The End!

Okay, not quite.  

May 27th ended my time at the United States Air Force Academy.  It was a long, difficult road, but like most things in life, that's what made it rewarding.  I'll never forget my times there or the friends I've made or the experiences we've shared, but I sure am glad to be out of there!  Woohoo!  

Despite crap-tastic weather most of the week, Wednesday shined bright and clear for Graduation.  I'll tell you, I've never been so anxious to walk up a ramp and shake a few hands in my life!  I'm sure there will be pictures floating around the inter-webs, detailing every single last detail of the week-long adventure.  Needless-to-say, it was a tiring, but a blast.

Sunday (the 24th) I went to the Baccalaureate Mass with Mom and Dad.  It was long and I had to pee throughout most of it, but it was a nice Mass, my last one in the Academy Chapel for a while I'd think.  There was a former astronaut who spoke, so that was pretty cool.  After that, we went to get lunch and then rested up before going to a meet-and-greet at the Superintendent's house.  I saw a number of my friends there and got my picture taken with the Supt, a 3-Star general.  Plus there was free food, so that was super-awesome.  That night, Amanda and her mom, along with Sarah and Tom, got in town, so we all had dinner at our 1900s house.  

Monday I had to march in an Organizational Awards Parade.  It was super long and incredibly dull, so I wisely advised everyone to skip it and do what they pleased.  After that I met up with everyone again for grubbing and hanging out.

Tuesday was the Graduation Parade.  In this parade, the graduating seniors symbolically leave the Cadet Wing.  It was pretty cold out, but it was still pretty impressive.  Plus, before the parade proper started, there were some sick flyovers:  a 4-ship of F-16s, a B-52, and FIVE P-51 Mustangs.  My class is the 51st graduating class, so to mark that, we have a P-51 on our class crest (which is on my class ring).  Also, our class exemplar, Col. Hub Zemke, flew P-51s in WWII.  So it was a pretty awesome sight that none of us expected.  It was great "icing" (no chilly pun intended) to a pretty great moment in my life.  I felt bad for all of my cold family and friends in the stands though!  After that, I had an awards thing for the Chemistry Department.  I was the Outstanding Cadet in the Chemistry of Advanced Materials.  I was expecting to get anything, so I didn't really even want to go!

Tuesday night was also my squad's commissioning ceremony.  I was sworn-in by my sponsor, Lt. Col. Tom Falzarano.  He works down in Florida now, but was able to make it out, so that was really awesome.  Mom and Dad pinned on my 2nd Lieutenant rank, so that was nice as well.  After that, most of us headed over to Champ's for some half-priced appetizers and well deserved beers.

Wednesday was the big day.  I slept at the Academy Tuesday night so I wouldn't have to worry about getting stuck in traffic for my own graduation.  I got dressed in my parades and then drove down to the stadium with the Buds around 8:00.  Then we stood around for about 2 hours, in pretty much the same 4 square foot area.  We had to line up in a certain way, and once we found our spot, we stood...and waited!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we moved toward the stadium.  None of the graduation stuff had really hit me, until we started marching in.  I thought, "Holy crap, this is really happening!  I'm graduating!"  It was so surreal.

After various people spoke, including the Vice President and his now (in)famous teleprompter line, we started receiving our diplomas.  When it was getting closer to my line's turn to stand, I was shaking for excitement and a bit of nervousness:  Don't drop the diploma, salute THEN shake, yada yada yada.  Finally, my name was called.  From then on, I don't really remember much until I was saluting my classmate and squadmate Steve.  The Secretary of the Air Force was the first one, and then Vice President Biden.  He said something about my family being proud and something else, but I really don't recall!  I was just stoked to be done!  Saluting classmates has always been an Academy tradition, so I saluted Steve, walked down the ramp to hug and congratulate him, and then turned around to salute Kevin.  Then I was off!  And then I waited for another hour to finish!  It seemed like forever!  But I amused myself by texting and looking through my diploma.  There was a letter saying that I could apply to graduate school, care of the Air Force, because I graduated in the top 15% of my class.  Woohoo!

Finally, the Commandant of Cadets took the podium and read the Oath of Office.  At which point (I just got chills remembering this moment!) he said, "Class of 2009...you are dismissed!"  I tossed my hat as high as I could and the yelled with joy as the Thunderbirds screamed overhead.  It was AWESOME!

The Thunderbirds put on a great show and I smoked a massive cigar.  It was great!  I still had some outprocessing stuff to do so I drove back up to the Academy while everyone else sat in traffic, headed back to the 1900s House to get ready for the PAR-TAY!  I had to walk across the Terrazzo (the big open area of the Academy) to return my saber and rank.  Along the way, cadets were saluting me.  It was really strange!  But I guess I'll have to get used to it!

After all of the outprocessing, I went to join everyone at the party.  It was a lot of fun...and there was cold beer!  Thanks to everyone who came!  It was great to see everyone and finally just get to hang out and not have to worry about any formations or meetings or anything for the first time in months...or years!

Thursday I went to Manitou Springs with Amanda and her mom, and saw pretty much everyone at the party again!  They were all headed to Pike's Peak, on the Cog Train.  Then the three of us drove up to Denver to drop Amanda's mom off to catch her flight to Kansas City.  Amanda and I continued on to Estes Park to meet my family.  To get there, we drove through Loveland and Thompson Canyon...it was so cool looking with the sheer canyon walls and the rushing water...just beautiful!

In Estes Park, Amanda and I drove up to the Continental Divided, and then drove back down for a lunch of sandwiches and sushi from the local SafeWay.  Then we hiked a trail up above the alluvial fan.  It was just one amazing view after the other!  That night, everyone ate at this brewing company in Estes Park.  I had some delicious beer called "Samson Stout."  Yum!

Saturday Amanda and I drove back in my car.  It was about a 14 hour drive, so it wasn't too awful bad.  I'm pretty used to the 12 hour drive from Colorado Springs to the Springfield, so another two hours wasn't too awful.  We got in around midnight, just behing Mom and Dad.  And so started my 60 days of leave!

Which pretty much brings me up to this point!  Since I'm no longer at the Academy, I'll be making some changes to the web-log in upcoming days, mostly the name and possibly the style.  I'll try to update it more often since lots of new things will be going on during my time in Florida.  

Thanks again to everyone who came out to see me!  I hope you as good a time as I did!