Mary needed her retired military dependant ID renewed and I needed an excuse to take a day off so we did both on Friday. We drove to Oxnard to Marla's air base to get Mary a new ID card, not that Mary uses it very often but it does allow her into military commissaries and onto bases with minimum hassle so it is handy to have it. We met Marla at a Chik-fil-A restaurant for lunch. Along with Long John Silver's this is in our top favorite fast food places (the other is Wendy's) and ironically we do not have either a LJS or C-F-A anywhere near Santa Clarita so when we get the chance to eat at one or the other we grab it. The C-F-A had a long line to order which put Marla in a time crunch but she apparently made it back to work in enough time. I got a sharp salute from the guard at the front gate at the air base and Mary and I walked over to the admin building to do the deed at the ID section. I noticed that all of the enlisted and NCOs that I viewed seemed clean cut and so...middle class. Nary a tough guy or reformed gang member who was ordered to join the service or go to jail in the bunch. I also noticed a unusual amount of weed pulling and grass trimming that was going begging. In the Army this work is done by soldiers who received Article 15s and part of their sentence is extra duty after hours. The Battalion Sergeant Major never lacks for soldiers to keep his garrison area looking Strac but I can only guess that because the Airmen at Marla's base are so well behaved, no one gets Article 15s and no one gets extra duty so the weeds don't get pulled.
We got the ID card renewed in jig time. In the old days the process involved picking out individual letters and numbers to spell out your name, rank and SSN which were mounted on a board that you held under your chin while getting a picture taken ala the booking photo at the county jail. The picture had all the quality of the quarter a shot photo booth and Kennywood park. Today everything is computerized including the camera. However the picture still has the quality of the photo booth at Kennywood. Now Mary has a valid ID card and can enter any commissary she wishes around the world. It was a fun way to spend a day off from work.
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The state budget crunch is to blame for the weeds and dying grass. Us airmen may start the grounds maintenance, but we also have our regular jobs to preform. Probably it is more important to fix the airplanes and the buildings than weed the flower beds. But we would welcome some SMR volunteers to do the weeding!
ReplyDeleteAlso, no "jail or join the service!" here. The Air Force actually turns people away, unlike some branches. Air Force rejectees usually end up joining the Army. Or Marnines. :)