DH Graduated

[live4christp1]

DH graduated from AIT on Wednesday March 19th. We (myself, DS, DD along with my mom & dad) drove down for the ceremony and to pick him up. He was so ready to leave the base! He has been gone to BCT and AIT since August 24th so it is great to have him back home. He is National Guard and had to report to his unit here this morning.

 

[mselly13]

Congrats...and Thank you.
Where did he do AIT?
My DS will be going to BCT on Sept. 3 in Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Then he heads to San Antonio for AIT.
Can you give me any advice on what to expect...what was graduation like?

 

[live4christp1]

Congrats...and Thank you.
Where did he do AIT?
My DS will be going to BCT on Sept. 3 in Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Then he heads to San Antonio for AIT.
Can you give me any advice on what to expect...what was graduation like?

DH did BCT at Fort Knox KY. He was there 9 weeks and got to call home about once every two weeks depending on how squared away the platoon was as a whole. Be prepared to write. He said getting mail was like Christmas time but don't send anything other than mail, no goodies, etc. They are not allowed to have it. The graduation there was very formal, they were in class A's, etc. We got to go up the day before graduation and spend the day with him from about 11 AM to 7 PM for family day. They were not allowed to leave the post, etc. and there is only so much to do on post but it was great just to be able to spend the day with him.

He went from Fort Knox to Fort Gordon GA for AIT. They took them immediately (we had about 5 minutes to say good-bye) from the graduation ceremony back to the barracks to grab their bags and onto various other buses headed to their next destinations. Life at AIT was a bit more relaxed. They were allowed to bring cell phones along there and could use them during their off duty hours. They are also given the opportunity to phase up at AIT, with each phase more priveledges are alloted. Both of our locations were close enough to us that it wasn't a bad drive. We drove down and spent Thanksgiving weekend with him. Also stayed on post when we returned him to base from Christmas Exodus. At phast 5+ they can get a weekend pass. He did this a couple of weekends and we went down and stayed for the weekend. He still very much enjoyed getting mail at AIT, even though we talked daily by phone. He was at AIT from the first of November until March 19th. Depends on the MOS for how long training is. Graduation at Fort Gordon wasn't as formal. They were in their camo (sorry can't remember the acronym for that it's either BDU or ACU or something along those lines). It was a much shorter ceremony. DH was leaving POV so he got to leave with us as soon as it was over.

They had been told that Fort Knox was one of the hardest for BCT but DH said he'd take Fort Knox over Fort Gordon any day.

If you have any other questions let me know or PM me.

Cristy

 

[Stephanie218]

Congratulations on his graduation!! It must be so nice to have him back home finally!