One for the Troops

RobDrinking
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

I just traveled to an Air Force base near Ron for a day-long business meeting. We arrived very late at night and only got a few hours’ sleep before the meeting, so folks were dragging ass all day. After the meeting was over at 1700, some of the other officers and I found our way over to the officer/enlisted club (they’re the same place on an Air Force base) to wind down and talk shop. At this particular base, troops are allowed an “alcohol ration” of three drinks per day, so I had a couple Coronas (no lime, but who’s complaining?) and was feeling pretty mellow and sleepy. The other guys wanted to pack it in at (gasp) 1900 to go get some sleep, but I said, “When you get back to your troops, they know about the 3-drink ration here. They’re going to ask you how many you had and what you drank. If you tell them that you only had two beers before shuffling off to sleep and that you wasted the last drink on your ration, they’re going to be very disappointed in you. They can’t be here, so we have to drink this last one for the troops!”
My companions agreed and we ordered the third round before going back to the room to rack out by 1930. I just wish that I hadn’t wasted my most motivational speech in the last six months on “let’s have another beer, guys!”