The following article was written for the Alamogordo Daily News (to be published by them on their new blog):

 

The Sunset Stealth Dining Out was held on Holloman AFB on April 20.  Col. Jeffrey Harrigian, 49th Fighter Wing Commander, Col. Michael McGee, 49th Fighter Wing Vice Commander and other Air Force members gathered to celebrate the retirement of the F-117 Nighthawks.  It was an official military dinner with many rituals and symbolism to honor various members of those who are serving or have sacrificed for the nation.  For example, there was a POW/MIA table and an empty chair set up to honor those who were missing during various missions.  An empty chair signifies that they cannot be with the mess during the dinner.

 

The most exciting part of the evening was the “grog bowl,” a “cocktail” that was contributed by different military groups.  It is a tradition to have a grog bowl as a means of “punishment” for violations of certain rules at an Air Force dining-in.  Some of the more common violations are arriving late at the cocktail lounge or toasting with an unfilled glass.  The bowl’s real content is unknown and is totally left to the imagination of the planning committee.  The container of the grog bowl is also open for suggestions.  The planning committee decided to ask the mess to drink from a toilet bowl – the container was black with a toilet bowl as a base and an F-117 plane on top as a lid.

 

There was much creativity and fun in the “grog-mixing ceremony.”  Just to quote one example - The 49th Medical Group, due to the nature of their business, contributed a bag of “blood” and a bag of “saline” to the grog bowl.  Nobody really knew what’s in the blood and saline bag and that’s part of the fun.  They surely looked real to everyone as they were in the proper medical containers that you see in hospitals. 

 

When being sent to the grog bowl for punishment, the member had to do the following:

 

-Salute the President (Col. Jeffrey Harrigian).

-Turn to the bowl and fill the cup.

-Toast the mess and say “to the Nighthawks!”

-Drink the content of the cup without removing it from the lips.

-Invert the cup on his/her head to signify that the content has been emptied.

-Put the cup away and salute the President before returning to his/her seat.

 

The Sunset Stealth Dining Out was a very formal dinner and the members were sent four pages of rules so everybody knew what to do at the dinner.  Luckily, with the presence of the grog bowl, the mess lightened up as the dinner progressed.  It was one of the best military dinners that was organized on Holloman AFB and would surely make people remember the F-117 Nighthawks.  Whenever people see a toilet bowl, they will probably remember the stealth fighters!

 

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