Friday, January 18, 2013

Dining Out

In case you haven't noticed the Military has some really cool traditions. One of them is a Dining Out.

The "official" definition of this event is 
Dining in is a formal military ceremony for members of a company or other unit, which includes a dinner, drinking, and other events to foster camaraderie and esprit de corps.

You'll notice that definition is called a Dining In... there's just 1 difference between a Dining In & Dining Out - In means no spouses/dates and Out means these people are allowed. (So you can see why I personally am a bigger fan of the Out :)

Wikipedia Definition

Ken and I made it our mission about a year ago to bring the Dining Out tradition back to NASA at the Aircraft Operations Division (AOD). Upon arriving here at the US Naval Academy we realized that this place was in need of a REAL Dining Out as well! We had to determine how to scope it and wether we would actually be allowed to do it. Luckily it worked out that we could do it and we held a Dining Out for the Aerospace Engineering Department & VTNA (Flying team) Class of 2013. It was a seniors only event with all the wonderful traditions of a Dining Out such as the Parading of the Beef, grog, Mr. Vice, Mr President (Ken), levying of "fines" etc.

We did tell everyone that "What happens at a Dining Out, Stays at a Dining Out" so I can't give you the gory details but I can tell you that we had some amazing special guests including a wide variety of astronauts, various Navy & Marine Corps Pilots and many others associated with aerospace. I can tell you that a good time was most definitely had by all and that those who will get the opportunity to attend next year are already talking about it.

For anyone in the Annapolis area planning an event - the N Star Room at the Stadium is an absolutely wonderful place to hold your event. Cheryl, who is in charge of events, is amazingly friendly and capable at handling pretty much anything you throw at her!



Needless to say - a good time was most definitely had by all and this is a tradition we intend to continue as long as we are here and hope it will carry over and continue even after we are gone!









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