Gerritt's Basic Training Graduation - We made it!!!

Ok - so everyone's been asking me to tell them the story about how it was to see Gerritt, the trip details, and all of that, so I'm just going to start breakin it down.


Going out to see Gerritt was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! I can't even express in words all of the emotions that I felt - there were so many, good and bad.


Max and I left on Wednesday, last week, and we had the misfortune (really bad choice, really) of being on STANDBY for the entire trip.

(Duh! What, am I - an idiot?? Standby is such a load of crap. Vent over.)

We got to the airport at 6:30am and were totally lucky that we barely made it on the first flight of the day! We were physched! Then......we got to Atlanta and weren't so lucky. We ended up sitting in that blasted airport for 6 1/2 hours, bored to tears, exhausted, Max was feeling naughty and tantrumy at points, but we finally ended up on the last flight of the day, to South Carolina.

{Max, the majority of every flight we took - there and back. iPods are sent from Heaven!}

{Waiting at the airport. FOREVER.}

We got there in the dark of night, the 2 of us got our rental car, and started driving to Fort Jackson, with lots of directions and maps. I was really hard to see anything in the car, but I think we were definitely watched over to be able to get to where we needed to go, the entire trip. We checked into a room on base and just about died of excitement, knowing we'd be able to see Gerritt in the morning!

{Waiting for the rental car shuttle to pick us up}

Still on Utah time, we struggled to wake up early, and be out the door, to find the building where they were going to hold the Family Day ceremonies for Gerritt's Company. There were about 102.8 million people there, literally packed in shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the doors to open so we could sit down in the bleachers. We stood waiting for them to start seating for about an hour, during which time, Max decided he wanted to call it quits and run away from me. It was pretty hard, but we hung in there, and they finally opened the doors to let everyone in. We got a really great seat in the third row and waiting another 35 minutes for the event to start. Some people spoke, I think there was a prayer in there somewhere, but honestly, I was NOT paying much attention to their little program. I don't think anyone was! We were all fixed on the doors down below, where we could catch a glimpse of some soldiers getting into formation. The mood was crazy - everyone talking excitedly, babies crying, cameras flashing. Just for the heck of it, I zoomed in on the doors to see if I could see anyone we knew. (There are a couple hundred soldiers in Gerritt's Company alone, and there were 2 whole Companys there, so LOTS of guys in uniforms)

{Soldiers getting lined up!}

As I sat, snapping random pictures, I could see through the lens that one of the soldiers in the window was grinning, and it seemed to be at me! I took a picture and then looked at it carefully to see if my eyes had been right. Right away, I got this feeling, and I KNEW it was him, even though I couldn't see the picture close enough to tell exactly. He had picked us out of the zillions of people, and saw me zoomed in at him! I got SOOO excited at that point and I was just antsy for them to just get the program part over with already so I could hug him!!

Finally, they came marching out. To my surprise, Gerritt was carrying the C Company flag, and he was in the very front. (The flag is dark blue and has a big "C" on it)

At this point, I was in some other world. Unfortunately, I bumped the "manual focus" switch on the camera, and I wasn't together enough to even figure it out until after it was all over, so forgive the blurry pics.

{Gerritt is always next to the blue Company flag :) }

After the program, they told us we could go down and find our soldier in an "orderly fashion". Yeah RIGHT. Everyone overflowed out of the stands and people were crying, shouting, laughing, hugging, kissing, holding babies - the whole nine yards. I gathered our belongings, and went down to find Gerritt, and saw him looking for us, but not seeing us. I told Max to duck and we surprised him by jumping out of a group of people. He immediately knelt on the floor with his arms out wide for Max, and after a second of double-takes, Max jumped into his arms and threw his arms around his neck. I was so shocked to actually be SEEING him, with my own eyes - he looked so, the same, and so different at the same time!

{First hug in 3 months!}

I wanted to get a picture of all of us together, but I didn't want to interrupt anyone from their homecoming to take one for me! Also, it was so crazy and loud in there, that we just wanted to get out and be alone together!

We spend a bunch of hours talking and hugging and sharing stories, and then we looked for Gerritt's friend Sean, to hang out with him for a bit and take some pictures for his wife who couldn't be there.

{Here's Gerritt and Sean in front of the Utah flag by their Barracks How CUTE are they?!!?}

{C Company Barracks, Sean Gerritt, and Max}

{This is inside their Barracks. It was just an empty, cold, building - not very comfortable. The floors were gritty from sand covered boots.}

{I had to document the famous payphones that were the WORLD to me in those 3 months. Getting a phonecall from him was everything to me - and it was rare, but this is where they would line up for their 3 minutes, each.}

I quickly recognized that there was so many little rules and regulations they had to follow. One was how they had to remove and replace their hats after going into ANY building.

