SCRANTON, Pa. — How do the heads of Valhalla Veterans Services get ready for their annual take on a military ball? With foam sword duels, and Viking hats, of course.
"Let's face it, we're a bunch of veterans, and sometimes things get disorderly," joked Executive Director Eric Darling.
"So if you do something bad at the ball, you might get punished for it. You might have to put on a Viking hat, for instance, if you're acting like a Viking. But it also corresponds with our name Valhalla Veteran Services. Valhalla in the mythos of the Vikings was a place where only warriors would go."
It won't surprise you to learn that things get out of hand at the Valhalla Fall Ball when you hear what beverage gets served.
"Grog is a mixture of tons of alcohol is the best way to put it, but each alcohol corresponds to one of our branches," said Robert Kerecman, Valhalla Veterans Services president.
There will be plenty of shenanigans to be had, as this group likes to say, but the mission behind it all is a serious one.
"We provide mental health counseling for warriors," Darling said. "Warriors are veterans, police, firefighters, corrections officers, those people that are brave enough to run towards danger."
The ball is the organization's major fundraiser, and although it's a fairly new event here, it's one that is steeped in time-honored tradition.
"It actually goes back to the Roman Empire. Every service has versions of what we're doing. They're called either 'dining in' or 'dining out.' So we use this to basically honor our culture. Because a lot of people really don't think about the fact that the military is a culture."
You can sponsor a veteran's attendance at the ball, which takes place on Saturday at Fiorelli's on Main Street in Peckville.
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