The Salute...

There couldn’t possibly be more to our short trip to Florida last weekend, could there? Well, only if you count the real reason we went.

I had mentioned that my daughter is in town from New Jersey and my son just graduated from UTSA and commissioned in the Air Force. Well, my parents were planning to attend the festivities and such but my dad had some technical difficulties that made flying to San Antonio too much of an ordeal. I’m happy to report that he is recovering remarkably well, but travel is just not in the cards right now.

During the commissioning ceremony at UTSA, my daughter gave my son his first official salute. This tradition is especially memorable when the first salute is given by a family member, and several years ago, my son had asked my father, a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant, if he would give him his first salute. Needless to say we had to go with Plan “B”, but I’d say my daughter was pretty thrilled to be the stand-in.

But there was still something missing, so we took the party to my parents’ house!

After arriving in Florida, we all headed to my parents house and suited up for some pictures of the big event. We took a lot of pictures but being there and seeing my dad’s eyes light up with pride was something pretty special.What he didn't know was that my son had a Silver Dollar to present him following his first official outdoor salute.The tradition stems from a time when officers were assigned an enlisted man to help them with their uniforms and such. The officer would pay the enlisted guy a dollar a month for the service. Now, it is a tradition that when officers in any service are commissioned, they give a silver dollar to the first enlisted member to salute them. So, my daughter got one during the official commissioning ceremony, and my dad got one for our home made outdoor ceremony.

And what did I get after paying for the trip to Florida?Well, I got the satisfaction of this picture that was taken while I was saluting my son, and I think this one will end up in a frame on a wall.

Silver Creek: Serving Proudly

Just by driving through Silver Creek, you recognize from the reflective decals and assortment of bumper stickers that we have a rather well represented community of active duty and retired military families, and the proud parents of the next generation of people who serve in the greatest military the world has ever known. Today, my family entered the third generation of service to the U.S. Air Force as we attended the graduation ceremony of our daughter.

Thursday, we observed a special retreat ceremony and I found myself a bit choked up watching my daughter and her fellow airmen belt out the Air Force Song. And during today’s ceremony, the pass in review, it was a proud moment to see my daughter and her flight do the “eyes right” just as I did 25 years ago and quite probably on the same parade field that my father did 60 years ago.

Following the graduation ceremony, we accompanied our new Airman 1^st Class to her dorm to see where she had spent the last six weeks and to meet her Military Training Instructor. You cannot help being impressed by the sharp and extremely professional people who take, for the most part, obnoxious teenagers (even the one’s who are already parents themselves in some cases) and turn them into respectful, eager and newly motivated warriors. I like to think that my own daughter was pretty sharp and mature for her almost 19 years, but seeing her now was nothing short of impressive.
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Silver Creek usually has a yearly ceremony to honor veterans and POW’s and I’m very pleased as a resident and a veteran myself, that the community I live in makes this a priority among the many other important activities they sponsor.