In 1999, the year before the Don't ask, Don't tell policy was imposed upon the armed forces, three naval officers based on the island of Vieques were approaching a rare four-day leave. They decided to invite friends and colleagues from across the United States to join them in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The three men mailed postcards and invitations expressing the following sentiment, It Sizzles in San Juan .Six weeks later the three gentlemen hopped on a ferry and left for the island of Puerto Rico. In addition to the twenty-one friends they'd already invited, those friends took it upon themselves to invite a few friends as well. The rest is history.