I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Hope you make it all the way through ; )
At Last! The day had arrived when I could go to Georgia and see Benj graduate! My parents, Benj's parents, and I flew out Sept. 13 to Atlanta. We all met up and shared a mini van and drove down to the Meet and Greet. I thought it was kind of lame that we didn't get to see our soldiers. It was basically a test of the family's knowledge of what their soldiers are up to and introducing the cadre. They did door prizes for those that answered quiz questions correctly and also gave prizes for things like, who had the youngest baby, who lived the furthest away and so forth. I got the prize for being married the longest. (Go figure because most of these "men" are 18 and 19) Nonetheless, I got an Army Wife keychain : )
They also had some of the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and gear that the soldiers had to wear for us to try out. Benj's Mom is sporting it quite well! You don't mess with her!
The next morning, we got to finally see Benj at the Beret Ceremony. What was torture was that we had to go through the whole ceremony before we actually could be with them! We noticed the whole company lined up a couple of minutes before the ceremony began so, of course, I had to get a picture.
Marching in all professional!
Benj said that they could get in so much trouble if they even move their eyes from the person in front of them so Benj couldn't even peek to see us during the whole ceremony. Poor guy! This ceremony basically is their rite to wear the Beret. They've definitely earned it!
Together again at last!
After the ceremony, we got the whole day with our soldiers. We decided to go the the National Infantry Museum. It had a lot of new exhibits and was quite impressive! They even had this family section where you could dress up like your soldier.
We also took a walk at the Chattahoochee riverwalk. It's the river that separates Georgia and Alabama. It was beautiful!
I thought this was a cute pic of Benj's parents!
The riverwalk
It was not fun saying goodbye to him that night. I felt like we were engaged again ; ) The next morning was the Graduation. Benj was "voluntold" to represent a soldier from Vietnam so unfortunately he didn't get to march with the rest of his platoon in the ceremony because he wasn't in his dress blues. Before the ceremony started, Dad couldn't resist getting a pic of him when he can't break being at attention.
In the portion where they have Benj come out, they give a brief history of the soldiers that have served in the past.
This part was pretty cool. They had these guys come out at the end of the field with smoke and expolosive sounds and then they explain the duty of each member of the team.
Benj's platoon
There's a part where they have any that have served or are serving in the Army recite the Army creed? (I could be wrong, but I can't remember what it's called) It was kind of neat to see mine and Benj's Dad recite it with everyone else!
The whole company
After the ceremony, Benj had to be at attention for quite a while for people to come and see the uniforms.
Benj said that they could get in so much trouble if they even move their eyes from the person in front of them so Benj couldn't even peek to see us during the whole ceremony. Poor guy! This ceremony basically is their rite to wear the Beret. They've definitely earned it!
Together again at last!
After the ceremony, we got the whole day with our soldiers. We decided to go the the National Infantry Museum. It had a lot of new exhibits and was quite impressive! They even had this family section where you could dress up like your soldier.
We also took a walk at the Chattahoochee riverwalk. It's the river that separates Georgia and Alabama. It was beautiful!
I thought this was a cute pic of Benj's parents!
The riverwalk
It was not fun saying goodbye to him that night. I felt like we were engaged again ; ) The next morning was the Graduation. Benj was "voluntold" to represent a soldier from Vietnam so unfortunately he didn't get to march with the rest of his platoon in the ceremony because he wasn't in his dress blues. Before the ceremony started, Dad couldn't resist getting a pic of him when he can't break being at attention.
In the portion where they have Benj come out, they give a brief history of the soldiers that have served in the past.
This part was pretty cool. They had these guys come out at the end of the field with smoke and expolosive sounds and then they explain the duty of each member of the team.
Benj's platoon
There's a part where they have any that have served or are serving in the Army recite the Army creed? (I could be wrong, but I can't remember what it's called) It was kind of neat to see mine and Benj's Dad recite it with everyone else!
The whole company
After the ceremony, Benj had to be at attention for quite a while for people to come and see the uniforms.
They finally gave him leave and we had the rest of the day to enjoy ourselves. My handsome man with a very happy wife!
We did a tour of the WWII area they had. It was pretty neat but very long!
Benj and his Dad sporting the battle helmets they had in the tour
Benj in front of the NIM
The rest of the day was spent eating food, where we enjoyed hearing about Benj's experiences. We also saw Harry Potter 7.2 at the NIM. The next day, we met at the airport. We tried to get on the same flight home but they wanted to charge us too much money to do that so I got in before him. Benj's cousin, Cody, and his wife, Hayden were gems! They picked up all the kids, (Will was with my brother, Gabby with my sister, and Lydia with Cody and Hayden) and then picked my up at the airport. We ate dinner at their house and then they went with me to help with the kids to pick up Benj at the airport.
I played a mean trick. I made it sound like we were running late when Benj called to say he landed. But we were right there when he came down the escalator.
Just waiting for Daddy to come.
Will booked it when he realized it was Daddy coming down the escalator. Gabby wasn't too far behind!
The whole clan together again!
We had a fun surprise coming home. Our sweet neighbors had decked out the house for Benj's homecoming!
It took Lydia a while to get comfortable having Benj hold her but she warmed up as soon as she let him!
I thought the grenade balloons were a nice touch!
We couldn't be happier that Benj is home! We are definitely treasuring the time we have together a lot more now. Here's a cute pic to end. It says Future Trooper on all their shirts. (Yes the Mickey Mouses are family now)
We did a tour of the WWII area they had. It was pretty neat but very long!
Benj and his Dad sporting the battle helmets they had in the tour
Benj in front of the NIM
The rest of the day was spent eating food, where we enjoyed hearing about Benj's experiences. We also saw Harry Potter 7.2 at the NIM. The next day, we met at the airport. We tried to get on the same flight home but they wanted to charge us too much money to do that so I got in before him. Benj's cousin, Cody, and his wife, Hayden were gems! They picked up all the kids, (Will was with my brother, Gabby with my sister, and Lydia with Cody and Hayden) and then picked my up at the airport. We ate dinner at their house and then they went with me to help with the kids to pick up Benj at the airport. I played a mean trick. I made it sound like we were running late when Benj called to say he landed. But we were right there when he came down the escalator.
Just waiting for Daddy to come.
Will booked it when he realized it was Daddy coming down the escalator. Gabby wasn't too far behind!
The whole clan together again!
We had a fun surprise coming home. Our sweet neighbors had decked out the house for Benj's homecoming!
It took Lydia a while to get comfortable having Benj hold her but she warmed up as soon as she let him!
I thought the grenade balloons were a nice touch!
We couldn't be happier that Benj is home! We are definitely treasuring the time we have together a lot more now. Here's a cute pic to end. It says Future Trooper on all their shirts. (Yes the Mickey Mouses are family now)
I'm so glad he's home now! I'm so impressed with both of you for going that long away from each other! I didn't know you were able to go to his graduation -- how neat!
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