this ALSO wont help
My buddy was the commander of a National Guard fighter squadron: F-16's. He was recently promoted.

Two summers ago, the squadron was being deployed to Iraq. I arranged for my Niece's band to play their deployment party in the Colonel's back yard.

So he gets back from Iraq with a bunch of thank you gifts: a squadron beer stein, some t-shirts, an American flag flown over the US Capitol Building AND Baghdad (they are Washington, DC National Guard, so on Sept 11, they were the fighter CAP over DC).

So a couple of weeks ago, he is promoted to Operations Group Commander and I went to the change of command ceremony. He comes up, all smiles and says "It's about fucking TIME you make it down here you asshole!" And I laughed and said "yeah, you're right." He then says: "If it weren't for this ceremony, I could give your REAL thank you gift for setting up your Niece to play that party."

"Oh? What's that ask I?"

"Cant tell you. Come down to the house after this and I will tell you about it."

So I drain a couple of beers at the after party at the base and then head to his house. He hands my a flight suit. I thought: "oh, this is cool."

Not the gift. I am getting two hours of simulator time and then a 30 minute hop over Washington, DC. I will post pictures if anyone is interested. :)
( Citadel Because the world needs less morons, Thu 26 Jun 2008, 16:26, Reply)