Maybe it's the det concept thing, but there really is no ceremony in the hanger. When birds show up for the fly offs, guys who are at work and can spare a few moinutes come down, but that's about it, other than the families who come. For the rest of the guys here, they take the ship, then get on a bus for an hour and get fairly unceremoniously dumped at the squadron or in front of the Q. With busses arriving on and off over a few hours, there isn't much fanfare. And I think it's tougher out here, where no one has extended family, so unless you have a spouse and/or kids, there is no one waiting to greet you, other than maybe the SDO and the Natops officer who are anxious to get back to their desks, and the CO/XO.
But it doesn't surprise me that you guys don't seem to care about the signs. That's sort of why I asked--"Do we do this because we think it matters, or because it actually matters?" Sounds like it's the latter, in which case I'll stay inside out of the rain from now on.
I was asked at one point to hold a position and politely declined. It's been nice here in Jax where we don't even have that!
