Air Force Party, Pretty Great Night

[Cain]

So, we had our Air Force DEP Christmas Party tonight, and I had a lot of un-expected stuff happen. Also, we just flat out had a good time. We met a guy who is about to become Master Chief Seargent, we had 5 recruiters, all of them SSgts, except mine who is a TSgt, and then we handed out the awards, this is where I was surprised.

I am a very blunt person, and usually get along with 1/2 of the people I meet, usually 1/2 are ok with me, the other 1/2 despise me. Well, tonight I got a Air Force coin, it was the "Top Recruiter" Coin, and it was handed out to 2 people out of I think the number is around 50. I got this coin, because I had spread out a lot of pamphlets/packages of pamphlets around my region of the recruiting district, and I had also, everytime my recruiter needed to speak to me, I'd drive to his station and usually help him with other DEP'ers getting stuff done.

I was really shocked because I was considered mostly the "loner" of the DEP, although their is no real loners since we basically do everything together in our spare time. So, I was pretty "WOAHED!" because my Uncle [Army Engineer, 13 years] was pretty proud of all of his coins he'd earned because of multiple things [he got I think 8-9 coins, a few for services above & beyond, and other stuff, I think one was for one of his injuries during Desert Storm] and I called to tell him, but apparently I am going to go to Nashville to show him tomorrow.

Anyways, the party was really fun, and I learned that if you work hard, your stuck out and shown as a example, and to be honest...I loved it. I love being able to say I worked harder then others, and I hope the others will work harder with me to get our DEP stronger in size & individual power. We all also got a Certificate of Enlistment, which everyone got, but I am keeping it in my AF Packet I carry around when we have stuff, it has everything I could need for identification, and plus my WHOLE contract [you would not believe how thick that contract is until you fill it out].

Anyways, had a blast, and must admit, my perspective has changed a lot about stuff.

Thanks to any Veterans out there, you guys/gals make me proud to say I am on my way to becoming a Airman.

 

[ConHog]

Congratulations, and glad you're enjoying your career.

 

[Mini 14]

Thanks for your service, Airman!

Tonight will be a night you remember for the rest of your life. Not for the coin (though you will likely cherish it until you die), but because tonight you started to see the world, and yourself, in a completely different light. It happens to all of us, and I only wish it had happened to me at 18 instead of 24. You're way ahead of the curve.

Thanks, Cain. Your service allows my family to enjoy everything we have, nothing more so than our freedom. I am exactly 30 years older than you, yet you have my complete and sincere respect and admiration (all us old farts aren't blind and bitter and what you've done to earn that coin is something you should truly be proud of, even when you're my age.

God bless and keep you safe. Thanks. And CONGRATULATIONS (and I'm not just talking about the coin

 

[Mr. H.]

You da man.

 

[daveman]

Thanks for your service, Airman!

Tonight will be a night you remember for the rest of your life. Not for the coin (though you will likely cherish it until you die), but because tonight you started to see the world, and yourself, in a completely different light. It happens to all of us, and I only wish it had happened to me at 18 instead of 24. You're way ahead of the curve.

Thanks, Cain. Your service allows my family to enjoy everything we have, nothing more so than our freedom. I am exactly 30 years older than you, yet you have my complete and sincere respect and admiration (all us old farts aren't blind and bitter and what you've done to earn that coin is something you should truly be proud of, even when you're my age.

God bless and keep you safe. Thanks. And CONGRATULATIONS (and I'm not just talking about the coin

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thank you, Cain.

 

[High_Gravity]

So, we had our Air Force DEP Christmas Party tonight, and I had a lot of un-expected stuff happen. Also, we just flat out had a good time. We met a guy who is about to become Master Chief Seargent, we had 5 recruiters, all of them SSgts, except mine who is a TSgt, and then we handed out the awards, this is where I was surprised.

I am a very blunt person, and usually get along with 1/2 of the people I meet, usually 1/2 are ok with me, the other 1/2 despise me. Well, tonight I got a Air Force coin, it was the "Top Recruiter" Coin, and it was handed out to 2 people out of I think the number is around 50. I got this coin, because I had spread out a lot of pamphlets/packages of pamphlets around my region of the recruiting district, and I had also, everytime my recruiter needed to speak to me, I'd drive to his station and usually help him with other DEP'ers getting stuff done.

I was really shocked because I was considered mostly the "loner" of the DEP, although their is no real loners since we basically do everything together in our spare time. So, I was pretty "WOAHED!" because my Uncle [Army Engineer, 13 years] was pretty proud of all of his coins he'd earned because of multiple things [he got I think 8-9 coins, a few for services above & beyond, and other stuff, I think one was for one of his injuries during Desert Storm] and I called to tell him, but apparently I am going to go to Nashville to show him tomorrow.

