With graduation season in full swing I’m proud to recognize my daughter, youngest of my kids, for her accomplishments. Somewhere around 10th grade she announced she was going into the military, but you know how kids are at that age, they change their mind with the weather. Growing up she was a typical girly girl, dancing was her thing & she did it 7 days a week from the time she was around 3 years old, recitals, competitions, the whole nine yards, so the military seemed a bit out of character. But it stuck, she kept talking about it & by the time she entered her freshman year in college she immediately enrolled in ROTC with the intention of becoming an officer. She loved it & sometime during the spring semester she announced that she had enlisted in the Army and would depart for boot camp as soon as the semester was over. Of course, I was concerned about the sudden shift in direction but she explained that she wanted to experience the type of training soldiers get as opposed to the officer track. Anyway, off to Fort Leonard Wood she went & absolutely kicked ass, won the leadership award as voted by all the drill sergeants over all 180 of her peers & as a result of her performance upon her return to school in the Fall was sworn in as a cadet & given a full scholarship. She went on to perform admirably her remaining years there & climbed the ranks of her service fraternity to become president. Two weeks ago I attended the ceremony where she was sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army & the following day she received her Bachelor’s Degree. The day after that she left for Fort Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania for her annual training & in the fall will begin officer training in Virginia.
It’s difficult to explain how proud I am, but I’m sure most reading this understand. This is a shot of her first salute by SSG Murphy, her mentor, who traveled there to be part of the ceremony. I can tell you she was trembling.
her mother and I painfully trying to attach her bars
the commission
the day before, just being a goofy college kid (she's on the left)
and finally, what I see every time I look at her
It’s difficult to explain how proud I am, but I’m sure most reading this understand. This is a shot of her first salute by SSG Murphy, her mentor, who traveled there to be part of the ceremony. I can tell you she was trembling.
her mother and I painfully trying to attach her bars
the commission
the day before, just being a goofy college kid (she's on the left)
and finally, what I see every time I look at her
