Uncategorized

Waving the Flag at an OU Football Game

admin

On Saturday, my spouse and I, along with friends of ours, were invited to go onto the field at the University of Oklahoma and participate in the opening moments of the game. We were allowed to help wave the giant flag during the National Anthem.

What an image!

Let me preface this post by saying that I am not a huge fan of night time football games since I have had children. For some reason, the cold doesn’t agree with me. Correction, I know exactly why the cold and I aren’t friends. I was diagnosed with Raynaud’s. This disease affects the blood flow to the fingers and toes. What that equates to is white fingers and/or toes during the cold months. The cold and I are NOT friends. And this is not pleasant, by any means.

So, I went into the night thinking that it would be a short one.We arrived on the practice field in the late afternoon. The sun was still shining and the temperatures were in the 70s. I peeled off the sweatshirt and got ready to rehearse.

Happy to help.

“Wild Bill” was our instructor on what to do. He sectioned us off into three groups initially. There were “holders”-those 60 people who held onto the flag and didn’t move. Then there were the 60 “movers” who unfurled the flag by walking backward. And finally the “sides”. The “sides” were further divided into “stars” and “stripes”, each containing 30 people. After those assignments were doled out, we were left with excess people.

Those people were assigned as “runners”. I panicked when I heard our task; I couldn’t be expected to run the length of the field, could I?

Alas, that wasn’t the case. As a “runner”, our job was to remain underneath the flag and make sure it “waved”. What was ironic was that when I had talked to friends about the evening, I had told them that I was hoping to recreated elementary school P.E. class. You know, where you’d have the parachute and you’d run underneath it to the other side? It turns out that is almost exactly what I did!

Having fun at rehearsal for the flag ceremony

My job was to run underneath the flag and hit it so visually it would “wave”. I tried my darnedest but let me tell you, I failed more often than I succeeded. My height is a detriment to the job given to me. So instead, I took photos of my friends doing their job under the flag.

It was chaos to get us out to the field for the actual ceremony. Needless to say, game day isn’t a well organized machine. By the time we were ready, temperatures had dropped and I was lamenting the fact that I peeled off my sweatshirt and coat. Tailgaters were everywhere, students were hyped up and spectators were meandering all over the place. But once we were in place, it was go time.

Weather be damned!

The National Anthem started and we all did our jobs like good soldiers. According to my husband, who stayed in the stands, the flag looked magnificent. No one would ever know that I failed in my job. Others took up the mantle for me and made sure that our banner waved as it was supposed to.

I am happy to report that every once in a while, I was able to touch the flag myself. I felt a part of a bigger machine. I helped make the banner wave and salute our service men and women who have defended it. It is an experience I will never forget.

A Military Spouse Conference That Was Productive

admin

This last week my spouse and I attended the annual ACC Commander’s and Spouses conference in Langley, VA. I was excited to go! I was hoping to learn a few things about our role for the next few years.

We arrived on a Tuesday night so that we could go to the icebreaker social. They held it in a very cool location-an old armory. It was called The Vanguard and it is a multi-functional space. There was a trivia night going on while we were eating and drinking upstairs.

Wednesday was when the conference actually started. I was slightly nervous. Not only were there General Officer spouses there but you never know how these things are going.

My unrest was initially justified. Our principle leader started the conference with a question to us: “What do you bring to the table?” Talk about intimidation! The purpose of the question was to get us to open up and not only state our name and where we are from. Many times military spouses associate themselves with their husband’s or wives rank as opposed to their own identity.

That little nudge meant a lot. It reminded us that we are our own people. The week continued with similar boosts to our lives. We heard about creating communities, the new health system that is being implemented, as well as how to mobilize in a crisis.

We had speakers from all over but a special surprise was from a military spouse who had started her own business. Katelyn Tinsley began her non-profit, Homefront Room Revival, to fill a need. She wanted a way to give purpose to spouses as well as help them create their own home. The business helps E-5 and below Airmen and their families to furnish their homes by using cast-off furniture and simple DIY projects. She also does “Dec the Deployment” where she brightens up the lives of spouses by decorating their homes for the holidays.

Listening to Katelyn about her non-profit at the conference

We got a tutorial in reverse canvas art. Katelyn and some of her team brought a craft for us to do. We stenciled fall art onto the canvas and then we were able to take it home afterwards. I’m not usually that crafty but I was able to do it. It’s empowering to create something from nothing.

Fun before the craft

One of the best parts of the conference was when we toured NASA. We had a briefing on the newest trip to the moon called Artemis. Artemis is the female twin of Apollo and the new mission is woman-centric. Then the trajectory is to head to Mars. It sounds very exciting.

We went on to the Landing and Impact center where they initially practiced how Apollo would land on the moon. It is a huge structure with a landing pool and everything. Now they use it to test planes, the seats on them and other various vehicles. The videos alone were worth it!

Talk about a beast! Great side trip away from the conference room

We also spent time at the National Transonic Facility which houses a giant wind tunnel. Unfortunately, we couldn’t step inside of it since they were ready to do a test run later in the week. And then we saw a robot at work in another building. That robot, ISAAC, is working to standardize composites within structures. That brief was way over my head but the robot was cool.

This week gave me hope that these conferences are worth it. The planners just need to remember to save some time for chit-chatting with fellow attendees. That’s the real reason we go anyways!