Anyways, the party was really fun, and I learned that if you work hard, your stuck out and shown as a example, and to be honest...I loved it. I love being able to say I worked harder then others, and I hope the others will work harder with me to get our DEP stronger in size & individual power. We all also got a Certificate of Enlistment, which everyone got, but I am keeping it in my AF Packet I carry around when we have stuff, it has everything I could need for identification, and plus my WHOLE contract [you would not believe how thick that contract is until you fill it out].

Anyways, had a blast, and must admit, my perspective has changed a lot about stuff.

Thanks to any Veterans out there, you guys/gals make me proud to say I am on my way to becoming a Airman.

I think you mean Chief Master Sergeant there Airman.

 

[High_Gravity]

Its great that you had a good time, parties in the Air Force can be a good thing and I think you can tell already the Military has good comradirie, you just don't find that in the civilian world. I was in the Air Force for 7 years and I bonded with my co-workers in the Air Force way quicker than here in the civilian world, everyone just kind of wants to do their job and go home. If you have any questions about the AF you can PM me, take care.

 

[Mad Scientist]

You know it doesn't matter what papers you signed at the recruiters office? You're not in the A.F. until you take the actual oath of enlistment at Lackland AFB. You can still back out anytime, just so you know. If you were actually in the AF they would be giving you a check. Have you gotten one? I didn't think so. Recruiters throwing you a party doesn't mean you're in.

The AF will change that "loner" mentality quick enough in Basic Training. Besides, what some call "loner" others would call "independent minded". Remember that.

Also, don't have a "last toke" party with your friends. They will drug test you at Lackland and you will get busted for it.

That being said, I know you'll have a great time, just like I did! Good luck!

 

[High_Gravity]

You know it doesn't matter what papers you signed at the recruiters office? You're not in the A.F. until you take the actual oath of enlistment at Lackland AFB. You can still back out anytime, just so you know. If you were actually in the AF they would be giving you a check. Have you gotten one? I didn't think so. Recruiters throwing you a party doesn't mean you're in.

The AF will change that "loner" mentality quick enough in Basic Training. Besides, what some call "loner" others would call "independent minded". Remember that.

Also, don't have a "last toke" party with your friends. They will drug test you at Lackland and you will get busted for it.

That being said, I know you'll have a great time, just like I did! Good luck!

Mad scientist is correct, they will definently drug test you at Lackland so do not let any friends pressure you into smoking out one last time. 7 people in my flight were sent home for failing the drug test, my first bunk mate was this Mexican kid from New Mexico who did cocaine 2 days before coming to Lackland, even he knew himself he was going to fail the drug test. Stupid.

 

[Cain]

I think you mean Chief Master Sergeant there Airman.

Dangit! I always have a problem saying the E-9 & E-10, our first PT we sat down and had to match the photo of the Ranks, with the E-? or O-? and the official name and what they can be called, and whether we salute or not. It was hilarious cause he said if we get all of them right [he was randomly selected people in the DEP] we could go eat Pizza on him [we tried HARD] we ended up missing 2 out of like 30 questions, so we ran 2 miles haha.

Thanks for your service, Airman!

Tonight will be a night you remember for the rest of your life. Not for the coin (though you will likely cherish it until you die), but because tonight you started to see the world, and yourself, in a completely different light. It happens to all of us, and I only wish it had happened to me at 18 instead of 24. You're way ahead of the curve.

Thanks, Cain. Your service allows my family to enjoy everything we have, nothing more so than our freedom. I am exactly 30 years older than you, yet you have my complete and sincere respect and admiration (all us old farts aren't blind and bitter and what you've done to earn that coin is something you should truly be proud of, even when you're my age.

God bless and keep you safe. Thanks. And CONGRATULATIONS (and I'm not just talking about the coin

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thank you, Cain.

Thanks to both of you, and you guys have to watch this, you'd get why it's so funny coming from the thank yous': [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt_0ccnPXwA[/ame]

Thanks for your service, Airman!

Tonight will be a night you remember for the rest of your life. Not for the coin (though you will likely cherish it until you die), but because tonight you started to see the world, and yourself, in a completely different light. It happens to all of us, and I only wish it had happened to me at 18 instead of 24. You're way ahead of the curve.

Thanks, Cain. Your service allows my family to enjoy everything we have, nothing more so than our freedom. I am exactly 30 years older than you, yet you have my complete and sincere respect and admiration (all us old farts aren't blind and bitter and what you've done to earn that coin is something you should truly be proud of, even when you're my age.

