They Climbed Aboard Their Starship And Headed For The Skies

Drew at Back Of The Cereal Box posted an amusing anecdote about wearing a certain hat into Home Depot. I think it's a cool hat, despite never having watched Gravity Falls. That said, it reminded me of a similar thing that happened to me - way, way back in 2005 while I was a Penn State New Ken student.

See this hat?

I even have the officers' oak leaves! I expect a salute next time. 

It's a piece of merchandise from the Robotech universe. It is in fact designed after the command ball caps worn by U.S. Navy personnel, mainly officers (though I can find precious little info on them online). The SDF-1 Macross is the freaking huge spacecraft from Robotech canon that, in 1999, falls out of the sky, crash-lands on Earth, and brings World War III to an abrupt halt. After kicking the tires and taking a peek under the hood, Earth's military decides to fix it up a little and press it into service. Ten years later, on its launch day, the insanely powerful alien fleet that's been trying to track it down makes it to Earth. Needless to say, hilarity ensues. (No. No it does not.)

Not long after I'd received it - this was a birthday present, I think - I was getting ready for class at PSNK and was running behind. For whatever reason, I still had wet hair and the day wasn't very warm. So on the way out I grabbed the hat, slammed it on my head and away I went.

First class of the day was Intro to Chemistry with Dr. Clarence Finley. Luckily I popped in just as he was starting class. Dr. Finley's a pretty cool guy and I knew he didn't mean anything sinister when he cheerily quipped "Glad you could join us, Derek," as I took my seat. My friend Mike and I had actually discovered that he was another railfan, and could be our faculty advisor for the railfan club we started. It would have taken a bit more than just being a few minutes late to class one day to make the man unhappy with me, I believe. I think I simply apologized for being late, and so class started properly.

Dr Finley started by introducing what we'd cover in class that day, and asked a question. I had actually done my homework (figuratively and literally, mind you) and knew the answer. Up may hand goes, and I'm given the chance to answer - which I did correctly. Dr. Finley thanked me.

And then he asked me, "Are you a veteran?"

I had no idea what he was talking about. And then I remembered that I was wearing a hat. My Macross hat. Like the official Navy hats. And a lot of Navy veterans wear similar hats. As a matter of fact, my grandfather has one - he served aboard the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain between '53 and '56. I think he might even have a spare.

I froze for a moment. I respect the men and women that make up our fighting forces for their willingness to give their time and possibly their lives in service to their country (although I admit to increasingly questioning the validity of the tasks which the federal government asks of them; but that's a hysterical rant for another time), and the idea that I might end up diverting attention from them with my hat made me feel a little guilty. I should have grabbed the Mon-Valley System trucker hat. Fictional railroads are a lot less controversial. (They may actually be the least controversial thing to exist, ever.)

I still had to answer the question, though. "Oh, uh, no. The hat's just from an old sci-fi TV show."

This is probably why I've only worn it once or twice since I got it.