Airmen's Run & Coin Ceremony

So like I said in my last post, I slept really well Wed. night. But when I woke up on Thur. morning, I was a total mess. My nerves were going hay-wire, and I couldn't concentrate on anything. I was going to see Casey for the first time in over 2 months...

We had to get to base SUPER early for a visitor's briefing. The sun hadn't even come up yet, and it was really hard to find our way around base in the dark, even with the map. The traffic was crazy too. Thankfully, they had trainees posted everywhere to direct traffic and parking.

After our briefing, we went and found a spot for the Airmen's Run. The run is pretty straight forward. All of the airmen line up in their flights and run the mile strip of road singing "jodies" as they go. Casey was in the 323 Squadron Flight B655 (the ones in tan shirts).

I know everyone says that the airmen all look alike, and they do...but it was so easy for me to pick him out. I had been worrying that I would totally miss him, but as luck had it, I found him from quite a ways away. So here's your challenge, can you find Casey?

After all the airmen run the whole strip, they turn around and run back. See if you can find him in this shot too! I'll give you a hint: he's kinda covered.
If you're in the Air Force, then you probably know all about the Coin Ceremony. It's a pretty big deal to all Airmen, because it symbolizes all of their commitments and accomplishments.

To say that the stands were packed would be an understatement. There were plenty of people who waited till the last minute to find seats, and were stuck in the nose bleed section. I was lucky to be one of the first people to grab a seat, and was right next to where Casey would be standing.
This was the first view I had of Casey in his uniform. I had my parent's binoculars out, and couldn't take my eyes off him. Again, it wasn't very hard for me to spot him. I might not have mentioned it before, but Casey made band flight. He was able to try out as soon as he made it to BMT. Of course he made it...because he's awesome!! (You know it's true!!)


Look how close I was to him!!! I could have seriously jumped out of the bleachers and tackled him. It was almost imposible to stay in my seat! I think it must have been hard for Casey to stay put too, 'cause he was having a really hard time keeping the smile off his face!
I don't have a good picture of Casey receiving his coin. With 500 people graduating, they try to make the ceremony very fast. His MTI (Military Training Instructor) made a quick bee-line down all the rows, and swiftly passed out all the coins.

Usually after the coin ceremony the families are allowed to find their airmen ASAP. But since Casey was in the band flight, we had to wait for him to put all of his equipment away in the Band Hall. You have no idea how long of a wait it felt like! I was ready to hug my husband and spend some quality time with him.

This was our first greeting! Thanks Mom for snapping this shot!
And look how good he looks! You might not be able to tell, but he did loose some weight...as well as gain some muscles!
And here is his Airmen's Coin, along with my spouse's pen. The dang pen kept spinning upside down on my shirt all week. Casey was "nice" enough to point that out every five minutes! I think he might be a little more OCD than I am now, 'cause that tilted pen seriously bugged him!!