Tonight was the 14 FS Christmas Party at the Co-located Club. Lt Col T gave a benediction that was rather more patriotic and warlike than I normally hear, which is exactly what we need to hear these days. The dinner was superb! Afterward, we then got down to the business of ‘Bad Santa’ passing out ‘gifts,’ and it rather seemed to pay to have been naughty! Following that was the combat gift exchange, where you take turns picking a gift, with the twist being the next person in line has the option to take the gift you just received! I’ve become convinced that combat gift exchanges are best suited for crowds of under 30 people. We easily had twice that number, and everyone started losing interest (meaning going to the bar instead of paying attention to the exchange) within about 15 minutes. The rest of the time was drinking, dancing, and chatting.
I’ve missed these things. . . the last one that was this good was Spangdahlem 2001. Fighter Pilot Christmas Party re-hack accomplished!