Commissioning 2015

Jcc123 Congratulations to your son as well! Amazing achievements. Sounds like the Army will be well led. DS is HS senior with AROTC scholarship and we can only be optimistic he will be able to work to obtain success your son has had. All the best!
 
Jcc123 said:
So, after 4 eventful years, DS commissions in the morning. He accomplished just about everything he wanted to while in ROTC, including an amazing CULP trip to the South Pacific, graduating from CDQC, successfully competing in Ranger Challenge, Sandhurst, Best Ranger, Mountain Man, and US Army Small Bore National Championships, 2 different CTLT trips, George C Marshall ...the list goes on. The opportunities presented by AROTC are endless and well worth the time and effort.

I believe he's leaving his school's program better than he found it, but like most things in life, it's now time to move on. He got his first choice of AD Infantry, and got his orders today for Hawaii.

Thanks to this forum for the five or so years of information, assistance, entertainment and humor. It's been a great resource. Most of all, best of luck to all of your sons and daughters, whenever they are in the process. I'll still be around - it's a hard habit to break.
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Congratulations to you and your son. He put a lot into AROTC and got a lot out of it.

I hope you get to enjoy some time with him before he reports to Ft. Benning for IBOLC.
 
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EDelahanty said:
Congratulations to you and your son. He put a lot into AROTC and got a lot out of it.

I hope you get to enjoy some time with him before he reports to Ft. Benning for IBOLC.
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We've got a bit of time to spend with him, and luckily Benning is only a 6 hour drive from home. I don't imagine he'll have a lot of free time, but at least we'll get to see him some before he moves 4,500 miles away!
 
Congrats and God speed to your son and family.
 
Jcc123 said:
We've got a bit of time to spend with him, and luckily Benning is only a 6 hour drive from home. I don't imagine he'll have a lot of free time, but at least we'll get to see him some before he moves 4,500 miles away!
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Congrats to your son. I think they are free a lot of weekends. The infantry museum is amazing so go and see that. Has he figured out where he is staying? Did he get a car? You need one at Benning. Best Wishes.
 
I've visited the old infantry museum back in the dark ages of my own ROTC days, but not since they moved. I'm looking forward to it!

He hasn't yet worked out where he'll be living, but is narrowing it down I think. He also has his trusty Wrangler to get himself down there, but I suspect we're going to need to help him move some of the bigger stuff. He's got about 6 weeks to wrap all this up, and now that commissioning and graduation are finished, he can turn his attention to the details. Thanks!
 
Jcc123,

Congratulations to your son, end of a long 4 years, even though it seems to just fly by. Enjoy graduation and commissioning.

Sent you a PM
 
DS commissioned Friday and graduated Saturday. Not sure how it was in the Capitol city kinnem, but it rained all weekend on the coast, The cadets didn't get wet for the parade but parents did awaiting it to start. Oh yea he said he had to walk sideways on one side to keep his bar from falling off that his Mom pinned on. And this was with practice :) His sister did a better job on the other side.

Bull leave the light on for him :)
 
Cluelessparent said:
DS commissioned Friday and graduated Saturday. Not sure how it was in the Capitol city kinnem, but it rained all weekend on the coast, The cadets didn't get wet for the parade but parents did awaiting it to start. Oh yea he said he had to walk sideways on one side to keep his bar from falling off that his Mom pinned on. And this was with practice :) His sister did a better job on the other side.
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Congratulations to the new 2LT. Hope you had umbrellas.
 
Congrats to all. Time to start researching where to stay for their impending assignments.

We also researched food joints, especially those that delivered.

I am the worse at mailing. For Bday gifts, and special occasions or pick me up days. I would do some of the following
1. AF bases have MWR gift cards. They can use them at the golf course, bowling alley, etc.
~ I once called the golf course and purchase a gift certificate over the phone. They in turn called him and said there was a package for him waiting at the course. (It was the gift card in the amount to buy a special club he wanted) Birthday present from us.
~ Another time I called MWR for a gift card doing the same method, and they mailed it to his on base post office box.

2. I have sent Omaha Steaks to him for another occasion. They send them in dry ice. My sister is from OH, and she would send to him from Montgomery Inn. For a single guy, he enjoyed that alot.

