Proud to be an Air Force Aunt!

Well, today was the day. After 6.5 weeks of BMT (Basic Military Training), my nephew Andrew graduated today!! I was so hoping I could have been there. I got a call this afternoon from Alison and also got to talk to Andrew. He did such a great job in BMT. He got to lead his flight crew for graduation today. As I understand it, it was at his TI's (Training Instructor) request. Pretty cool, huh?? My sister told me that Andrew's TI (a female---how cool is that???) told her that usually recruits come in and you can tell they've had little or no discipline at home. She said that wasn't the case with Andrew. She barely had to do anything with Andrew. So Alison told me that and I started to cry. Not only because I'm so unbelievably proud of Andrew, but because I'm so proud of Alison. She did a great job raising Andrew---especially considering she had no help from Andrew's father. Of course there were others in his life that were role models (my parents, John, hopefully myself and my sister Jo and my brother Geno), but the credit really goes to Ali. So kudos to you, my little sister! After graduation today Ali and John got to take Andrew off base. They were going to see the Spurs game tonight. FUN!!! He has to be back on base tonight, but they can have him off base all day tomorrow and then I think they'll see him on base on Sunday. Not sure what time they'll be leaving SanAntonio. Andrew leaves for his technical training at midnight on Sunday/Monday. He'll be spending the next 12 weeks at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. I'm hoping we can go down there for Thanksgiving so he won't have to be by himself. I'm also hoping that if I get down there, Dawn and Dan will be around so I can see them (and, of course, baby Isaiah), too. That would be such a great trip!

Anyway...I'm a proud Air Force Aunt, for sure. I'm proud of all my nieces and nephews, but today is a special day for Andrew. As soon as Ali and John get back and I can get my hands on some pictures, I'll post them. Alison said that Andrew has grown up a lot in the past 6 weeks and that he looks very handsome in his uniform. I'm sure both of those statements are true.