Dining Out is a traditional event that began with Dining-Ins beginning in the 1930s with General Henry “Hap” Arnold's formal unit events referred to as “Wing-Dings.” Originally a tradition from England, the close bonds enjoyed by the Air Corps officers and their British colleagues of the Royal Air Force during World War II added to American involvement in this custom. Dining Out is a more recent event that allows guests outside of the unit to partake in the festivities. Our Detachment’s Dining Out is an event where we welcome the new cadets in the Wing and send off the graduating seniors and share this time with our friends and family.
Organizing the event began in January of this year with getting the budget and securing a venue. This year the biggest challenge was securing a venue for April which is a competition between proms and weddings. Once we had secured the AKRS Champions Club planning went a lot smoother and I was able to delegate tasks to my three techs who were a big part of why the event ran so smoothly. The Champions Club was great to work with and they helped plan the seating arrangement and the caterers, so for setup I just had to bring the decorations and make sure the music and PowerPoint was running. The thing that helped with organizing dining out was making checklists and having set dates for when I wanted things done.
This year Dining Out looked a little different than normal. In past years there has always been a guest speaker before dinner. I took a little different route this year and had no guest speaker. Instead we had Wing Superlatives, the Grog and senior wills. The Grog is where each class plus cadre have an ingredient that we all mix into our toilet bowl, then after the mixture is made if anyone breaks the rules of the mess or gets roasted the cadet is sent to the grog. It was a fun time and allowed us to show our family and friends some of the traditions we have and we all shared some laughs.
Thank you to C/Gochenour for organizing this event!
