Graduation Graduation in every basic training is different. In the summer, it usually takes place in the parade field as a battalion sized unit. However, in the winter, when there is a slow down of recruitments, it is often done at the company level. Such was the case with my basic training company. We all piled into a large room and by platoon, we marched on stage, sang out the platoon motto, yelled out our name and home state, did a smart right and marched off the stage to our seat. Well, everyone else did at least. I didn't. In the army, they have graduation ceremonies for everything. They prep for graduation ceremonies all the time, and we were prepping for our graduation for about a week to make sure we were perfect. The Drill Sergeant of the cycle was somewhat in charge of graduation, at least the color guard, and DS B turned out to be that drill sergeant. He decided to chose a representative from each platoon to be color guard, and to my shock, he chose me to represent Cold Steel! Of course, the last week was for some reason my worst week. I don't know why I was acting the way I was, but I was getting nervous. I had maintained my discipline really well up unto this point, and then I started laughing again. Ick. It got really bad when during practice I marched on stage and was preparing to say my Name and State nice and loud, when the brainiac next to me messed up and broke my concentration, and I burst out laughing and said "Private Washington," and then had to correct myself. First Sergeant put me (the honor guard, mind you) into the bear crawl and made me crawl around the room getting smoked when we should have been far past that by now. My unit also took it in their heads to honor me further by promoting me to PV2. I don't really know what I did to deserve it, I did work my butt off during the major training portion, aside from the constant nap sessions I took during the classroom. But I found myself promoted, pulling color guard, and getting all this recognition. What makes me bring this up is the fact that, well, I felt like the only one there who didn't have their parents come by to support them. And I was getting all this recognition! Basic was really hard for me, not necessarily physically, but joining the military and standing by my morals and values, I had done my best despite my family telling me not to do this, not to join, and here I was exceeding their expectations. My Drill Sergeants recognized it in me, and I wanted to show them, to prove to them so to speak, that I could do this and do it well. And they weren't there to support me. I realize now, looking back, it was financially impossible for my family to come. In fact, I tried to get a video tape of graduation, and got one from a friend whose husband spent most of the time video taping the back of her head (and caught the color guard from about a mile away), only to have the video run out half way through. I even went so far as to ask DS B (his wife was taping) if he would give me a copy if I mailed him a blank video tape with return postage even. He never did, and frankly, I don't blame him, I believe that was his last full cycle, the company was preparing to receive some more 'fresh fish' and he was busy transferring to Fort Bragg last I heard. DS J promised a bootlegged copy perhaps, but, well, I haven't seen that tape. Not that it really matters to tell you the honest truth. Basic really isn't as bad as they make it out to be. "To easy, drill sergeant, to easy!" -Risawn: # 4:48 PM 4:48 PM