JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Clustered together at the doorway of the Palmetto Room of Joint Base Charleston-Air Base's Dining Facility, senior leaders gathered and cleared their windpipes.
Above were shiny banners and below that colorful ballons, with cake ready to be cut and ice cream for all. Only thing missing was a celebratory chorus.
Lined up neatly in a row, the audience waited patiently - their young eyes staring forward during the pause.
It's not a regular occurrence at the dining facility to behold such a sight, but on a special night for about a dozen young enlisted members, it was the highlight of evening.
The young men and women gazing hail from locations across the U.S., but they all now call JB CHS home, more specifically, the Air Base dormitories. That night they all shared one thing more in common.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you ..." filled the room. Windpipes were in full swing as senior leaders' serenaded the men and women of the hour during the quarterly birthday dinner held Oct. 14.
"It was such a humbling experience ... and it really shows they care," said Airman 1st Class Eboni Bailey, 628th Force Support Squadron personnel apprentice. "I had no idea they were all going to be here, so that was a big surprise."
Airman Bailey, who will be 20 in November, heard about the event through her unit and said she thought it was a good way to spend an evening. It's not every day she gets to rub shoulders with the base's top leadership, she said, especially in such a setting.
All around the room, senior leaders waited on the guests of honor hand and foot as they ate their meal, drank sparking juices and enjoyed birthday cake and ice cream.
The smorgasbord of a meal included t-bone steak, fried shrimp, grilled chicken, corn-on-the-cob, steamed broccoli, tossed salad, dinner rolls and shrimp cocktail.
By the time cake rolled out, the junior enlisted members were quite stuffed, but Airman Bailey was still up for taking on the honor of cake cutting duty.
"They went around the room and asked for everyone's birthdays," she said. "I ended up being the youngest person there, so I got to cut the cake."
The festivities went off without a hitch, but the meal was actually a new event for the Air Base DFAC, said Master Sgt. Shawn McKeen, dining facility manager. Since his arrival in 2006, there had not been birthday meal celebrated. Rumor has it, the occasion was not a regular event since the building was established in 2003, he said.
He said he'd seen such programs at other installations. So, when the idea was bought up by the food service officer and superintendent, he and his team in the 628 FSS were on-board and took off running in preparation for the event, he said.
The event is planned to be held quarterly, with the Oct. 14 celebration held in honor of all birthdays falling within the last quarter of 2010. Depending on popularity among Airmen, Sergeant McKeen said the DFAC staff is prepared to hold the event on a monthly basis.
"We want to do something to give back to the Airmen that live in the dorms to make them feel more at home," he said. "We're all one team here, so we want to take care of the part of our team that lives in the dormitories too."