Graduation

We made it to Oklahoma City, OK and the weather was cold, rainy and windy.  Brrr....the land is flat and the airport was small. Made it to our hotel which had long hallways and I swore I could see a set of twins in blue dresses standing at the end of the hall (The shining).  Regardless, it was a place to sleep and our main attraction was seeing our Pvt. and his accomplishments. 
We had a snafu with the rental car, but it ended up working better than what we could imagine and were headed to Lawton/Ft. Sill the next day.  We arrived in time to get our passes and get through the gate (or so we thought).  I guess this was a very large graduating class and they processed more than 500 people that morning.  We waited for two hours before getting through the gate and missed the family demonstration.  Our young Pvt. was waiting for us outside the building and once I saw my son, I, like a mom, started to cry.  An overwhelming power of seeing my son, his accomplishments and pride in what he has done made my eyes water (a lot). 
We were able to pick up our tee shirts of his graduation class and took him off base quickly as he ha been chomping at the bit to go.  He looked handsome in his dress blues (although, they don't call it that anymore).  We saw all of Lawton in two hours.  Ran out of places to go and see, We took in one of the best BBQ places called Johnny Cooks, had the best BBQ there.  We went to a game place, the mall and the artillery museum in two days.  At the end of each day we were able to walk back with him while he stood in formation until the Drill Sgts excused the family. 
Graduation day was the moment he had been working up too.  All these fine young men and women who are serving our country made it this far.  The soldiers recited the soldiers creed, they also repeated their oath and each soldier made their way to the stage, stated their name and where they were from.  In all of the 200+, we counted five from Oregon.
We were lucky to have Pvt. Buchanan until 1945, before he was being shipped off to AIT which is the rest of the training in his field.  He is going into the health field and was told they have only two chances to pass the test, Otherwise, the military will find another position for him.  He is a smart kid, I know he will do well, as long as he is not distracted.  So far he loves serving and is anxious for deployment (something a Military Mom doesn't want to hear). 
He requests we come to San Antonio, TX when he graduates AIT.  How can I say no to that.  He has communicated since he has been at Ft. Sam Houston, says they are more liberal with the freedom there than they have been at Boot Camp, he is in a barrack with just to beds as opposed to a bay with 200.  He is bunked with his buddy from boot camp during reception and currently doesn't have an address to send letters and packages too.  As soon I as I get it, I will let those who IM me his address.
I did get a video of their training and saw our own Pvt. in three different places.  I have a disc of pics from their training and he says there is another one on the way.  In the meantime, I will post pictures to this post of just how handsome he looks. 

Graduation Date coming up

I can't believe that soon our private will be graduating from bootcamp.  He has been anticipating this moment for weeks.  We will get to see him on family day and graduation.  He will be leaving immediately for his combat medic training after graduation.
Big thank you to everyone who sent him letters while he is in bootcamp.  He passed his PT, even exceeded the Army's goal.  All those extra push ups from letters helped.  Lol
His graduation class has their own Tee shirts.  We are excited to pick ours up on Family day.  When Zach makes it to AIT I believe they are more liberal on care packages.  I will send out his new address as soon as I get it.