Frank C. Rivers, right, the Military Order of the Cootie's incoming seam squirrel, takes the oath next to his predecessor, Frank Chupko, at the VFW hall in South Plainfield, N.J. (Photo by Jennifer Hulshizer)

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. — At the annual induction ceremony of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6763 in South Plainfield, the new officers took the stage, standing straight and reciting, with great solemnity, their pledge to serve the veterans group.

Then the Cooties came out.

One inductee dressed in drag; another wore an adult-size diaper. Dancing to loud music, the Cooties shot Silly String at guests as the more reserved members of the VFW post stood in awe.

The Military Order of the Cootie, a subgroup of the venerable VFW, relishes the ridiculous. Nearly everything during a Cooties meeting is done backward — boos show appreciation, a reply of "Absent" indicates a member is in attendance, nay votes count toward passing a motion, and members must enter meetings by walking through the door backward.

With roughly 22,000 members around the world, the Cooties raise funds for VA hospitals and nursing homes. They throw parties and provide much-needed human interaction for injured and elderly veterans.

They work with veterans' families and regularly hold blood drives. Nationwide, Cooties raise money for the VFW National Home for Children at Eaton Rapids, Mich. Their efforts have funded a library, an athletic playground and a swimming pool.

The Military Order of the Cootie was created in 1920 as the Honor Degree of the VFW. The name "cootie" originated from lice that infested U.S. servicemen in the battlefield trenches in France during World War I. The bug was seen by soldiers as a mythical lifesaver. At the very moment a German bullet was on the way, the bug would bite a soldier and force him to stoop and scratch the itch, thereby avoiding death. At least, that's how the story goes.

"We're like that bug because the bug kept the veterans alive," said Supreme Commander Ralph Corno, head of the national Military Order of the Cootie. "We're the fun-loving group that keeps them happy."

Today the organization embraces the little critter and a bizarre set of rituals that have a deeper purpose: to remind members to maintain humility during the challenging visits to injured soldiers at Veterans Affairs hospitals. As symbol of the group's commitment to hospitalized veterans, the Cooties' slogan is "Keep 'em smiling in beds of white."

The South Plainfield chapter has 18 Cooties.

"I will be the lousiest, most wretched of all the seam squirrels," Frank Rivers said to a chorus of boos as he accepted his appointment as South Plainfield's seam squirrel — the Cootie equivalent of post commander. And, yes, he was wearing the prerequisite bright-red jacket with a small bug pin under the collar on his back, to represent the group's mascot.

"Fun is king, and the willingness to help in any cause for the betterment of humanity is our goal," said Rivers, who was promoted from the position of "blanket bum" at the Cooties post, called a "Pup Tent."

To join the group, a person must have been an active member of the VFW for at least six months and receive an invitation from another Cootie. Then the candidate has to go through a rigorous, three-part "degree" process to show humility, culminating with the mandatory costume change for the induction ceremony.

The members of Pup Tent 41 in South Plainfield, named the "Sewer Rats" after sewer construction programs in the town during the New Deal era, visit VA hospitals regularly to host bingo parties, prepare food and snacks and give out socks, T-shirts and other items. They give support to veterans and their families.

"Their eyes sparkle when we come up," said Rivers, who served in Vietnam and has a son, Ali, stationed in Iraq. "We're the only outside contact a lot of them get."

The Cooties structure everything around humor and fun. Instead of holding a meeting, Cooties hold a "scratch." The statewide meeting is called the grand scratch, and the national meeting is the supreme scratch.

Cooties adhere to a code punishable by fines, but since all money goes into the Cooties' hospital fund, members go out of their way to break the rules. Talking out of turn gets a member fined for "holding a private meeting," and placing both feet flat on the floor will get you cited for being "flat- footed."

The ultimate sin is touching the cootie pin on a member's jacket. Cooties regularly try to swat away the fake bug by "accidentally" backing into each other. Then they pull out dollar bills to pay the fines.

"I don't understand half of this crap," said a laughing Frank Chupko, outgoing Pup Tent 41 seam squirrel and future blanket bum.

(Christopher Dela Cruz is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. and can be contacted at cdelacruz(at)starledger.com)