torch party
n.— «Some of the soldiers were returning for graduations and births of their children, Auer said, but a number of them are part of what’s known as a “torch party.” A torch party clears the way for a larger advance party of about 75 to 100 soldiers, who will work the logistics of bringing the main body of troops home.» —“Return A Step Closer” by Tony Adams Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Georgia) June 5, 2003. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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A profile in The New Yorker of writer Patricia Lockwood, author of Will There Ever Be Another You (Bookshop|Amazon) opens by saying she has “the impish verve and provocative guilelessness of a peeing cupid,” a description the quirky author herself...