I’m Officially Reuning! … Reunioning? … Reuniting?
I’ve mentioned the possibility of an AFROTC Drill Team / Honor Guard reunion a couple of times (here and here) with the hope that it would actually happen. Well, it will! Sitting on my desk right now is a contract with Days Inn Penn State for a mixer / social on Friday, March 27, and a dinner on Saturday, March 28. If weather permits, we’ll also troop up to the Nittany Lion Shrine on the 28th to get a group photo. (It’s said to be the most-photographed place on campus.)
Hotel space is tight that weekend. It turns out that the Big 10 Conference (all 14 of them… go figure) is holding a men’s gymnastics meet on campus, so we weren’t able to get a block of rooms at the Days Inn. Well, we were, but 15 rooms on Friday night and ONE room on Saturday is a dang small block. Oh, well. Some of the attendees live in State College and don’t need a room; the others will have to do the best they can.
Meeting space is somewhat limited at the Days Inn, too. The best I could do was dinner space for 100 people on Saturday. There won’t be as many people at the Friday night event, and it’s more casual anyway, so neither the hotel nor I foresaw any problems with our space getting too crowded (I chose to have the mixer in the hotel’s atrium because it was free). But unless things change drastically in the next few weeks, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about too many people going – this year. I have just over a month to give the Days Inn a final head count.
But this year’s reunion is mostly just a prelude to next year’s, anyway. 2016 will be the 65th anniversary of the Drill Team / Honor Guard, and I hope that this year’s event will whet everyone’s appetite for next year. Now that I’ve (mostly) actually planned one, and know how much lead time is involved and how unresponsive people can be at times, I think the 2016 reunion will go much more smoothly. [In other words, I’ll start planning and scheduling the 2016 reunion on March 29, 2015!]
There is still plenty to do, and I’ll probably be thinking of stuff right up until I actually sit down for dinner with everyone. But the major hurdles – setting a date and securing space – have been jumped. YAY!
The Peripatetic Traveler 
Yay, Dad, I’m so happy and proud of you!!!
Thanks!