Graduation

It was a very nice ceremony on a cloudy day - perfect weather! We were told to be there by 7 AM (i.e. 4 AM CA time) to get a good seat! I don't know how we pulled two-4 AM mornings (one for the day of departure), but we did it! The graduating guys had to be there super early with only couple of hr of sleep, so we couldn't complain too much. The ceremony started at 10 AM.

It was a simple ceremony with very nice marching band performance. They also had smoke clouds with attacking squad teams and big booms! I'll post the pictures soon.

We went to the National Infantry Museum where Ben was our tour guide and explained all that they did during training. Even though he didn't get much sleep the night before, he was very patient with all our questions. Matt & Jacob got to shoot a M16 & M4 (respectively, 30 rounds each) at the museum. It was fun.

Now that they graduated, the barracks are cleaned out. So he could stay with us. He's just so happy that his family came & brought his laptop & cell phone so that he could video chat & text his friends. We hung out, had Krispy Kreme donuts, candy & junk food! The Lord blessed us with perfect weather when we're there. We took a trip to Atlanta's Aquarium and saw the only whale sharks & manta rays in captivity! It was really cool. It was strange for him to wear his civilian clothes for the 1st time in 13 weeks!

So now what? He is at Airborne holding until ready to be transferred to Airborne School. He's not sure when that will happen - the earliest is on Oct 8. Airborne training is 3 weeks long.
Then he may go to Assault weapon school (or something like that, 2 weeks) or RIP (mini Ranger School-6 weeks). For now, he'll have to wait and see if the Army will allow him to swap the RIP for the Assault school. Hence we don't know when he'll be back home for his 10 day leave.

Many of the other graduates went home for their 10 day leave and then go to their assigned posts - Germany, Hawaii, or elsewhere. Many of them suspect they will get deployed soon. Yikes! Overall, besides his swollen ankle (~ 70% healed), he looked pretty good.

If you want to contact him, the snail mail address may not get to him anymore. I'll posted the new one here when he gives it to us. He LOVES to get mail! He thanks you for all your love & support. It really help him to get through this tough period. He saved all of them! But now, he'll have internet access to his e-mail & Facebook on the weekends (contact me for his e-mail address & cell phone#), and may be nights. I believe the rate is $8/hr for the internet! But he has unlimited minutes on his cell phone on weekends.