Hoooah!

Today was family day at Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina.  Three of us went to see our warrior graduate.  He was one of the youngest and tallest of his company.  H'e's thinner too. We met at Hilton Field inside Fort Jackson.  We sat in the bleachers.  Earlier in the morning we asked, "Who will need tissue today?  Is anyone going to get emotional?"  I didn't think I would as I am only an aunt.  We didn't bring any tissue.  We sat in the bleachers in the hot South Carolina heat.  When the speaker said the warriors were in the woods across the field and could hear everything, the crowd went wild with screaming, clapping, and stamping feet on the metal bleachers.  Tears poured out of my eyes at hearing the crowd's excitement.  Emotional reunions make me cry.  I cried during the rest of the ceremony.  And I gotta say, the Army knows how to make things dramatic.  We hear gun shots and see little things land in the field.  Colored smoke comes out of the little things that land.  Although the photo doesn't show it the smoke is yellow, blue and green.  The smoke thickens and moves to the left.  Drill sergeants for the five companies stand on this side of the smoke and we see our warriors run through the smoke and line up.  We hear artillary blasting in the woods. I am still bawling.  The warriors march forward and stand in formation and the crowds in the bleachers are released to find their person and spend the day with them.  It's hard to find our warrior.  Everybody is wearing the same uniform.  And I am a little slow. Parents and kids are hugging.  Spouses are hugging.  Little children and warriors are hugging.  All the people reuniting and showing their joy is making me cry even more.  I eventually catch up though.  Leaving Hilton Field takes forever because of all the cars.  We spend the day on base.  We visit the PX and buy some souvenirs.  We buy a couple pizzas and eat then at a picnic table by the lake.  We spend time at a playground.  We tour the combat training museum.  As we enter one room a video shows a drill sergeant yells, "GET OFF THE BUS!  GET OFF THE BUS!  GET OFF THE BUS!"  The video is motion activated so we hear these same words shouted over and over again.  The museum is very interesting and our warrior tells us about his boot camp experiences.  We go to the exercise center where the gym is set up with table games, inflatable castles, Wii games and other stuff for kids to do.  It feels good to spend time in the air conditioning.  We talk and catch up on what we have missed in the last 75 days.  We buy some Subway sandwiches and go back to the lake to have another picnic.  We're not allowed to take our warrior off the base so we send him back to his bay by 8 p.m. and drive back to our hotel for another swim.  It's been a good day.