God bless and keep you safe. Thanks. And CONGRATULATIONS (and I'm not just talking about the coin

Thanks, I really can't wait to earn more things. I am seriously going to try to earn Honors when I go to BMT, and if I don't, I'll do my best to try. They said it's a real honor [haha get it, honor to earn honors] to get the Honors, but our recruiter is running us ragged every PT [we do 2x a month not the mandatory 1x] and we do PT outside of that 3x a week. We also study the Airman Creed/Phonetic Alphabet [already got that down, the alphabet is so easy, I doubt anyone has ever had a problem learning this].

Thanks, and I am really excited to earn more, I just feel like at the end of my career being able to say I earned a lot more then the average, and did my best.

Its great that you had a good time, parties in the Air Force can be a good thing and I think you can tell already the Military has good comradirie, you just don't find that in the civilian world. I was in the Air Force for 7 years and I bonded with my co-workers in the Air Force way quicker than here in the civilian world, everyone just kind of wants to do their job and go home. If you have any questions about the AF you can PM me, take care.

Thanks for Serving High_Gravity, I know their had to be rough times, but no matter what, you kept going .

 

[High_Gravity]

Dangit! I always have a problem saying the E-9 & E-10, our first PT we sat down and had to match the photo of the Ranks, with the E-? or O-? and the official name and what they can be called, and whether we salute or not. It was hilarious cause he said if we get all of them right [he was randomly selected people in the DEP] we could go eat Pizza on him [we tried HARD] we ended up missing 2 out of like 30 questions, so we ran 2 miles haha.

There is no E-10, the highest rank for enlisted is Chief Master Sergeant which is an E-9. There is an 0-10 which is the highest rank, 4 star General. Its good that you started learning the ranks now but when you get to basic after a week or so you will know them by heart, and it will be common knowledge for you.

 

[High_Gravity]

Thanks for Serving High_Gravity, I know their had to be rough times, but no matter what, you kept going .

Definently hard times but I tell you what, I made friends for life in the AF and I still keep in touch with them to this very day, especially the people I met on my deployment to Kuwait. Everyday in the Air Force is not a party but you will meet some of the finest people and experience things you will never forget.

 

[Cain]

Dangit! I always have a problem saying the E-9 & E-10, our first PT we sat down and had to match the photo of the Ranks, with the E-? or O-? and the official name and what they can be called, and whether we salute or not. It was hilarious cause he said if we get all of them right [he was randomly selected people in the DEP] we could go eat Pizza on him [we tried HARD] we ended up missing 2 out of like 30 questions, so we ran 2 miles haha.

There is no E-10, the highest rank for enlisted is Chief Master Sergeant which is an E-9. There is an 0-10 which is the highest rank, 4 star General. Its good that you started learning the ranks now but when you get to basic after a week or so you will know them by heart, and it will be common knowledge for you.

I feel stupid now lol. He said we are going to know it before we go to BMT, he said we are going to know these before we depart to BMT:

-Airman Creed [Memorization]
-Phonetic Alphabet [Memorization & Uses]
-Rank Structure [Memorization, Positions, Duties, Common Name, Salute or Not Salute]
-Air Force History [Not really in-depth, but really amazing to know]

I think that is about it, I am probably missing something, but if I am, my apologies.

 

[SFC Ollie]

First of all, congrats.

2nd....E10?

And then a question, in the Army we had formal dinners for NCO's they were called "Dining IN" which was basically only the NCO's without any spouses very formal way to have dinner, get drunk, and enjoy the camaraderie. Then there was the "Dining Out" where spouses/guests were invited to attend, still very formal but not as much drinking.
The question is; do the other services have similar traditions?

 

[Cain]

Thanks for Serving High_Gravity, I know their had to be rough times, but no matter what, you kept going .

Definently hard times but I tell you what, I made friends for life in the AF and I still keep in touch with them to this very day, especially the people I met on my deployment to Kuwait. Everyday in the Air Force is not a party but you will meet some of the finest people and experience things you will never forget.

Yea, we have had 1 bad day, that was a day we ran in the rain it was really cold (for Tennessee that is like 28-30 Farenheit) and it started raining, we only did 2 miles [as opposed to the 4 1/2 the PT before] but I twisted my ankle and fell on the last spring [we sprint for the finish, if we don't get their fast enough, we have to run another mile lol]. That was the only bad time, but it wasn't because of anything other then my ankle getting hurt and rolling on cement lol.

 

[High_Gravity]

First of all, congrats.

2nd....E10?

And then a question, in the Army we had formal dinners for NCO's they were called "Dining IN" which was basically only the NCO's without any spouses very formal way to have dinner, get drunk, and enjoy the camaraderie. Then there was the "Dining Out" where spouses/guests were invited to attend, still very formal but not as much drinking.
The question is; do the other services have similar traditions?

