A Ship Date for Adam

Waiting outside the recruiter's office...

Back a few weeks ago, Sheila and I accompanied Adam to his first visit to an active duty Air Force recruiter. Since that first visit, Adam has been going alone but we felt it would be best to introduce ourselves to the recruiter right at the beginning so the recruiter would know that the family is familiar with the Air Force family and way of life.

Things moved very quickly in that first week or so but then we moved into a syrupy, frustratingly slow "wait mode". That first week involved completing a ridiculously long application (I think it was 120 pages long) and lining up references. After submitting his application, he was scheduled for his first visit to the Military Entrance Processing Station otherwise known as MEPS.

While at MEPS he passed his physical, psychological profile, drug testing and written exam (others in his group were not as fortunate), and then he actually signed a contract putting him into the Delayed Enlistment Program and the inactive Air Force Reserve while he waits for his official ship date.

A ship date is the date when Adam is to return to MEPS on his way to Basic Military Training (BMT). Today Adam received his ship date so he is pretty excited. Adam will be here with us through the holidays but then ships out shortly thereafter for BMT and then training in Aircraft Maintenance. 

We plan to head down to San Antonio, Texas for Adam's graduation ceremony from BMT so it is now time for us to schedule leave time, transportation, hotel reservations, and a rental car. I don't want to get into our plans here but we do plan on quite a cross-country excursion and sight-seeing trip in conjunction with Adam's graduation. Adam has known for a few years that this is what he wanted to do after graduating high school so we've had a lot of time to plan a trip to mesh with his plans.

Visiting San Antonio will be a little strange for me since about 31 years have passed since I last saw the base. I suspect it will not be recognizable in the least. Thirty-plus years is a looonnnnggggg time. I'll have a bit more freedom throughout this visit, though, since I am not a trainee this time around!

Anyway, here are a few photos of Adam before he left for his first visit to MEPS... and, I suppose, the last photos of him as a civilian...