At the Risk of Getting on Yet Another List ...

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So the page views are still way up, guess they haven't found the switch to turn the bots off yet. I'll run with it.

That opening photo has always amused me, my first thought was that it looked like a bunch of JOs¹ showing up at an NCO² keg party. Yeah, we invited them because the first sergeant told us to, unit pride and all that. What I picture them showing up to ...

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But it did remind me of a story. A short one, mind you, I'm enjoying not slaving over a hot keyboard all day. Not saying I'm lazy, but ...

Well, yes I am.

So there I was ...

I was still a fairly junior guy on Okinawa, a bit older than most of my peers and a bit younger than most of the sergeants. I was still addressed as "Airman," as I would not attain the lofty rank of "Sergeant" until a few months later. (FWIW, I didn't spend much time as an E-4 sergeant, which the USAF no longer has, most of my time as an E-4 was as a Senior Airman. It wasn't long after putting on Sergeant stripes that I became an E-5 Staff Sergeant.)

So it was after a long, hard week (might have been two) in which the 18th TFW performed very well. (So we were told, it felt like we generated a lot of sorties, it also felt like the F-4s all behaved during all those sorties. At least the aircrew were happy, and that was our bottom line.) The powers-that-be decreed that there would be a "beer bust" on the actual flight line (well, one of the maintenance hangars). We would report at such and such a time, in uniform as I recall, to undergo mandatory "fun."

Surprisingly enough, it turned out well, very well.

It was a nice sunny day, not too hot, but just right. There, parked near the hangar, was a flatbed trailer, loaded with beer. Cases stacked 12 high as I recall, lots and lots of beer. Scattered about the venue were tubs filled with ice, loaded with beer as well. The aircrew also, as I recall, were cooking food, ya know, burgers, hot dogs, mighta been some brats as well. But it looked awesome.

We commenced drinking and eating and watching the aircrews throw each other into the large tubs with lots of melting ice (by now, Okinawa being semi-tropical) with still lots of beer. I think the crews might have brought in more ice, but left some of the tubs go to mostly water, for, ya know, dunking purposes.

At one point I found myself standing next to my squadron commander, attired in his blue office uniform (light blue shirt, dark blue pants) with his flight cap on sideways. Yup, not fore and aft, as it is normally worn, en colonne as the French would say, but en ligne, athwartships if you will.

I recall finding myself in a quandary, I am inebriated, though not in any disabling way, but my squadron commander is also inebriated, very much so, had a beer in each hand and he was swaying with the non-existent breeze. As I stared at his hat, desperate to point out the uniform violation, but knowing it was neither the time, nor the place, to do so, he spoke ...

"Airman Goodrich."

"Sir?"

"You're an asshole."

"Um, so are you, Sir, I mean with all due respect ..."

"Shut up Goodrich, you asshole." Then he handed me one of the beers he was holding.

"Uh, thank you, Sir?"

"Let us drink to assholes," he spoke, "here's to us!"

So I had a beer with my squadron commander, great chap he was, wasn't nearly as much of an asshole as I'd thought.

At the end of the day, next day was a Saturday I think, we half expected to be told to report the next morning to clean up the mess. And it was a mess, empty beer cans everywhere, drunken airmen filling the tubs of water, aircrew staggering around in their flight suits offering toasts to all and sundry.

But no, the Deputy Commander of Operations and the Deputy Commander of Maintenance had decided that the officers would all turn to on Saturday morning to clear away the detritus of one of the best parties I'd ever been to.

Did we work even harder after that to maintain our 70-odd F-4 Phantoms? You betcha. I don't know whose idea the party was, but it was brilliant. Morale was sky high after that, and it stayed there for the rest of my time at Kadena.

It was a bonding experience, but nobody was there dressed like those Feds above, nope, no way. They would have stuck out like sore thumbs.

Train hard, play hard, that's the way to do it.

Trust me.

¹ Junior Officer, O-1 to O-3, USA, USMC, USAF = 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, and Captain. USN, USCG = Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, and Lieutenant. I have no idea what the "Space Force" calls them (probably same as the USAF) and I don't really care.

² Non Commissioned Officer, i.e. sergeants.