So today I have to help set up for the annual Army Aviation Association of America's Annual Beach Bash. (Great assonance and alliteration, don't you think?) In order to attract people to the organization, which, unlike the 82nd Airborne Division Association, does not use high-pressure tactics, we got a keg.
Apparently, I've only been here really a week, and already I'm the expert on kegs. It seems my reputation precedes me.
This morning (at 9:30, no less), the keg is brought out, and, due to process of elimination, I am selected to tap the keg. I'm not certain if this is due to the fact that I went to an actual college, or because people have heard enough of my drinking and partying exploits. I suppose it's a combination of the two.
As an additional note, there's a handful of us here who were in Honduras together. We stood around talking in the hall and started asking ourselves, "Did we really auction off dates with Air Force nurses*? Did we really throw a toga party that got a half a dozen people arrested?" I swear that place is like a completely parallel dimension.
*=proceeds benefited local charities
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When you get married, you could have your first dance to something cliche, like "Butterfly Kisses", much like 99.99% of all weddings. (Course, this is an estimate. For good reason, I never get invited to weddings). You could also participate in that tradition of cutting a cake with a saber, you know, if you didn't get enough military stuff at work every day.
Or you could show a little creativity, shell out about $100 for a pair of Star Wars FX lightsabers, and have your own well-choreographed first lightsaber battle.
This is a good read. This is an interview with COL Christopher Hughes, who later became my Task Force Commander in Soto Cano, Honduras. (He's infamous as the one chewing me out in that one picture).
I'm going to write a more in-depth reflection on this as well as some things that have struck me in Greene's 33 Strategies of War regarding the cultural revolution that officers today need to strike up. Basically, the key to this is that cultural awareness matters just in much in battle as how many troops and firepower one can bring to bear on the target. In fact, this story here highlights one battle he was involved in, during which he staved off a crowd of angry Iraqis without so much as firing a shot.
U.S. military personnel from Soto Cano Air Base begin treating a patient involved in a vehicle crash in a remote area of Honduras on Feb. 6. Three people died in the accident and 10 were injured. They were members of a nonprofit organization in Georgia and are in Honduras on a volunteer mission providing manual labor and teaching Bible school in Olancho, Honduras. Photo by Spc. John Destromp
SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras (American Forces Press Service, Feb. 8, 2007) - U.S. military personnel here helped medically evacuate a group of American volunteers after a bus crash near the village of Mal Pais, Honduras, Feb. 6.
Three people died and 10 others suffered head trauma, broken bones and other injuries when their vehicle rolled over in a remote part of Honduras, an hour and a half from Tegucigalpa.
U.S. military personnel from Soto Cano Air Base evacuated the injured volunteers the day of the accident. Joint Task Force (JTF) Bravo launched a medical evacuation helicopter less than an hour after receiving the call for help. Most Honduran hospitals have limited medical evacuation capability, U.S. officials said.
JTF Bravo officials explained that the evacuation involved a dangerous helicopter exertion into mountainous terrain during bad weather. Due to the remoteness of the crash site, four U.S. helicopters were used to find the casualties and evacuate them to hospitals in La Ceiba and Tegucigalpa. The next day, troops from JTF Bravo moved eight victims originally taken to La Ceiba on to Tegucigalpa, where they were to receive further assistance from the U.S. Embassy.
The killed and injured volunteers were members of a 28-person team from four churches in Newnan and Cartersville, Ga. Their group is linked with the nonprofit organization Honduras Outreach, Inc., based in Decatur, Ga.
Joint Task Force Bravo is part of U.S. Southern Command's mission of protecting the southern approaches of the United States with an active defense against all threats. Part of achieving that mission relies on establishing regional partnerships and developing a military capability that can support security, stability, a functional judicial system and an institutional respect for human rights within these partners.
JTF Bravo is housed on Soto-Cano Air Base, a forward operating base in Honduras that supports a variety of missions, including counterdrug, search and rescue, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance.
"We train to respond rapidly to events throughout Central America," said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Hughes, Joint Task Force Bravo commander. "We are proud to have assisted in this mission because the chance to save lives and alleviate suffering is very important to us.
"We pray for the speedy recoveries of those who were injured in this unfortunate accident and extend our heartfelt condolences to the family members of those who lost their lives," he added.
To be posted to the Soto Cano chapter in greater detail, but here is one of the highlights that kind of perfectly sums up the weekend.
It seems that LTC [name], the battalion commander, really came out of his shell this weekend. (By the way, two UH-60s went up to Roatan and one went to La Ceiba this weekend for "MWR Trips"). He went up there with a CW2 named Paul, who went through flight school with me. (Paul is one of the infamous group of people who got caught in the DFAC one Saturday morning with open containers of beer. They just stayed up really late and continued to drink up through breakfast, and got arrested.)
Anyway, he and LTC [name] are staggering down the street on Roatan one night, holding each other up. All of a sudden, Paul says to LTC [name]
PAUL: "Scott, Scott, Scott!" (Apparently, this CW2 likes to call his battalion commander by his first name) "I just thought of something. We're here in Roatan--but back at Soto Cano, we're leaving the rest of the battalion unattended...with the Lizard Lounge open. Should we be concerned?"
LTC [name]: (Thinks about this for a moment). Nahhhh....
Okay, here's a recap of Toga Party Night. I swear, I think the Task Force Commander is going to gather everyone together in a trial like they did to the Deltas in Animal House. There must have been something in the air last night that just lead to destruction and mayhem. Or, maybe it was because the Air Force people were at the end of their rotation. Furthermore, it was a 1-228th Tag-in night ($2500 tab), plus a Club Med Toga night. (Yes, only at this base) I'm going to write up an in-depth narrative of this in a little bit, but the highlights.
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