The Air Force has both dining in and dining out, I attended 2 dining in's in my full service dress at Offutt Air Force base.

 

[Cain]

First of all, congrats.

2nd....E10?

And then a question, in the Army we had formal dinners for NCO's they were called "Dining IN" which was basically only the NCO's without any spouses very formal way to have dinner, get drunk, and enjoy the camaraderie. Then there was the "Dining Out" where spouses/guests were invited to attend, still very formal but not as much drinking.
The question is; do the other services have similar traditions?

At E-10, yea I have no idea where that came from, I must have confused Enlisted with having 10 and Officers having 9, instead of the correct way, my apologies to everyone.

At our Christmas Party, the Flight Chief, was sitting with his wife and the Seargents where with him, and the DEP sat in the farther back with parents/guests.

I was lucky, I got volunteered [thanks Sgt.] for door duty, which I sat at the door and took all the stuff to the back for people, gave them a ticket [some actually ignored me when I tried to give them one, but I got them one by god] and then I had to make everyone sign in under a list, their was a DEP list for both squadrons, a guest list, a parents list, and on top of that, a veterans list lol. I had to explain this to every group, and their was about 120-150 people, and people get confused so easily.

 

[High_Gravity]

Dangit! I always have a problem saying the E-9 & E-10, our first PT we sat down and had to match the photo of the Ranks, with the E-? or O-? and the official name and what they can be called, and whether we salute or not. It was hilarious cause he said if we get all of them right [he was randomly selected people in the DEP] we could go eat Pizza on him [we tried HARD] we ended up missing 2 out of like 30 questions, so we ran 2 miles haha.

There is no E-10, the highest rank for enlisted is Chief Master Sergeant which is an E-9. There is an 0-10 which is the highest rank, 4 star General. Its good that you started learning the ranks now but when you get to basic after a week or so you will know them by heart, and it will be common knowledge for you.

I feel stupid now lol. He said we are going to know it before we go to BMT, he said we are going to know these before we depart to BMT:

-Airman Creed [Memorization]
-Phonetic Alphabet [Memorization & Uses]
-Rank Structure [Memorization, Positions, Duties, Common Name, Salute or Not Salute]
-Air Force History [Not really in-depth, but really amazing to know]

I think that is about it, I am probably missing something, but if I am, my apologies.

Thats good your recruiter is working on this with you know, my recruiter didn't really teach me anything. The process for me was very fast, I went into the recruiters office June 20, went to MEPS on June 23rd and than before I knew it I was in basic training on July 4th 2000, it all went by so quickly. I guess back than they were able to get people in quicker than nowadays, I know people who were at MEPS with me on the 23rd of June trying to leave in 2 days or even the very next day. Whatever you do, do not let your TI know you had a head start on learning these things, you will get extra duties like dorm chief or something else if he thinks you are ahead of the curb.

 

[Cain]

There is no E-10, the highest rank for enlisted is Chief Master Sergeant which is an E-9. There is an 0-10 which is the highest rank, 4 star General. Its good that you started learning the ranks now but when you get to basic after a week or so you will know them by heart, and it will be common knowledge for you.

I feel stupid now lol. He said we are going to know it before we go to BMT, he said we are going to know these before we depart to BMT:

-Airman Creed [Memorization]
-Phonetic Alphabet [Memorization & Uses]
-Rank Structure [Memorization, Positions, Duties, Common Name, Salute or Not Salute]
-Air Force History [Not really in-depth, but really amazing to know]

I think that is about it, I am probably missing something, but if I am, my apologies.

Thats good your recruiter is working on this with you know, my recruiter didn't really teach me anything. The process for me was very fast, I went into the recruiters office June 20, went to MEPS on June 23rd and than before I knew it I was in basic training on July 4th 2000, it all went by so quickly. I guess back than they were able to get people in quicker than nowadays, I know people who were at MEPS with me on the 23rd of June trying to leave in 2 days or even the very next day. Whatever you do, do not let your TI know you had a head start on learning these things, you will get extra duties like dorm chief or something else if he thinks you are ahead of the curb.

Wow, well, the DEP is mostly High School seniors in our area, their is about 5-6 people who are graduated already. I will keep that in mind, I am trying to get everything done, cause in our school we have a "Armed Forces Club" and in it, you can get up in rank, if you work on knowing certain things. (Phonetic Alphabet, Ranks, etc)

 

[SFC Ollie]

I went to the recruiters one day took the tests about 4 days later, went to Meps the following week and left from there to Basic.