AIT Week 9

Day 61
Snow! School is delayed and no PT. We covered the M240B. Pretty easy. We then had our gear turn in at CIF. No problems. And then lots of final paperwork before some personal time. Things are getting closer to being done!

Day 62
Our last day of school. Hooray!! PT was a run day. I totally skipped it. The one and only time I skipped without a good reason. Ha! We did the .50 Cal machine gun today. It is more complicated with a lot of small pieces. I started to run a low grade fever and was not feeling great. I took meds and was fine later. Just made for a long day. We had a Rites of Passage ceremony with our company commander after dinner. Nothing too fancy. No personal time. :-(

Day 63
Headed to school for graduation practice. This is getting real! It didn't go too smoothly, so we have to go back this afternoon. We got bussed around today. No more marching with the company! Sweet! We had out processing at 1300. I almost got held up over something financial, but they managed to fix it. Whew! I started to run a fever again and ended up sleeping through chow. Somehow I wasn't missed among our huge company. Lol.

Day 64
Graduation Day!! It finally got here! Woke up at 0200. I freaked out that my phone had been taken since I left it out on the charger. Turns out my awesome roommates had tucked it away while I slept. I showered and packed and moved my bags downstairs. Got my room checked and then had to help all the females get their pins on their uniforms. Of course they waited until the last minute! Had breakfast. Last meal here! Then went to the school house for one last practice. We relaxed in the classroom, took pics, and had a last talk from the Command Sergeant Major. And I got a coin from him for being a Distinguished Honor Graduate. Our ceremony was from 0800-0830. Since I had the highest grade of both classes, I had to give the speech at our ceremony. It was basically pre-written, so it wasn't too bad. But I was nervous! We bussed back to the company where we had to have our rooms checked again before being allowed to leave. Ugh! Got out as fast as I could and met a taxi along with two guys from my platoon. Finally headed to the airport! Yay!! Got to the airport at 1000 and was able to get my flight changed to an earlier flight. Thank goodness! Had a layover in Chicago and ate one last lunch with one of my favorite battles before heading to OKC. Got in about 1630. No welcome home party this time though. Kind of a bummer. Matt was still at work. Mom and Dad were headed to get a new puppy and picked me up at baggage. We went and ate and ran by Walmart before they dropped me off at Matt's house to wait for him to get off work. It was so nice to finally see him again. 10 weeks was way too long!

It ended up being a much better experience than Basic, but I know I don't want to ever be Active Duty. I'm happy with my MOS and my decision to not go officer. Now to get to my unit and get settled in with my job!