ALS Graduation

It was beautiful last night. Cody greeted me at the door (we came in separate cars for the night since he had to be there early) and walked me over to my seat at our table. Our table happened to be near the front of the room near the MIA/POW table and I couldn't help but to look at it every now and then. There were four empty seats at the table, places set for a meal and glasses turned upside down. There was a single candle and a single rose on the table and each spot held the hat of a military service saving a spot for those that couldn't be with us last night.

I sat by myself for a little while and then went over to sit and talk with a friend's husband so we weren't sitting alone. The place started to fill up quickly so I went back to my seat and waited for Cody to come back. He had to wait out front so he could escort his guests to the table. I had a Moscow mule while I was waiting for him and noticed a lot of spouses don't know how to dress themselves. It was just a little sad to see the barely brushed hair and fat rolls dripping over the side of their outfits. I don't know why women try to squeeze into dress sizes they used to be when they've obviously gained weight. If you're a size 12, don't squeeze in to an 8 because it looks disgusting you know? Just buy clothing in the size 12 and breathe for the night. One lady's boobs looked like they were going to make a debut ala Janet Jackson. Yuck. They need a school for military spouses to learn how to dress for important functions, how to do make-up without looking like a kinder class did it for you, how to behave etc.

Any who, on with the night. I might mix up the order of events, but it's okay. They started out with the posting of the colors (Japanese and American flags and service flags I think) and an airman sang the Japanese and American anthems. Then they said a little prayer and they did introductions of people. After that they talked some more and we were eventually served dinner. Roast beast and Pigeon. Okay maybe it wasn't really pigeon, but there sure wasn't a whole lot of meat. Which is okay because it was really dried out and the sauce was nasty. Our table was chowing on the bread because it's hard to mess up bread. Cody had roast beast and the texture made me almost hurl. yuck yuck yuck. I didn't eat much besides my bread and salad and was starving by the time I got home.

After dinner they did the candle light ceremony for fallen comrades. They started a ceremony for fallen comrades and said we could keep eating, but I don't think anyone did. The graduates were lined up on opposite sides of a table. 15 graduates on each side. There was a guy standing at the table and he took the candle from the POW/MIA table to light the flame for the fallen comrades. They would read off two names and one person from each side would march up to the table, the guy standing at the table would then light a tea light for each name read and the two people that marched up would salute very slowly and then march to another spot. They kept reading the names and I noticed a lot of people around me getting teary-eyed. A couple of the graduates looked like they were fighting back tears as they marched to their spots and all the while I was sitting there thinking that could easily be Cody's name be read off someday. So that part of the evening was a little emotional for me. It's hard not to let a tear slip especially when these big tough Air Force/Navy/Army guys are all sitting there trying not to cry as well. Just something about watching a grown man cry makes me lose it.


We then had the intermission and When I went to the restroom I got to hear f* this and f* that from two women that were mad some guy was buying them drinks that night. They went on and on and on about what an ass this guy was for paying for them and how he won't even say how much the drinks cost or anything and they can't pay him back with drinks because he doesn't drink. Real jerk isn't he? I told them that instead of going to the bathroom and complaining about the guy and using fuck as every other word, perhaps they could just smile and say thank you and accept the drink graciously and then buy the guy something else or invite him to dinner at their house or something. Some people's kids I swear. Ya do a nice thing for them and they get upset.

Back at our table we listened to a guest speaker that quoted a lot of famous people. Some of Cody’s co-workers that were there cracked a couple jokes and I kept trying not to laugh.

They (finally) got to the point where they presented awards. The award for highest grades in the class goes to... SR. AIRMAN CODY ROBERTS! Cody won the first award for the night (there were four different awards and one award is given out twice). We thumped our spoons on the table and cheered as he went up to the stage to get his award. They gave out the other four awards and each squadron yelled out their things. Usually someone calls out the first line and everyone else yells the second line. Com stuck with thumping spoons on the table. The security forces squadron would yell out “Two to the chest.” “AND ONE TO THE HEAD.” repeat. There was another squadron that would yell out “Mess with the bull.” “AND GET THE HORNS.” There were a couple other yells, but every time the bull people went someone from Com would do a “Muuuuuuuuuurrrrrrr.” bull like sound. It was hard not to giggle. The bull people had a lot of graduates too so we heard their call a lot. They also had the tacky women from the bathroom and the lady that was almost popping out of her dress.

After all the awards and diplomas were presented they did closing remarks and passed on the volleyball from some game they make the graduates do before they graduate. They had a Japanese graduate that would say a lot of stuff in Japanese and then the American with him would “translate” it all. So long long things of Japanese and then the American would speak. Anywho, The Japanese guy went on and on and the American said, “Now what he basically said was we originally wanted a rematch because we think the shirts were using performance enhancing drugs.” Long things of Japanese and the Japanese commanders start laughing. The American takes the mike and said “And he pretty much said that then we realized geritol wasn’t a performance enhancer.” It got quite the laugh.
After all that Cody had to go up and sing the Air Force Song. I didn’t know the words so I stood at our table and looked pretty. He had a couple of drinks to celebrate it being over and we headed home.