These days, the former New Zealand Defence Force members have toned things down a bit and get their thrills from riding motorcycles with the Patriots Motorcycle Club.
Tomorrow will be one of those days when they will get to live a little on the wild side again, by riding from Dunedin to Wellington for the 100th anniversary Anzac Day Parade.
''I'm really looking forward to it,'' club member and former Royal New Zealand Navy Warrant Officer (1978-99) Phil (Boot) Herriott said.
''I like the wind in my hair - what's left of it anyway.''
Mr Herriott and four other former Dunedin servicemen leave Dunedin tomorrow afternoon, and expect to arrive in Wellington on Friday evening.
Despite the thunder of the Harley-Davidson motorcycles, he said the 800km ride would provide ''some quiet time'' for club members to reflect on what Anzac Day meant to them.
''We've all got grandparents and parents who have fought and been lost or wounded in World War 1 and 2, Vietnam and Korea.''
About 50 members from Patriots clubs around the country would meet at the National War Memorial in Wellington on Anzac Day, he said.
In addition, each member from the Dunedin club would take a knitted poppy from Toitu Otago Settlers Museum to place at the memorial.
