Sid Completes Basic Training
Company B, 3rd Battalion, 60th Regiment
March 14, 2013
Formal Graduation
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Following Family Day,
we made sure we were in the stands in time to get a good seat.
We had a better idea of where to sit based on the previous day's events.
Dona again wore her bright orange hat so Sid could find us.
This time the newly minted soldiers marched onto the field in formation,
with a color guard and band.
The first order of business was to confer United States citizenship on about twenty new soldiers.
They were administered their oath of citizenship,
which was good for all of the rest of us to hear.
Many of us take our citizenship too lightly at times.
If I were a high school civics teacher or principal,
I would make passing the U.S. citizenship test a requirement of graduation
for every student.
I am curious how army enlistment and citizenship are related,
and how enlistment provides a path to citizenship.
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Company B, 3rd Battalion, 60th Regiment
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Company B, 3rd Battalion, 60th Regiment
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Honor Guard
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Honor Guard
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Honor Guard
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There were five categories of excellence which were recognized for each company,
and the top soldiers were honored.
I can't remember what they were, although one of them was physical training.
Interestingly, the top physical training soldier for all five companies
was a short woman from Hawaii.
I would have loved to watch her go through the confidence course.
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Top Recruits
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Company B Top Recruits
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Company B Top Recruits
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Base Commander
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Company B, Sid's to the right of the Middle Flag
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Company B
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I tried to take pictures of the soldiers from Company B as they marched past,
but there were posts and heads in the way and many of them didn't come out.
Anyway, here they are in case one of your loved ones is in them.
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Company B Soldiers
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Sid
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Company B Soldiers
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Company B Soldiers
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Company B Soldiers
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Then we were turned lose,
stormed the field,
and grabbed Sid.
One of Sid's buddy's fathers makes custom baseball bats,
and had brought custom bats for some of his friends.
Sid was one of them and was delighted.
Thanks, Armstrong and your dad!
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Sid
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Sid
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Sid and Dona
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Sid and Dona
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Sid and Dona
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Sid and Dona
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Sid and Dona
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Sid and Dona
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Sid with his Custom Baseball Bat
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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Sid and Buddies
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This day we were allowed to take Sid off base,
and he couldn't wait to get going.
Mostly, he was interested in food.
We headed for downtown Columbia,
where we had lunch, toured the impressionist art exhibit at the art museum,
and had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant, Garibaldi Cafe.
If you ever go to Columbia, S.C., we can recommend it.
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Dinner with Mom and Gary
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All too soon it was time to get Sid back on base.
We got up in the middle of the night and broke camp to make our plane,
and Sid is now in Monterey, California, at language school,
where he will be studying Arabic.
That's a bit of a sore point with us.
Sid was led to believe he would have some say in the language he would be learning,
and his preference was for a far-eastern language such as Mandarin.
However, he was never really even consulted about it.
Our impression was he was still mulling over what he should ask for four weeks into his basic training,
when in reality he had been assigned Arabic in the first week.
I think the recruiter told him something like
"The army will try to accomodate your preferences,
although its needs may not coincide with your preference."
What he neglected to say was that about all the army needed was Arabic,
and his chances of getting anything else were pretty slim.
The U.S. government and the military are pretty adept at phrasing things,
and I personally don't trust either of them one damn bit.
To mislead people does not encourage trust.
