Today I attended a friend’s commissioning ceremony and it brought back memories of times long gone.  In a way, I still yearn for the military, but my life has taken me so far from that path that I don’t actually want to serve anymore.  It was cool to see all the people’s family and friends who came to participate in the ceremony, going on stage to swear them in, pin on their new bars, or give them their traditional “first salute” as an officer of the United States Air Force.  One girl even had her brother swear her in via webcam, from somewhere in the Middle East.  Others had their fathers, grandfathers, brothers, or friends swear them in or give them their first salute.

After the new lieutenants all received their bars, one went up to give a speech about the class, highlighting each person and what they had to overcome to get to today.  It was kind of cool to hear a snippet of each person and their background.  There was a girl who transferred a few years into the program, one who had to commute from Santa Barbara, another who also had to work while attending school and doing the ROTC program.  Then were was my friend, who had to get though a major change and make it through six years of the program!  One of the guys did the program as a grad student, another struggled with English not being his first language (though that one seemed to be more of a joke, since he obviously grew up here), and there were many more.  I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t also speak of himself, but it was nice to hear a little of how each person got to this point.

And with that, a new batch of 14 Air Force officers will be entering the work force in the coming weeks and months, courtesy of UCLA’s AFROTC.  Oh, and a happy Father’s Day to all those dads in attendance today.  Not a bad way to spend the afternoon, watching your child or grandchild get commissioned into the USAF.