth it. For reals.

Otherwise, if you want to play it safe, go long. If you're feeling edgy but not sure, go colorful. If you're feeling like you want to stand out, do short and colorful!

Here are some other good choices. I wouldn't call this a high-low but it's close. It's the best of both worlds. My friend in the picture (the red lace dress) was going to wear a black dress similar to this style peek a boo shortness. I also love the illusion neckline of this one. It's baby blueish.

 
 
The guy who took my friend tried to tell her she should wear something blue, black or red as to match him. I told him he's an idiot and that is an outdated sort of thing. You can wear whatever you want! Really. Try to be comfortable. While we were out shopping, we saw a lot of these pleated chiffon style dresses. Uber comfortable and totally acceptable for a military ball! And guess what? It's not blue, black, or red.
 
 
 

I've seen pictures on Facebook of a lot of girls in their Little Black Dresses. Totally appropriate too. Again, be comfortable and don't stress!

I ended up choosing a long black number (ha ha ha. I love that I just said that) . I wore a sleeved jacket over it and I think I fit right in. But what did stand out was my boobs. I can't help it.


 
What To Expect (the long version)

.They made us line up according to the guys last name. Then we entered the ballroom one couple at a time, ladies first, and were greeted by special guests of honor and the super higher-ups. We were fed down the receiving line, with each one telling the next who we were. They were all surprised that I was a "Mrs." and not a "Ms." There aren't too many married people in the program. They boasted about David and his accomplishments, and bragged about how great he was.

We stood in front of our chairs (at our assigned table) and waited for the guests of honor to be seated. We sat and then immediately stood again for the posting of the colors, a prayer and the toasts... which were really fun. 7 different ones to be exact. Here's an excerpt of the toasts.

"Lasies and Gentlemen, I propose a toast to the greatest fighting force in the world, The United States Army" to which we would hold our glasses of melted ice water and say "To the Army". The final one was my favorite. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I propose a toast to the ladies" to which everyone responded really quietly "to the ladies" so some high ranking guy made them all do that again. It was fun.

They had a roll call of the brnaches which is something I don't know how to explain because I don't know what it is. The hostess called out some dates and names and some people in the audience called out some saying or something.

We ate. Or I should say everyone ELSE ate. We all had little colored pieces of paper to indicate whether we wanted chicken, or steak, or veggies, or salmon. Well, our table was one of the last to be served and apparently, (these are exact words) they "ran out of steak, but have top sirloin". lol!!! This was said after everyone who wanted steak, was served chicken. We asked about the other table and why they were getting "top sirloin", and that was the response. One of the girls at our table said "I just don't get how he could have said that with such a straight face". Everyone at our table was being really nice and waiting for me to get food and THEN the same waiter said, "We ran out of food." I'm not kidding. He really said that. So after another 10 minutes they brought me out a concotion of pasta and veggies which was actually really good but you could tell it was their way of putting together something after running out of food. Apparently they didn't get the memo that we were coming. lol.

After dining, we had a guest speaker, sand the Army Song, retired the colors and then danced!

There was a live jazz band and they played swing and other songs like Etta James "At Last" and we just danced the night away. We were some of the best swingers there. We get that from all of our training at Stake Dances.

We sat down to rest at our table and the seat next to David kept filling up with people who couldn't wait to mentor, or discuss, or talk to David. He was Mr. Popular for sure! His good friend came and sat down next to me and told me of how this often happens. People seek him (David) out to mentor him because he is the rising star. He would be really embarrassed if he knew I was saying this. I think it's sweet though. So one person would leave, and that seat would immediately be filled.

His drunk captain announced that they could retire their jackets or something and that was sort of the announcement that we could leave if we wanted to. He came over and spoke to me with alcohol breath and said funny things. The hot seat (next to David) was empty and we decided that might be a good time to leave.

It was such a fun evening! So next time you have to go to a military ball, don't stress over what to wear. Stress over what NOT to wear. Just kidding. Don't.

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