Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Holding his niece prior to moving to Hawaii

My son, enlisted after 9/11 and serves in the Air Force, currently he is stationed at Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor. Don't let the base on the beach fool you, he works 12 hour shifts arriving 45 minutes early and staying 45 minutes late for briefings  He is my hero.  He spent his first four years of active duty in Tacoma, Washington; I figure he needs at least six more months of sun to dry out from the rain there!

He endured Basic Military Training in August in San Antonio; grueling days in the sun, running the required four miles per day at 4:00 a.m. because that's when it was cool.  He went to Texas at 155 lbs, he is 6' tall.  At graduation seven weeks later he weighed 142 lbs and his waist was smaller than mine!  As any mother will tell you, when your child is it training so are you.  He called home, told us what life was like and in the next five weeks I lost 10 pounds!  Torture the child and tell the Mom and they both think they're going to die!

He turned 21 while deployed to the Middle East.  His fellow Airmen served him  a bran muffin with 21 toothpicks in it!  You can only use what you've got and birthday cakes were sparse there. It was 130 degrees during the day cooling down to 80 degrees overnight.  

I have a Blue Star flag in my window, it's been 10 years now and I am very grateful and proud of all of the service men and women who sacrifice for our freedom.  I am also indebted to all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

We miss our Airman, he is a Technical Sergeant now working the night shift, keeping our country safe.