continuing graduation installment

Well, according to wunderweather, with wind chill it is -3 degrees in Chicago today! I'm sure Dan is happy to have left there yesterday and flown to Pensacola Florida where it is actually a little chili there, 56 degrees. But I digress, need to get back to the graduation. We were shuttled to the base from our hotel, lots of recruits families staying there, so 2 shuttles left and had to come back for the rest of us. It had snowed through the night so there was white covering everything, don't personally care much for that stuff but it was kind of pretty. We walked through the front gate where we had to be processed to make sure we had id's and were on the guest list then headed to the huge building where we were to see almost 1000 recruits graduate. The ceremony was amazing, very pomp and circumstance. They really get into the long history of the U.S. Navy, you know all that propoganda and stuff. Ok, need to stop having my liberal pacifist come out. Truth be told, I was so proud I thought my heart would burst. Dan's division was first place and out of the 60 or so in his section there he was standing at attention 4th row in 4th back from the front. Ok, let me compose myself and continue this later.