The Freefall Ball

Last night, Edward and I attended YPG's Freefall Ball. His Company put on the ball right here on post. The CDC (we think of it as the Center for Disease Control, but it's the Child Development Center) offered childcare for everyone during the ball, which was a great help because everyone we know who could have watched the kids was at the ball. This was the first ball I'd been to since college. The clinic at Womack always has a Dining In, which means no spouses, so it was finally nice to attend a military ball.

It's definitely interesting being one of seven officers (not including the many warrant officers) on base here. That automatically got us seated at one of the head tables, which sometimes, you just want to sit with the rest of the crowd. The rest of the ball attendees were able to seat themselves, so the friends I've made all sat together and waved at us. We did sit with the PA at the clinic and his wife, along with the Company XO and his wife. Oh wait, that was just our neighbors on our block...hmmm.

The other interesting thing about the ball is that the Company is part of a larger Batallion, as is any company. Well, the batallion is actually back at Ft. Bragg. This is the only company out here. So, the Batallion Commander came too, a colonel, but he came from Ft. Bragg.

The evening went pretty well, and the food was good. I'd heard in years' past, the food was pretty bad. We did manage to leave before we saw the entire ball demise to a drunk fest, but man, there were some interesting people and interesting dresses. The favorite thing I overheard was someone say was , "How many drinks are allowed to have while pregnant?" Wow. As I said, it was an interesting night.

Here we are! We almost forgot to take a picture of ourselves. There was a free photographer, but we won't get those pictures for awhile.

These are a couple of my friends, Heather (left) and Sara (right). Heather's husband is Air Force, which makes this base really unique. The Freefall School has soldiers from every branch, Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy. So, this company is quite interesting with its makeup. The ball,too, had all of the different soliders in their different formal attire. My friend, Sara, on the right, is due to have baby #3, Gabi, any day now. Heather was in that same boat last year and had her daughter, Kate, three days after the ball. We told Sara maybe that would happen to her too.

Company Commander (who, of course, lives around the block from us), which is a Major slot in the Special Forces community, mixing stuff into the Grog bowl. Now, the Grog is nasty. Different soliders, in this case, soldiers representing each service, added alcohol to the grog such as a bottle of whiskey, gin, vodka, etc. to the mixture. Then, sand was added (thank goodness it was actually brown sugar) to honor our fellow soliders serving overseas. As the night went on, soldiers went to the grog, which was a little different than in times past. Here, people went voluntarily to the grog, when normally, they are sent for doing something out of order, etc.

The other thing to note, the mess dress jacket the commander is wearing is Edward's next big purchase. I say big because the company commander told us it cost more than his wife's wedding dress (they got married in July). We have to pay over $1000 for that jacket...awesome. And no, we don't get a clothing allowance for it.

Ahhh, cake, but it was the whipped frosting, which neither of us are fans. We prefer the buttercream. It wasn't bad for whipped icing.

Not one, but two cakes! Two cakes to represent the two different tasks within the company. The top cake represents the Freefall School, which there is both a basic course, and an advanced course. The basic course is where Edward spends his mornings. Those guys are just getting certified to freefall jump. The advanced course is for those who have been stationed here to become instructors. It's basically an instructor course.

The cake above, the Special Operations Terminal Attack Controller Course, teaches specialized soldiers how to call in hits on targets. Obviously, it's a great place to train here in the desert where they can blow things up without bothering others.