Flight School, Pensacola, FL, circa 1949

Enlisted men (those who are not officers) have it made. They don't get paid much. They have to follow orders from pretty much everyone above them. Their motto is "Hurry up and wait" in the military. They...wait, where was I going with this?

Oh, yeah, enlisted men have it good. One thing they did get back in the day was food and lodging as a part of their "benefits." I think they still do in certain circumstances.

Officers, on the other hand, because they are "rich," don't get room or board. They have to paid for it as Officers and Gentlemen (a title by an act of Congress as an obnoxious Officer and Gentleman points out regularly to me).

In flight school - Navy flight school is in Pensacola, FL - Hughie Don came up with a pretty good plan. 

Hughie found another Officer and Gentleman to share one meal ticket with him. One would eat breakfast and dinner one day while the other ate lunch, then the next day it would switch. 

He said it saved him lots of money. He also said when he got to his meals, he ate A WHOLE LOT! He probably ended up eating the same amount as he would have on a meal ticket for himself, so he got 1/2 off.

Pretty ingenious!

PS - Hughie Don was not at flight school when Maverick was.

PPS - The plane below is NOT the kind of training plane Hughie learned on...at least I don't think so.