I wish I had more pictures, especially of the graduation ceremony itself. We were up in the balcony and the images I managed to get of that are pretty poor. It was really a cool experience to see these young men and young women, some of them becoming citizens during these ceremonies, as they all were honored with being inducted into the proud tradition of the United States Army. It was also really cool to see the caring attitude of the drill sergeants and other officers, who are charged with the task of taking these folks and turning them into soldiers over those weeks of Basic Training. The most moving part for me, was when their favorite Drill Sergeant sang cadence as they marched out of the auditorium. He is the same one who, in the first week there, our son said “scared him to death” (he was in the Marines first) but then after a day or two, he “took off his drill sergeant hat” one evening and just got to know them all a little, he turned out to be kind of entertaining, but my son said “the only problem is, I don’t know if it’s okay to laugh or not”.

My husband, who served in the Navy, said those guys know when the “kids” get there, that they are dealing with kids (for the most part).  So even though they are tough on them, they realize the emotional toll of Basic Training.  They even acknowledged that when they addressed the parents on family day, essentially recommending to visiting families to try and keep it peaceful and low-key because it is such an emotional time.

I don’t think I have ever heard my quiet son talk as much as he did that first day, filling us in on all the things they had endured, and the funny stories as well as some sad ones.  We wrote back and forth the whole time, but with a week delivery time, it was out of sync and on his end, not a lot of time for details.

The trip was a whirlwind! I’d been to Arkansas before, but never Oklahoma. We arrived there at night and couldn’t figure out at first what all those lines of red blinking lights were, off in the distance, row after row. Finally we figured it out. Wind farms! Since we were following the sun, headed to Lawton, we got to enjoy an hour and a half long sunset. Brilliant red streaked the sky, and you could see for miles. Wind mills, and casinos, that’s what I will remember about Oklahoma. Crossing the Smokies through Tennessee was beautiful, the fall leaves seemed to be at their peak. We got there before it started getting dark, so we got to enjoy that.  The Fort Sill area has a lot of history, which I had read up on previously.  It was nice to get to see that part of our great nation.  I noticed a lot of for sale signs on homes, but also a lot of “hiring” signs at businesses, so I guess they’re doing about as well out there as we are in the rest of the country.  The little hotel we stayed at was old but neat and tidy, and the people who worked there were very nice and accommodating.  Particularly the sweet lady who kept up the breakfast area.  I had looked forward to meeting her, since when I read the customer reviews on that hotel, nearly every customer mentioned her as a highlight of their experience.  She was always smiling!

Long before we had made the long drive home from Oklahoma back to VA, Ben was already in Texas, since his Army transport bus rolled out around midnight and it was only about an hour and a half trip. In what apparently is a normal part of the rhythm of Army life, he is back in a sort of holding pattern as class doesn’t start until Wednesday (Learned this via text just a little while ago).  We all thought he would spend a year in Texas, but turns out that he will head to GA after 11 weeks of the classroom portion in Texas, and do the clinical portion of AIT at Ft. Gordon in GA. At least he will be closer to home there! No telling where he will go after that. We look forward to having him home for the Holidays!  Praise the Lord for a safe trip, a good visit, and things pretty much as we left them, here at home-sweet-home, other than a furnace that can’t decide whether it wants to run or not.  (Always something, right?)  God’s way of keeping us on our knees.  😉

Thanks for your prayers!

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