Well we got to go to Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri this past week to witness what I call "The BEST graduation EVER" I have never witnessed anything like it before in my life. How they get 214 Soldiers to march together without any flaws is simply amazing, there is no other word to describe how PROUD I felt to see my son as one of those AMAZING soldiers.
Mark graduated at 0800 hours in his Class "A" uniform. They came is singing all of them in tune to their song. They marched up on stage to their Drill song and called out their names and where they were from, sang the ARMY song and marched outside. Then we all went outside and they marched to the reception hall. When we got outside and saw them all lined up to our amazement we saw our Mark as the lead soldier carrying his Platoons flag back to it's place. What an amazing sight that was. I totally lost all the composier I had. I started to cry of course. As soon as we got into the reception hall (There was thousands of family members there to witness the graduation of their sons and daughters) We saw him, oh I cannot explain all the emotions that ran through my body. I just grabbed him and clung to him for a long time, When he saw Conor he started to cry, he was his BIG surprise and they were both so happy, They did not leave each others sides all day. Then he hugged his Dad and there was more tears. Grandma Denise and Grandpa Mike were also there. What a sight to see. He is all grown up now and that meks me so Proud and Sad at the same time. We got to spend the day with him till 0900 hours that night. It was so hard to tell him bye again, but we know he is where he is suppose to be. He is now in Alabama for 10 weeks than he will go onto Florida to finish out his training. He left a Boy and now he is a Man, I am the proudest Mother EVER!!!