The last day of the graduation week is the big, and I mean BIG, graduation ceremony that took place in the Flacon's stadium (that's the Air Force football stadium on site at USAFA). The graduating cadets marched in very neatly, and I should hope so after 4 years of practice, to take their seats on the field. The sun was blazing down (finally) and the sky was blue with wispy clouds. This event was going to be a killer - at least four hours with no real shade, ouch. (I've avoided mentioning the stupid security checks that were totally random in their thoroughness and seemed designed to allow petty minded little power-mongers a chance to abuse their powers than actually ensure security cos if I do I'll start ranting).
After the cadets were in we had the speeches and then introduction of the VIP speaker, in this case, Vice President Joe Biden (next year is President Obama in which case security would no doubt suck even more!). So, on it went, speech, music, heat, speech, more heat, and then graduation; 1046 diplomas to give out and Joe Biden did them all - a salute, a handshake and a quick word with every cadet. I will admit that I was impressed. To stand for that long in the sun and still be going strong at the end is no mean feat.
Benn's group was 31 out of 40 and every cadet got a cheer from parents and fellow group cadets as their name was read out, but the biggest cheer was for cadet 1046 as he signalled the end. This is (I'm pretty sure) Benn walking down the ramp after collecting his diploma and shaking the VP's hand - Max has a seriously good picture of that happening with the VP pointing directly at Max while holding Benn's hand. Absolutely superb, but then he is a pro and had a press pass. When all the cadets were done there was the traditional "throwing the hats away" picture (which again Max captured perfectly. I'd hate him but he's too damn nice and encouraging about everyone else's pics too. I starting to think that the definition of a professional should be someone who actively encourages anyone else to try or aspire to reach and even exceed their level without any belittling or rancour. Max has that quality in spades).
So, that was that. Nothing left but the Thunderbirds display (I know, I know, to us here in Britland that means puppets on strings, perilous situations and the lovely Lady P). The first flyover is always timed to the hat throwing so you get this iconic picture of cadets throwing hats with a flight of F-16's in the background (Max's camera took 7 digital photo's in less than a second. Seven! I want one!). The flew nicely, doing some amazing stunts and showing off their flying abilities but I do have to fly the flag just a little bit and say that the Red Arrows are better. The display lasted about 45 minutes and was very loud at times, they did stunts about 500 feet above the stadium - even one with a 2 mile vertical climb, which was pretty impressive. After the display came the 'getting out'. This was very badly organised and led to Inga almost getting stationary road rage! It took almost an hour to get out of the car park mainly because Americans, God bless 'em, can't drive to save their lives.
Eventually we escaped and made our way to the Visitor Centre so we could go and look at the chapel. I should point out that by this point I was hungry and tired, which makes mark a very grumpy person. The queue at the onsite Subway was horrific and then we went in to see a film - or rather Inga saw it and I snoozed through it. Mmmmm, dark with air conditioning...zzzzzz..... The chapel is very futuristic, which is surprising as it was built quite a while back. inga thinks it looks like a ship from Star Wars and she's right - Queen Amadala's shuttle from Star Wars Part 1 if I'm not mistaken, which I often am - and it houses two decent sized chapels (Protestant on top and Catholics below, guess we know who's the 'boss' religion...) with Hindu's and Jew's tucked away at the back in little chapels. the Hindu chapel is lovely but Inga wouldn't let me go in and "meditate" - something about my meditative snores reverberating throughout the building. Spoilsport. Touring over we headed back with me now in full tired and grumpy mood to the joint Graduation/Engagement party. We stopped to look for cards (and for me to get grumpier) until finally Inga drove back to the house, threw me out and screamed off with burning rubber and howling engine (I think she might have been a tad annoyed with me...). So, in good Mark fashion, I went for a snooze. The party started and I was noticeably absent due to being mostly asleep in the attic so Inga came and bullied me in to writing cards, eating food and then being reasonably social. I did make a full recovery once the food hit home - very yummy rice salad - and assisted in getting cards signed without recipients noticing before we had a surprise visitor and I so regret not having a camera with me so you could all share this unique experience (harold has pics and if I get one I'll add it to the blog). Elvis, yes THE Elvis, is alive and paid a special graduation visit to Benn and Amanda. Elvis was back in the building! He bounded down the stairs and regaled us with songs and words of advice. It was so cool that cool doesn't even close to describing how cool it was. Cooler than cool. Cooler than Sub-cool (for fans of Top Gear). He departed only to return for an encore. And then, he came back again, to sing a tender love song to the happy engaged couple. Finally, Elvis had to leave the building before all his other fans found out and descended on the house to try and get a glimpse of the icon at his best. I cannot describe how good the show was, but there are video's too which we'll try and get for you. The only downside was that Max missed it all and, while he was asleep, someone shaved off part of his beard. Co-incidence? Hmmmm...After that rain stopped play and we all dispersed with John and Kim heading homewards, which is back to CA, so Benn would have a bed for the night having been unceremoniously tossed out of college once he had graduated (yeah, I know, a gallery of the assembled cast would be useful but you're not going to get one). Finally we all retired, looking forwards to not having to get up at 6am unless of course you had a flight to catch like Dustin and Stacey or Nena and Stuart (both of whom were on our floor so it would be an early awakening if nothing else for us). Ah well, graduation over and it had been a great experience with a great family.
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