Day 27

Interesting Shabbos. The flight all went out to the Officers’ Club for an “orientation” of the customs and courtesies that apply to the club. That took 5 minutes, and then the drinking began. I toyed with the idea of walking over there at about 2000 after I davened and ate, but I decided that I had maintained a pretty nice Shabbos atmosphere for the last four weeks – why ruin it now? Turns out I didn’t miss much – and I had someone fill me in on the customs.

First of all, no pointing at the O Club. You point with your elbow. If you point with your finger, you buy the next round. Every officer must always have an RMO in their pocket. An RMO is a Round Metal Object, specifically a commemorative coin that are issued by units, bases, missions, etc. When sitting at the bar someone may take out their RMO and slap it down on the bar. That is the challenge. Everyone has to produce their RMO and whoever doesn’t have one buys the next round. Oh, by the way, if everyone DOES have one, the challenger has to buy the next round.

Enough of that. I got about nine hours of sleep, woke up at 0600, davened Shacharis, made Kiddush in my room, went to breakfast at 0700, and at 0815 I had my Bible Study – it was me, my roommate, the Conservative kid and a Baptist Chaplain Candidate – we had an AWESOME class! It went until 1000, at which time I had to attend a meeting about my role in the upcoming field training. I went back to my room at 1100, read had lunch, and took a three hour nap (!), read some more and at 1900 we went up to our flight room for our Flight Dinner. Major Haigh was there with his wife, and he had written on the board in large letters, “Rules of Engagement: No ‘Sirs’ or ‘Ma’am’” – he was dressed in jeans and we had to call him by his call sign, “Mooch” (he likes free stuff). I named his wife “Moochessa.” They had Dominos Pizza – I had Matza and tuna and granola bars… They introduced us to a role-playing game called “Mafia.” We wrapped up at 2145, and I asked if anyone wanted to introduce me to the O Club. About nine of us decided to walk over there. First of all, it took 30 minutes to walk over there. Second of all, it was 80 degrees and about 110% humidity. Third of all, the club closed at 2200. Fourth of all, it took 30 minutes to walk back as well. I was DRENCHED in sweat!

Took a shower, and realized that I had about ten movies on my computer about which I had completely forgotten. So I stayed up to about 0200 watching “Sweeny Todd.” That was my Melava Malka!