My name is Hayden Ricley, and I am a freshman here at UNL! This semester I am a MWR tech for Det. 465 which involves putting on morale events for our detachment. On 1 March, family and friends attended an annual detachment event: Dining Out. Dining out allows everyone involved in AFROTC to learn where our seniors are commissioning to, eat some delicious food, hear important words from guest speakers, and see the freshman attempt to wear dress blues. Dining out allows our family and friends to get a glimpse at what we do within the detachment and maybe even learn some of our “whys”. Our guest speaker, Col Joe Brownell, gave us a much-needed reminder that everything happens for a reason. This was a key takeaway as sometimes we may forget why we do what we do within the detachment. Another highlight of the night was the food. Medium rare steak, chicken, potatoes, and apple turnovers definitely made the guests happy.
Dining out was a great night, but it was a huge task to tackle. C/Major Richmond did an excellent job at ensuring it was a great night. Each of C/Major Richmond’s techs, C/Briseno, C/Falkinburg, C/Dubas, and I, were tasked with different jobs to ensure that everything ran smoothly. I had the creative job of deciding and finding the gifts for our parting cadre: Lt Col Garito, TSgt Miller, and TSgt DeWolf. Gifts were just a small job in the huge scheme of things. C/Briseno ensured that the senior video was created, C/Dubas developed the flyers, and C/Falkinburg helped set up on the day of the event. Everyone that was tasked with helping with Dining Out worked very hard and well together to ensure that this was a great experience for everyone.
