The Stars At Night, Are Big And Bright...

...Deep in the Heart of Texas!

7 of us from my squadron loaded up into 2 vans, during the last week in May, and headed cross-country to San Antonio, Texas. Our main reason for traveling west was to attend our wing (level) Combat Dining in (I'll explain below for the non-military). We also had 2 days of conferences and a fun day at Sea World.

Day 1: Left Ft Walton Beach @ 0700 in 2 Government Vans. Unfortunately we had an agenda to stick to so we couldn't make any unnecessary stops (such as a shopping trip to Ikea in Houston). We stopped in Hammond, Louisiana for lunch. We determined that the best place to eat was at the mall since there's a variety and everyone can get what they want. Never-ever go to the mall in Hammond, LA!! The worst mall I think I've ever been in. 1/2 of the stores were closed and there was only 1 restaurant in the entire mall. We all agreed on Quizzno's instead. We got into San Antonio around 2000 (8:00p.m.), checked in to VOQ (yep, Visiting "Officers" Quarters ~ we have a kick ass commander), then ate dinner and downed a couple of margaritas at Taco Cabana.

Day 2: ~yawn~ Briefings, briefings, and more briefings. Released at 1500 (3:00p.m.). Took a nap then drove downtown. We ate at La Margarita's. Fabulous!!! If you visit San Antonio, go there! After dinner we headed to the famous Riverwalk and had a few beers at Dirty Nellie's. And, you can't go to San Antonio without stopping by the Alamo (which doesn't have a basement ~ from PeeWee's Big Adventure ~ get it).

Day 3: Only had to attend 1 briefing but it was almost 2 hours long ~blah~ We were released for the day to go to Sea World ~yippeee~ Anheuser-Busch is currently honoring Military with free passes to all of their theme parks so we all got in free-of-charge. First stop was at the Hospitality House…mmmm free beer. We spent a perfect Friday afternoon with Shamu and his pals.

Day 4: Breakfast tacos from Taco Cabana, Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the North Star Mall, then back to the Q's to get ready for the big night.

[Dining In/Out's are formal Military Dinners. The only difference between a Dining In and a Dining Out are the invitees. Dining In's are for military members "only" from a specific Wing, Group, or Squadron. Dining Out's are for military members and their guests. Most common, these days, is the formal Dining Out where military members will wear their Service/Mess Dress (or service equivalent) and civilian guests will wear Semi Formal attire. Dining In's are now more common in the style of Combat and uniform requirements are some form of battle dress uniform, fatigues, or flight suit with water guns/balloons.]

We met out on an old Army Post not too far North of San Antonio (Camp Bullis) and boarded a duce and a half truck which took us out into the woods where picnic tables were set up under oak trees. We were issued ration cards for 2 free beers and dog tags (coin). Our squadron is geographically separated from the rest of AFIWC (Air Force Information Warfare Center) so we showed up with our Florida gear to feel more at home and to make the others jealous. We decorated our table with a palm tree, beach chair, boogie board and our laid-back attire for after the formal portion. Our guest speaker was Adrian Cronauer (made famous by Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam). What an incredible man! After water wars, food, grog, and our guest speaker, AFIWC put on a USO show complete with skits and music performances. They did an outstanding job! We all had such a blast!

Day 5: Hit the road at 0930 and headed back home, arriving at 2230 (10:30p.m.)