AJ and the Commander of the 97th

Today we got to go on a VERY exciting field trip. The families of the 97th were given the opportunity to tour the squadron and the plane that Rod works on. The only reason I am blogging about it, is that I asked permission from the Commander and was given it. (I hope that Alleviates your fears Rod:) We were only allowed to take pictures of the outside of the plane so there aren’t a lot of pics to go with this entry but I did want to let everyone have the opportunity to sit in on the briefing we got from the commander. Below I’ve written it out so you can feel like you were there! Enjoy. For anyone who knows AJ, this will be very easy to visualize.

AJ briefs the Commander

AJ walks into the briefing room and, referring to the chair at the head of the conference table, says to everyone in the room, “Oh I see you saved me the commander’s chair - I’ll just sit here.” This got a few laughs but then the room got quiet again. A few whispers here and there as families talked amongst themselves.

The room made to sit about 20 at most has about 35 people crammed into it. We all waited patiently for the Colonel to arrive for the briefing. Suddenly AJ, who has been pretty quiet, says quite loudly, “I’m sure you are all wondering why I called you here today.” When everyone is looking at him he continues, “We have a very important job to do. The world is in Chaos and we need to have someone go fix the satellite that is aimed at North Korea.” He continues talking about this mission as everyone laughs a little then goes back to talking to their families. I couldn’t hear a lot of the details of what he was saying as he was sitting at the conference table and I was up at the front of the room with Xander.

I had warned A.J. before Colonel Sipowitz arrived that he was not to say anything and that he was only to listen quietly until we went to see the plane. He had agreed to do this but apparently AJ’s word is not necessarily as good as his bond;)

The commander arrived and started the briefing, explaining a little bit about Rod’s Squadron and some of the unique qualities of it. When he gets to the part about going to see the plane, he explains that, due to the top secret nature of the Aircraft, we were not allowed to take cameras or cell phones onto the plane. He also said that there may be one or two things covered so that we couldn’t see them. Then he asked that all parents make sure that their kids not touch any of the equipment.

Suddenly, AJ begins waving his hand furiously in the back. My mommy radar kicked into gear and I braced myself for whatever was about to come out of my child's mouth. Colonel Sipowitz asks him if he has a question. “So what you’re saying,” AJ says with great authority, “is that we will be able to go onto the plane and look around the outside of the plane. Correct?” Then he continues before the Colonel can answer, “But we are absolutely not to LOOK at ANYTHING!”

I could tell the Colonel was having a difficult time not laughing. So he looks at AJ and says quite seriously, “That’s right son, if you LOOK at anything, we will have to kill you.” Of course everyone starts laughing and AJ says loudly, “You heard him people, we don’t want to have to kill you.”

I realized that this was one of AJ's ASPERGER’s moments. I also knew at this point that there was no getting him back, he was right where he wanted to be with all eyes on him. If he could have, I’m sure he would have gotten up and given a briefing no one would soon forget.

Although everyone seemed to be thoroughly enjoying AJ’s contribution, I motioned for him to come up front and sit by me and Xander. I had hoped by doing this, I could control him a little more. He says, “No thanks mom, I’m comfortable in the commanders chair, it’s where I belong.”

At this point I just gave up and prayed that he wouldn’t say anything else. As the commander continued the briefing, AJ kept waving his hand. At one point I said, “AJ, put your hand down” Then the commander said, “Don’t worry, I’ll let you ask more questions in a minute”. This seemed to make AJ happy for the time being and he sat there quietly.

When the commander came to the end of the brief, he asked if there were any questions. No one had any except of course…AJ! The commander grins and says, “I thought you might have one”. AJ, pleased to be the center of attention again launches into a story about mission planning. I was a little concerned that he would start telling the room full of people about one of his video games. He starts out, “Well, I just wanted to talk about this mission we have going on.” Then he looks at me and I take the opportunity to give him the best Mom Evil Eye I could muster. He hesitates for a minute and then switches gears, “so we need some people on this mission to work with my dad.” Looking straight at the Colonel he say, “Got anyone in mind?” The Colonel says, “Well yes, I have about 800 people in mind.” This got a good laugh and then AJ says, “Just one more thing before we go look at the ship (his exact words), I want to make sure you don’t go launching it while I’m on board.” The colonel assured him that there would be no launching of the “ship” whilst AJ was aboard and we were dismissed to drive out to the hangar to see the plane.

My mom keeps telling me I need to write a book about being the mom of a son with Asperger’s. After today, I’m more prone to agree with her!