2671 for me, 82-86. Stationed at 1st Radio Bn in Hawaii but spent the winters in bunkers and tents on the DMZ of Korea. No accordions anywhere in sight.
Bryan, 2671 is that an Arabic linguist? What the heck? Man, that must have been a curse to learn that language! Turn your tongue upside down and inside out! Monterey California for the language school? I was there when Clint Eastwood was the Mayor of Carmel. A sea side town just down the road from Monterey. Never met him though. LOL Dude, if you trained in Monterey, we've seen, felt, heard, and smelled many of the same things. LOL
And no, while I was doing my service I never ran into any accordion players neither. I was the only one that I knew of. So, I began to actually play and learn accordion in North Carolina as a self exiled Cajun listening to video tapes of Randols Seafood Restaurant weekend dance bands. I especially played the ones with Reggie Matte and a very young Roddie Romero over and over again. But Reggie was playing on a "D" accordion and I only had a "C" at the time, so I had to convert every song. Mind boggling for a beginner, but it sure does exercise the ears!
'71 is Korean. Clint was mayor of Carmel while I was there, too. He had a bar there called the Hog's Breath. Several of my over 21 buddies would go there, and if was there, they said he always came sit with them and buy them rounds. You had to be 21 to get in so I never did. What year were you at DLI?
I lived on the Monterey Peninsula for 40 years, most of the time in Pacific Grove. I moved there in 1957. . My parents owned restaurants in Monterey and Carmel. My brother still lives in PG in a house we owned jointly. He brews root beer in Pacific Grove SPARKY's.
I graduated from Pacific Grove High School in 1964. Went to MPC. Both my daughters were born in Carmel.
There was on box player who lived in Carmel Valley, he had a string band. They often played Cajun tunes. I'll get back to you with his name and the name of the band.
As I recall he played a REGAL in C.
I started playing the accordion while I lived there somewhere around 1990.
Many of my friends either attended or taught at the DLI.
Well, really about 1 block north of city hall. There’s another bar directly across the street called Charlie’s, which is right next to the old capital one bank