Comment

Comment by diannep on June 12, 2012 at 8:01am

For those who missed the video post, here is the link again:

http://vimeo.com/27873349

Kleenex in hand!

Comment by PaulaP (Ship11/Div 178) on June 11, 2012 at 10:20pm

If you plan on attending Sarge's meet and greet, please RSVP. He needs a head count. This might be one of his largest groups yet.

Comment by Hm-in-the-Fam-Mom on June 11, 2012 at 6:49pm

I LOVED the video... happy tears, happy tears, LOL

Comment by diannep on June 11, 2012 at 6:40pm

Glad you all "liked" the video?  Ok, yes...tear jerker.  It was done by the mom of the graduating sailor featured...that is her business...so it was very professionally done!  It does bring many emotions to the surface, for sure!

Comment by diannep on June 11, 2012 at 6:39pm

...so glad that your daughter was ok after passing out at PIR.  Happens at every one of them but rarely do they get hurt--amazingly.  They have "body snatchers" roaming through the ranks who are watching for woozy sailors...and the sailors themselves are told to catch any if they see them falling! 

Comment by diannep on June 11, 2012 at 6:36pm

Thanks so sharing this, ctav01!  Congrats to your sailor!

Comment by Hm-in-the-Fam-Mom on June 11, 2012 at 6:08pm

Ok I'm balling again after watching that video diannep, all the emotions I had that 1st week when he left are flooding right back into my heart. Instead of the worry and missing him it's now incredible pride and excitement to see him march into that hall!! 

Comment by PaulaP (Ship11/Div 178) on June 11, 2012 at 6:07pm

Good luck to the remaining divisions doing BS21 tonight!

Comment by ctav01 on June 11, 2012 at 2:32pm

My PIR experience: The hall has a lower set of bleachers and another set in the balcony. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot and they had shuttles running at 6am, 6:45am and 7:30am. We caught the 6:45 shuttle and when we got to the RTC, the stands were about 80% full. By 7:30, I'm not sure if there was a seat left but people kept pouring in. I never saw anybody in the balcony but they might have been sitting right above us. And definitely hit the bathrooms early because getting in and out of packed bleachers is no fun for anybody. The hall has video screens and they were showing Navy archive footage and what looked like documentaries (including something about Battlestations) but it was almost impossible to hear them. The ceremony itself was short and went by fast. The sailors don't do much besides stand at attention and stand at parade rest. There are flags on the floor to show where the divisions line up and we were right in front so it was impossible to find our daughter since they lined up so straight. My suggestion is to sit off to the side of your division a bit. They only had to escort four sailors off the floor and only one passed out and hit the floor. Turned out that was our daughter but she was fine after a few minutes and was able to join us after the ceremony. The NEX has lots of cool Navy clothes but try to go early because it was packed after graduation. Every recruit there but not graduating was very polite and personable. As for Saturday, our daughter was flying out to South Carolina and had to get up at 00:30 (she actually never went to sleep), be on the bus at 01:00 and was at the O'Hare airport by 02:00. We got up at 2am and made it to the airport by 4am and waited with her for the next twelve hours until her flight at 15:30 (which got delayed to 16:15). We found a good place to camp inside the airport and it was kinda fun hanging out with her but man, what a long day. She had to return to the USO at 13:00 to get her gear and check it in to the airline with the rest of her group. By then she knew what gate she was leaving from so we went down early to camp there and it was so cool to see the ten or so sailors coming down the long straight hall down to the gate. Almost like a movie scene where the heroes walk toward the camera as a group in slow motion. There was enough time to hang out a bit more and then say our goodbyes. I was fine and didn't start crying until they started boarding and everybody started applauding them. It was a terrific send off. Last bit of info/advice. The airlines will NOT check you in for your flight more than four hours before your departure. So our Sunday plan of checking in our baggage and taking the tram into Chicago bombed (there's NO PLACE to store suitcases anymore). I ended up camping out with the bags while my wife and son got to visit the Sears Tower. Long day number two and I now hate airports with a passion. :)

Oh, btw, my wife and son and I were the only ones I saw in division t-shirts and I felt under dressed (we wore jeans and the t-shirts).  Most of the men were in slacks and collared shirts and a lot of the women were in dresses.  Just FYI.

Comment by mpitcher(ship 11 division 180) on June 11, 2012 at 1:54pm

diannep, OMG thank you for sharing that video!  I am bawling right now and super excited for Friday!!!

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