Mandatory fun day

Next week, the company starts two weeks of block leave. Although leave (a.k.a. "vacation") is usually regulated to maintain personnel strength, block leave is a time where there are no such limitations. Suffice to say, pretty much everyone is gone.

So for the last day before the big vacation time, the company is having mandatory fun time down in Austin at a place called Austin's Park.

Though I chafe at the idea of hanging out with coworkers obligatorily (I got enough of that in Korea), I have to say it was a fun time. Admission was free for us soldiers, the kids got in free, the pizza buffet was free, and all the arcade games were free. The only thing we had to pay for was SY's admission, and that was less than $10.

The only thing that really got to me was the safety brief at the end of the day. I don't know if it's an Army regulation or what, but before anyone can go anywhere for the weekend they have to have get the official lecture on how to be safe.

So we all had to form up outside and wait to get officially lectured on how to be safe. Of course, this was completely foreign to all the other guests who had no idea what was going on. One guy came up to me and asked if the our formation was for everybody. I looked at him for a second, and had to think before I could explain that no, there was no fire, we're just in the Army. Little embarrassing...

As the safety brief began, I thought that we could get by without bringing up the typical topics of how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, how to report sexual assault, etc. We were, after all, in public, at an establishment that caters to kids and teens, and with our families. But no, all that stuff got mentioned, too, much to my chagrine.

But from that point we were free for the next two weeks, so I didn't focus on that too much. I just made a mental note that one day, when faced with a similar situation, I'll make a different decision.