3. There were weekends when he called and I would ask what his schedule for the week was and I would call a local delivery food place and have them deliver whatever I ordered for him just as a reminder he was in our thoughts. It cost me maybe 15 bucks, but it was a great way to make him smile and I got a 2nd 5 minute phone call in a week.

4. We just went to visit our DS and DIL in Texas. I went online for restaurants that they may have not tried yet, be it because they hadn't time yet or it might have been a little pricey for them as an O2.

Back on topic. Just thought I would give some ideas as they start their new life away from home.
 
Those are great ideas, Pima. I'm already brainstorming ways to keep in touch from 4,560 miles away (but who's counting). I'll add those to my mental list!
 
Jcc123: I couldn't help but flashback to my time on Okinawa long before modern communication via the internet, cell phones, etc. My unit deployed to Okinawa just 6 months after my wife and I got married. Long distance calls were too expensive (in fact, there was only 1 or 2 during my entire 6 month tour). We used the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) system to catch up. Not even sure it exists any longer, but this is a network of Ham radio operators that facilitate communication between parties. It goes like this: "Hi honey, how are you?... Over" and then she replies "I am fine. How are you?... Over" and the operator would switch from transmit to receive based on the word "over." The operator heard everything you were saying. Talk about a difficult and awkward conversation! I am sure you will have better luck staying in touch than we did.
 
Once again congratulations to all those who had family commissioned! Incredible emotions for all. Those of us at the beginning part of the journey are nervous, but excited to see your children’s or siblings success. Pima keep coming with the great suggestions.

USMC Grunt, as for those old calls, awkward and difficult no doubt, but I bet the anticipation and excitement on both ends made it worthwhile! Not sure I would trade the convenience of communications that exist today for then, but limitation and restrictions do create their own environment (downsides were when you missed your call; or some knucklehead cost privileges for platoon).
 
Congratulations Jcc123. That's quite a list of accomplishments. I'm looking forward to seeing what new ones he racks up.
 
Commissioning day was just beautiful with a nice stiff breeze to make those flags snap! Lots of precision and pageantry. DS was so damned handsome in that beautiful uniform. The CO's speech was short and sweet addressing their past accomplishments, and future responsibilities, through the lens of: Honor. Courage. Commitment. It was good because even he said its the same speech he always gives... the midshipmen even made up an NROTC card with his favorite phrases on it... analogous to a Bingo card. As the Skipper said, 50 started and only 15 finished. It's a long hard road.

Mom and girlfriend pinned on his bars and Dad handled the cover and gloves all while standing on the steps of the South Carolina State Capitol. Grandma, aunts, and uncles from his mother's side all made since they were fairly local. We took about a dozen family and friends to a very nice luncheon afterwards. The unit had a party at 9 PM that night which we missed as we were still boating from our sunset cruise.

Surprisingly, the only time I got teary eyed was when the CO was speaking and when I reviewed the photos later which my wife's cousin took. We didn't have to worry about catching a single photo. I highly recommend that approach. Her son-in-law commissioned from the same unit 5 years ago and is currently cruising somewhere below the surface of the Pacific. The flowers for the Mom's and girlfriends was also unexpected by me and a nice touch.

Graduation the next day was a bit of an anti-climax. Nevertheless, I was impressed that they listed all the new officers from the various ROTC programs in the bulletin and even had them stand during the ceremonies.

A great a memorable occasion. A good time was had by all. Oh, did I say DS was so damned handsome in that beautiful uniform. :)

Congrats to all the new officers out there!!!
 
Cluelessparent said:
DS commissioned Friday and graduated Saturday. Not sure how it was in the Capitol city kinnem, but it rained all weekend on the coast, The cadets didn't get wet for the parade but parents did awaiting it to start. Oh yea he said he had to walk sideways on one side to keep his bar from falling off that his Mom pinned on. And this was with practice :) His sister did a better job on the other side.

Bull leave the light on for him :)
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Haha! Yeah, my wife had troubles with the pin too. So sorry you were experiencing a rainy day. I was concerned it would get to us too. We were lucky. Congrats to your son and the rest of the family.
 
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