The big graduation weekend Aaron's class had been looking forward to for the past nine months was not quite what they got, thanks to Hurricane Irene. As the approaching storm called for a hurrevac of all the jets on Thursday, all pilots and crew except for the graduating class were with the planes in Louisiana. Red Carpet, including a chance to see/sit in the jets, tour the control tower, operate the simulators, and demo a mission briefing, was cancelled. And the formal ceremony and banquet scheduled for Saturday evening became a formal lunch on Friday afternoon.
With only the squadron commanders and class in attendance, we played dress-up in the middle of the day and did our best to honor these hard-working guys' achievements. It's been a stressful and demanding course, and I'm so proud of Aaron and how he handled the pressure. He not only made it through, but excelled.
The graduation speaker, a former Strike Eagle pilot with the first air-to-air kill in the Gulf War, shared many poignant words, and he left us with this final charge... "No one else will ever understand what is demanded of you and what you will be asked to do. This work is more than a job. Wives, parents, family, they need you to understand that, and they will need your continued support."
Thankfully, we did indeed have supportive family on hand, though our group was a bit smaller due to the rescheduling. None of us could be prouder of this guy!
Update: We're now a week into being part of an operational squadron. And the hours, have been, well... insane! I guess we're just now preparing to find out what life in the Air Force is really all about...
With only the squadron commanders and class in attendance, we played dress-up in the middle of the day and did our best to honor these hard-working guys' achievements. It's been a stressful and demanding course, and I'm so proud of Aaron and how he handled the pressure. He not only made it through, but excelled. 
The graduation speaker, a former Strike Eagle pilot with the first air-to-air kill in the Gulf War, shared many poignant words, and he left us with this final charge... "No one else will ever understand what is demanded of you and what you will be asked to do. This work is more than a job. Wives, parents, family, they need you to understand that, and they will need your continued support."
Thankfully, we did indeed have supportive family on hand, though our group was a bit smaller due to the rescheduling. None of us could be prouder of this guy!
Update: We're now a week into being part of an operational squadron. And the hours, have been, well... insane! I guess we're just now preparing to find out what life in the Air Force is really all about... 
3 comments:
Congratulations, Aaron!!
Congratulations, Aaron! Welcome to operational world, Paige:)
Oh I feel your pain for the operational squadron hours. They are killer! Makes me dream of the days as IPs when he was home for dinner or at least somewhere before 10:00 and when 12 hour days were the long ones not the short ones! We will survive! Aaron did awesome and I'm really digging the red bow-tie!
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