Adult recess

  • Published
  • By Col. David Hafer
  • 436th Operations Group commander
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  It's pushing 11 p.m. and I know I won't get in bed before midnight. I am listening to my new favorite John Mayer CD that I recently purchased while TDY. Tomorrow morning the clock will go off at 5:45 a.m. and (Capt. Garrett) Gilmore will send a text at 5:55 a.m. taunting me to workout or risk being known as a turkey smuggler. I will roll out of bed and head for the gym. More to prove to him that I can do it than to myself that I want to do it. I know, of course, based on my own informal base-wide poll that I am like about 75 percent of you who only get six hours of sleep a night. If they say you never stop learning, why is it that 9-year-old learners get a nap at 2 p.m. and 47-year-old learners, who don't get enough sleep, don't? Anyway , the work out is always worth it and when I sneak a Kit Kat bar past my secretary and into my office I get to enjoy myself like a kid at recess. Remember recess? My teachers knew that if I played on the monkey bars during recess for 15 minutes, that personal investment in myself would pay off down the line when some fitness monitor feverishly counted pushups. What about recess for adults? We are preoccupied with ways to help others...mentorship, wingman, firstline supervisor, motivator, cheerleader, etc. What do we do when we get adult recess? What would you do if you got adult recess?

I am ready for this year's recess season to start. April 10 is Golf Club Demo Day at Eagle Creek Golf Course. My wife and I have finished a long winter of negotiations and I am officially in the market for a new set of clubs. I ask you, what is that hobby that you have neglected for the past few years? Realize that I play golf like I have neglected the game for years, when actually I played all winter long. Did you play softball at your last base? Do you love to water ski ? Is that mountain bike still being used to guide you into the garage as you park? We all have gotten the message: invest in your Airmen, your shop, the mission. What about investing in yourself? We are all up 18 hours a day by my count anyway. Life gets in the way of good intentions...don't let that happen this spring and summer. Revisit that hobby; that sport you used to be good at, used to have a passion for. Don't let our great Air Force, or your vital role in it bury that thing you have a passion for in the scrap heap called "woulda, coulda, shouda." Go out and have adult recess.

The wing's 'to-do' list from now until the end of the year is long. The Operational Readiness Inspection, Airlift Rodeo, NASCAR Weekends, fly-aways, deployment exercises, deployments--you get the idea. Hopefully, a good two-week long stint on leave and a renewed interest in an old hobby are on your personal 'to do' list. A buddy of mine even added buying his wife an Eternity ring to his list. Well my wife is getting me an eternity set of golf clubs.

Well you know what John Mayer always says. No, neither do I actually. Get some sleep, and this weekend make recess fun!