celebrating right

So the Exercise that has been bringing me into work early and keeping me at work late for the last two weeks is FINALLY over. Woo Hoo.
To be honest, I can’t REALLY complain about how things have gone the last couple of weeks. With the exception of coming into work early, and a higher than normal volume of dumber than normal users, things have been basically business as usual.
Everyone who has been here longer than me (which is basically everyone) has been telling me that this is the smoothest an exercise has ever gone, in their collective memory. I like to think I get to take some credit for that, though I’m sure there would be plenty of scoffing and guffaw-ing if I were to say this out loud.
Anyhow, smooth or not, we’re celebrating the completion of the exercise.
And… in true NATO fashion… we celebrated right.

With beer.

At work.

In uniform.

Have I mentioned before how UN-military my current military job is? This is officially the second time I’ve been force-fed booze while at work.
It’s awesome.

The first time was just a week or so ago. A US Army O-5 was promoted to O-6 in a ceremony overseen by a US Navy O-6 in a NATO headquarters in the UK. Wrap your head around the uniqueness of that one. This is in the same week that a French Citizen, married to a US Air Force E-8, was sworn into US Citizenship in a NATO headquarters in the UK. There are quite a few special circumstances and situations around here.
Anyhow… at the Colonel’s promotion there was cake and champagne, and since it was late on a Friday only us ‘lackeys’ were around afterward (the privilege of rank being that they decide themselves when they want to go home on a Friday… usually around 11). Here we are with cake and champagne for 50, and there are about 6 of us who have hung around after the ceremony, so we were literally being force fed the champagne because nobody wanted to take it home. Not that you caught us complaining. THAT was a good Friday and today was a good Thursday.
Times like this, I love my command.