Bethesda HARCH

Before I fill you in on the next leg of my journey, I feel compelled to revisit some great COT moments.

1. When my flight instructor was teaching us the lesson on sexual harassment, he shared an instance of sexual harassment he experienced. Apparently after he became a new officer, he walked into a break room and a higher ranking female officer commented to another women to look at the hot, new, young officer. We asked him what he did and he replied,"What kind of man would I be if I didn't respect a woman who recognized true youth and beauty". My commander rarely smiled and rarely expressed anything so this was awesome. Another time someone asked him how he got to be a major. He replied, "By shooting people and blowing things up".

2. NOT a waste of time: Whenever we entered DFAC to eat, we had assigned seating with assigned roles. Each table had position 1-4. The position 1 chair faced the serving area, position 2 was to the left of position 1, position 3 was across from position 2, and position 4 was across from position 1. Each person had to put their tray down at their respective positions and wait until position 4 arrived and announced "Be Seated" before all 4 people would be allowed to seat. After all are seated, position 2 and 3 pass napkins to the person on their right, position 1 and 4, respectively. After the napkins are passed, everyone waits for people to pray. There is no talking allowed, no elbows on table, and sit up. It is mandatory to drink 3 glasses of fluid at each meal. No one is allowed to leave the table until everyone has finished eating. Once everyone is finished eating, position 2 and 3 pass their tray contents to position 1 and 4, respectively. After the contents are passed to the right, the now-empty tray is placed under the trays with all the contents. Position1 leaves with the 2 trays. Position 2 takes napkins and wipes the table while position 3 holds up the napkin dispenser. Position 4 waits to take the dirty napkin with the 2 trays. Then everyone walks to the back of the room to walk along the wall to the tray disposal area. DEF not a waste of time.

3. Opus-Dei: In Da Vinci Code (the book, not sure if in the movie) book mentions how people whip themselves to remind themselves of Jesus's pain. In a similar vein, I have this lovely ABU cap that gives me pain to remind me that I am in the Air Force. I wear it with my ABU's. It has a pin in it that shows my rank as 2nd Lt. It is the type of pin with the covers/backings on the inside to cover the sharp pin point.When I put my hat on the backing digs into my forehead. Whenever I put on my cover it digs in and I have 2 matching marks on my forehead. I think this is the Air Force's way of reminding us that we are in the Air Force. The pain keeps it real.

Last night I spent a luxurious night in Embassy Suites with my parents and Bingo. Pillow top mattresses, Showtime on TV, chocolate chip cookies at the check-in counter, yummy big breakfast. We had a ton of stuff plus the baby so it worked out well having a whole suite to ourselves. A couple of my flight members were staying in Embassy with me so I drove them to the hotel with me. They came over for yummy Korean dinner. My mom cooked and brought up Korean dishes. Currently I am staying at Comfort Inn with my mom. We have 6 hours left until we get to Bethesda. Even thought COT is over I may have a few residual entries left in me before I close out. Bethesda HARCH!