We drove to Gt. Lakes, IL for Matt's Navy basic training graduation ceremony. We escorted Kristi and her brother BJ, who drove Matt's truck, as they were continuing on to meet up with Matt in South Carolina.
The ceremony was held on April 27-28. It was a very impressive ceremony, including all of the Navy protocol. The best part was when they "piped aboard" a 3 star general. This was followed by a fifteen gun salute, a recording of a battery of "5 inchers".
There were 860+ graduating. It was held indoors in this large drill hall so the pictures that we took didn't come out very well. The ceremony was professionally video taped so we have a copy ordered. Matt really looked good. He said that he gained 7 lbs. but looked like he lost about 20. He walked a lot taller and you could tell that he was proud of the way he looked in his uniform. It really done us proud as we watched them 'pass in review'.
We didn't get to spend a lot of time with him. We were able to spend an hour and a half on Thur. night and then another hour and a half on Fri. after the ceremony. Matt had to catch a bus to the airport as he left for SC in the afternoon. He will be attending Electricians Mate school in Charleston for 20+ weeks. After that it's Nuclear Power Training for about 18 months.
After we saw Matt off we said goodbye to Kristi, BJ and Vinnie and started the trip back home. We returned via Pierre, SD. Lisa and Troy had just bought a new house so we thought this would be as good a chance as any to see their new home. We got the grand tour and had a nice visit on Saturday PM and Sunday AM.
