I have never been so humbled.
They had the recruits take the oath in groups of 15 or so. I watched them with tears in my eyes. Some of them were sooo young. And they were going to stand between my loved ones and the enemy.
We taped Ryan taking the oath and I tried to upload it to the blog but kept getting an error message. I'll try again tomorrow. At the beginning of the video, they ask the recruits to state their name, what branch they are joining, job training and why they wanted to join. Ryan was the fourth guy to speak. The three guys prior to him were embarrassed and couldn't think of a reason why they joined other than, "it was something to do,' etc. I wondered what Ryan would say because he gets very uncomfortable with any type of public speaking. But he calmly stated his name, branch, job, and then gave his reason for joining.
"I want to serve my country."
Ahhh...the tears started to roll. About half of the recruits ended up giving the same reason and it was so touching. So, so, so humbling.
I watched the tearful farewells from the other families around me. It was almost unbearable to be in the room.
President Bush's words ring in my ears...'On behalf of a grateful nation, we thank you." To those boys/men I saw today...thank you. Thank you to their families. Thank you to their friends.
Hanging out and waiting to take the Oath--along with a friend from youth group
Katie-bug gets some snuggle time
SaraGrace breaks down at the thought of Ryan leaving
These guys will be protecting our freedom
Taking the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States
Some of the guys were SO young
Last family picture for awhile
Chloe breaks down and Ryan tries to comfort his little buddy
My hero
My heros
