The Initiation..

Saturday brought about the second weekend for most of the cadets in my class; for some of us our time in AZ had been much longer than that.

It is commonplace for the veteran cadets, for whom AZ has become home for the past months, to throw a welcome party to us, the 'newcomers'. I have used the word welcome party, however, as is almost always the case, the 'newcomers' never make it to the party. The reason for this is the Initiation which precedes it.

The theme was the World Cup; so we were to dress accordingly, but also advised to bring a white t-shirt which we would not mind getting ruined; this set the tone for the evening..!

The night began promptly at 1900hrs, two lines of chairs filed down the bar room. One of the 'seniors' howled

- "Find a row and sit in the chairs next to your flying partner..!"

Experience tells me that in these hazing situations it is best to blend into the crowd and not to stand out like a sore thumb, I advised we sit somewhere near the middle. We mounted respective barstools after removing the can of beer and shot glass swishing at the brim with luminous liquid. The moment we sat down another senior arrived and began taping our 'middle' legs together in a three legged fashion. We tentatively smelt the shot to try and identify what it was; this gave no clue, the smell was dull with a potent hint of nail varnish remover. We sat eagerly awaiting our fate..

Another senior emerged and began;

- "Welcome the your initiation, there are a few rules for this evening, before you get to the party, you must each do at least ten shots before leaving the room. You each have a shot and a can of beer in your hands. You will compete in a boat race against your flying partners. The losing team will do a forfeit. Before we start, does anyone not drink?"

No one responded..

- "Good, is anyone allergic to latex?"

Again, no one responded..

- "Does anyone object to public nudity?"

Silence filled the room..

- "On your marks, get set, go..!"