Family Day/Graduation

Note: These last three entries I [the soldier] have been writing at home from memory- there simply wasn't enough time to write home during training given my leadership responsibilities. I've gone back and made some edits to previous posts and added photos that our cadre posted to the battalion's facebook page during our cycle so be sure to check those out if you haven't seen them yet.

 Family Day
We finally made it to Family Day and it was well worth all the effort to get there. We were up late the night before on our recently reacquired cell phones catching up on facebook, texting, and doing all the things our generation is so proficient at- so much for breaking those technology addictions. We got up at 0500 and started cleaning weapons (again) so they could be turned in after breakfast. They threatened to take us away from our families if the company didn't pass the armory inspection, so we were all pretty nervous about that but nothing ever came of it. At 1000 we were finally reunited with our families in a really cool ceremony. We were "hiding" in the wood line behind the parade field and after the commanders had sufficiently run out of patriotic statements to make smoke grenades and artillery simulators started going off and we rushed out onto the field. It was very Revolutionary War feeling- the whole battalion (about 800 soldiers) charging behind our respective guidons to Toby Keith's "Red, White and Blue." (Well I guess the last part wasn't very 1774...). Many of us were unexpectedly emotional about the whole thing- I was holding back tears and about everybody else I talked to later was doing the same with varying levels of success. Something about standing proudly in front of my wife as a soldier brought on intense emotions that I didn't anticipate. The families were released to pick us up on the parade field and my wife blind sided me. (Several guys told me later that night they were able to hold in the tears until I was nearly tackled and that just put them over the top. Way to go wifey, you make grown men cry) She was the first one on the field and found out later she nearly knocked over my company 1st sergeant to get there. Words can't express how good it felt to be with her again. We didn't have an off-post pass so we spent the rest of the day going around the base- took two trips to the PX, checked out the museum, had dinner at the NCO Club, and wandered around aimlessly. My mother-in-law (a retired field grade officer) surprised me and came that afternoon and spent the rest of the day with us too. We were back at our company at 2030, got smoked for no good reason and went up to conduct "bay maintenance" but most of us were so tired we just crashed.

Graduation Day
Graduation was a lot like Family Day, we were back on Hilton Field and we got bussed there instead of having to march like the day before. The ceremony was quick and to the point, probably lasted about 30 minutes. I was in a special detachment with the other honor graduates (Soldier Leader of the Cycle, Soldier of the Cycle, High BRM, High PT- each of the 5 companies had one of each plus the Drill Sergeant of the cycle). We were awarded the Army Achievement Medal by the Lt. Colonel and our families got to sit in VIP seating. After the ceremony the Post Commander (a Major General (2 star)) spoke to the honor grads and we received a coin from him and a coin from the post's Command Sergeant Major. So I got three coins total at basic (I forgot to mention earlier that I got one from our Platoon Sergeant/head DS for being chosen as Soldier Leader of the Cycle- which I also forgot to mention that my platoon had three of the four honor grads for our company which greatly pleased our DS's). (Coins are a military tradition and are given in recognition of achievement and probably several other reasons that aren't coming to mind presently.) My parent's surprised me and were there at the ceremony which I wasn't expecting so it was a huge blessing to be able to celebrate with everyone from my family that came down. We were given an off-post pass on Graduation Day so we all went out for a pizza before we had to go back home. I got to fly back the night of graduation, so my parents and I all went to the airport together. I had some great friends pick me up from the airport (my wife didn't get to fly home until the next morning) and they took me straight to BWW's before going home- my friends know me so well... It was good to sleep in my own bed and it was very good to be back home.