The Skid swore in at 12:00 today. The recruits all spent the night in a hotel last night and were bused to MEPS at 04:00 to start their in-processing. 9 who processed through MEPS this AM for the USAF will all go to basic together.

Another kid has the same AFSC :? as my kid so they will be in basic and tech school together. That should be good for both of them.

We got there at 09:30 as his recruiter told us to in order to see the swearing in which was supposed to be at 10:00. We got to visit with other families and intermittently with our kid until he ultimately swore in at 12:00.

I wish I could say that all of the moms cried and the dads were cheering and high fiving each other but ..... more dads were crying than moms.

I actually was fine other than a major lump in my throat but my peers were for the most part loosing it. A few of the moms were weepy, including my wife, but for the most part it was the men that were crying. :?

After he took the oath we visited for another hour. The recruits were told that the bus leaves for BMT at 17:00 (bear with my old military school flash backs on the time please).

I looked at my wife and said "I can't hang out here until 5:00, I have to get to work." She gave me the WTF look. After about another half an hour of visiting my son finally looked at my wife and said "Leave already!". He is not one for goodbyes. He gets emotional so he is a hug, go and don't look back kind of kid.

So .... we bailed and went to work.

As we left the kid approached by a couple of kids asking him about barracks/dorm living, basic training, etc.....

The recruits/trainees were given some basic commands during the ceremony. My kid actually was sharp and crisp in his response to commands and addressing the uniformed staff by their rank and name. They had him escorting some family members around and were sending some of the moms to him to answer questions on barracks life, basic, etc... he has not been in the service but went through a version of basic during his RAT year at NMMI and was a squad leader his Sr. year of HS. One of his jobs during matriculation week was interfacing with parents of new Cadets and guiding the new Cadets and families through the matriculation stations.

Of course he did not share this with us until we were getting ready to leave. Parents and young people has been walking up to him and asking questions periodically after we got there. Several dads walked up to him, thanked him, congratulated him and shook his hand after the swearing in. It did not dawn on me at the time as to why but apparently he had spent quite a bit of time calming moms in the early AM.

In a few hours this AM the MEPS staff apparently recognized that he could at least follow direction, understood rank and the positions of attention and parade rest and how to dismiss so they started working him.

Follow directions, have energy, speak clearly, be confident ...... :? Who the hell was this kid and what happened to my son?

He was confident, well spoken, standing tall, knowledgeable and fit in.... all at MEPS.

Maybe, just maybe the $25K in military school tuition we burned will pay off for him.

I don't know if I should be proud or strangle him.

THAT KID DRIVES ME NUCKING FUTZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, if this AM was any indicator, he is in the right place and just maybe has a bright future ahead of him.