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Oops,
Wrong Murder...
or
Would
The Real Red Hat Please Stand Up
A group of Red Hat
members mistakenly arrive at The Lodge on Wednesday night at
what they thought was a “Red Hat Convention,”
however it actually is a gathering for Red Hats (Combat Arms
Instructors in the U.S.
Air Force).
The
Red Hat Society is a social organization for women
over 50. The Society was founded in 1998 by Sue
Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, California, and she serves
as the organization's current president. As of October 2006
there are about 1.5 million registered members in over forty
thousand chapters in the United States and thirty other
countries.
The
Red Hat Society fondly refers to itself as a
“dis-organization” with the aim of social
interaction, and to encourage fun, silliness, creativity, and
friendship in middle age and beyond. The Society is not a
sorority or a voluntary service club. There are no
initiations or no fundraising projects.
A
founder or leader of a local chapter is usually referred to
as a “Queen”. Members are called “Red
Hatters”. Members over fifty years old wear red hats
and purple attire to all functions. A woman under age fifty
may also become a member, but she wears a pink hat and
lavender attire to the Society's events until reaching her
fiftieth birthday.
Both
Red and Pink Hatters often wear very elaborately decorated
hats, and attention-getting fashion accessories such as a
feather boa at the group's get-togethers. The Society's
events vary depending on the chapter, but one of the more
favored pastimes amongst most Red Hatters is attending or
giving a tea party.
The
United States Air Forces’ “Red
Hats”
are members of a dying breed of Airman as the military moves
further into the 21st Century. They
are proud individuals who once belonged to a career field
which received their names because of the bright red ball
caps identifying them as Combat Arms Instructors.
These
“Red Hats” train base
personnel on various “small arms”, including M-16
series rifles, M9 (9mm) Beretta pistol, M203 grenade
launcher, MK19 automatic grenade launcher, shotgun, M60
machine gun, and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. They can
also be qualified to teach the 81MM mortar and the .50 cal
machine gun. “Regular” base personnel can only
get trained on the M16 or the M9; security forces members
(formerly security police) can receive training on all other
weapons systems. They teach marksmanship fundamentals (that
is, how to hit your target!), care and cleaning, and basic
field maintenance.
They
are also authorized and trained to perform a higher level of
maintenance on the weapons than the field user. For instance,
tightening loose barrels or replacing those that have worn
out; rebuilding and/or replacing weapons assemblies and
groups; or determining if a weapon needs to be destroyed.
Many Red Hats have to be able to troubleshoot each weapon
when a problem is reported and be able to put it back into
service.
Sadly,
their long-standing and proud tradition is being dissolved as
the Air Force moves into a new era and the Red Hats merge
with the Security Forces career field. The “Red Hats”
are now considered a “shred-out” career field
where they once stood independently. Many of the “Red
Hats” find themselves confused and upset at their
unpleasant “de-organization” and untimely forced
retirement, but, they know in their hearts who they are and
where they came from. They still believe fiercely in their
motto: “I am a Combat Arms Instructor. We train in
peace, to prepare for war.”
Everything
is going fine despite the “Red Hats” feeling
their party has been intruded upon until the leader of the
Red Hat Society, Queen Coral Mauve, and one of the Air Force
members, Senior Airman Olivia Drabe, are found murdered in
Mauve’s room.
Suspicious
of the Red Hats and their secretive ways toward the other
visitors, Cloudcroft Police Chief Forest Green begins an
investigation. Further confusion is added when Chief Green
begins interviewing guests and discovers there
are more “red” visitors than originally
expected.
Hope to see you there !!
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