We went to an open house for the tiny branch with the LDS missionaries. Max had always thought it was so weird that his Daddy would have no hair when we went to see him, so he was fascinated with Gerritt's "fuzz". He was so sweet and kept hugging and kissing Gerritt's head, and asking to rub it randomly. I guess I couldn't help but rub his head a lot too - it was surprisingly soft!

We had to drop him back off at his barracks at 8:30, to go to bed, so we did that and went back to our hotel room to get some sleep.

The next morning, we had to be at a huge outdoor field and arena at 10am, and it was a chilly, windy day. This time, all of the Companys were there, A-F, and all of their families, so there was more mayhem and excitement.

We sat in the stands and I started documenting everything I could. :)

After waiting about 40 minutes, they started the Graduation Ceremony and all the soldiers started marching onto the field. Everyone was going crazy, yelling, stomping, and screaming.

{Gerritt, again with the blue flag!}

I was SO proud of him. :)







{ Oh - and did I mention that he looks freakin' HOT in his uniform???! :) }

Finally, they let everyone run out to find their soldier again. Some people didn't get to see their soldier on Family Day, and it was crazy, everyone running frantically trying to find theirs. Only about 1300 soldiers total, and bazillions of family members!

{Here's our guy!}




{One of Gerritt's Drill Sergeants. And, yes - we discussed how she has a strong resemblance to

"The D-O-Double G". }



{Is it possible to love anyone more than we love him??}

{Gerritt's platoon got called in for one more drill before they let them go off the base for the day.}

{It was so cool to see them standing together, exactly the same. It's weird to try to find someone when only their face is different from everyone else.}

Here's a little compilation video I made from the short clips of Family and Graduation. You can really feel what it was like, and it's amazing to see them all marching together in perfect rhythm.

The next 8 or so hours where a whirlwind of driving around (we had to get his phone fixed so he could call from AIT training, which he was leaving to that night), eating out, meeting fellow soldiers that were new friends, getting checked into a new hotel off base, and all while never letting go of each other. I won't lie - this is the part where I wished I hadn't brought a 4 year old on the trip. Luckily, he didn't mind splitting his attention with us to much. :)

That night, we painfully got ready to drop Gerritt off with his group, so he could travel by bus up to his next training location, Ft. Lee Virginia. I had wanted to be able to drive him up there myself, but with the costs of this trip, and his trip to come home for Christmas, I just didn't think I could afford it. We talked about how nice it would be and wished we had just filled out the paperwork and done it anyway. Money was of no importance to us at that point. By some miracle, one of Gerritt's Drill Sergeants called my phone and told us that he was scheduled to go to Ft. Lee by private vehicle - the paperwork had been filled out already, and that the Government would reimburse for the trip! I don't know HOW that happened, but we jumped at the chance and rushed back to get the final papers signed, so he could be released that night with us and we could start the drive to Virginia in the morning.

We were over the MOON that we could now have a few more days together!!

We set up the GPS on my phone and started driving the next morning. About 6 hours later, we arrived there and checked into another hotel, since he didn't have to report in on base until midnight that night. I could tell he was starting to get uneasy, just being outside the base and knowing he was about to go back and be yelled at again. I found out that the flights out from Richmond, VA weren't looking good for stand-by, so I was starting to get panicked about how the rest of the trip would go.

Definitely NOT looking forward to dropping him off and being on my own again.

We found that if I drove up to Washington D.C., I would have a better chance of getting home, and it was a direct flight the next day, so Gerritt helped up get checked in to the lodging on base. Finally, we drove him to the building where he was supposed to report, and said our goodbyes. I was really scared about the drive to D.C., getting on the flight, and just feeling alone again. I basically snuggled up with Max and let him watch T.V for 4 hours after we dropped him off. :(

{Here's the building where we dropped him. It's absolutely GORGEOUS there - it looks like it's barely Fall, while Utah is already into winter! So many beautiful trees!}

Overall, it was SO SO rewarding, and I'm just so happy that I was able to go and spend some time with him. It was worth every bit of the difficulty and stress. I got to see him in a whole new light, our marriage is so much stronger, I feel reenergized now that I'm back home, and I even got to drive a good ways up the East Coast! And some of the best news - now he can have his phone and he can actually CALL us every night!! :) So. happy.

And did I mention the muscles? Yeah. LOTS of them!! :P

So, now the countdown is on for December 18, when he gets to be home for Christmas for about 2 weeks, and then he'll go back until he finishes on the 5th of February.