Graduation & Wing Ceremony

It was a great thing to watch Braden on graduation day. A day he had been counting down to all year. This program is hard, no doubt about that. The pressure is immense, the material complex, and the amount of information is overwhelming. In practicing scripts, picture calls, brevity words, and flash cards with him, I grew to understand what a challenging thing this training is. Our friends from our branch doing the same program washed out the same week Braden graduated. It was heartbreaking for us to watch. And do you know who the only people at graduation for us was? It was them (along with the Bargers, also from our branch). I was humbled at their willingness to support us even though it must have been so painful to watch. A good lesson in friendship & support.

I asked Braden that day if he had ever finished something as intense or challenging and he said no. It was good to see that accomplishment on his face. It wasn't pride. It seemed to be a great sense of relief. And gratitude. He finished with a 95% average, while managing to be an involved husband and father, something his peers did not have to juggle.

And so it is that we find ourselves wrapping up our time here in ol P-city. I would say it has been a good year. Enjoyable in so many ways. I don't know if Braden would say the same thing. It is probably like after I have had a baby and I hear Braden telling people that the baby sleeps great and everything is great. I always roll my eyes and think "yeah of course it is, for you who doesn't feed a baby every two hours". I am sure we have had largely different experiences over the last year. After quizzing him before tests I would often tell him that I was so grateful that all I had to do the next day was clean and cook. If I was in this program I would constantly be peeing my pants in public.

I can see that it has stretched him and stressed him in ways I didn't think his carefree soul had the capability to be. He has done well under all the pressure and I am proud of him. Extremely proud of him, actually. So proud that I bought him a candy bar and took him to Pepper's for a few pounds of pork.

As they say in the Air Force, OUTSTANDING, LT Reynolds. Doneplete!!


Col Brown, the guy I hugged, commander of all CRC's in the Air Force

The pinning of his wings by his favorite instructor

2nd LT Braden Reynolds, Air Battle Manager, USAF

During a silent moment Lila yelled out "GO DADDY"! and started clapping. She did some other yelling also but it wasn't quite as cute. I can't say it was relaxing for me. It was like a mid week sacrament meeting except there were no other kids to blame for noisiness. Finally Braden just let her come up and stand with him in the receiving line because she was going nuts.





Notice the wings on the uni

The "thanks for being my wing man flowers" he gave us during the ceremony