Day 8 - Parading (in the military sense - behave)

Dawn had barely dawned when we were all turfed out of bed to prepare for another day at USAFA. The penultimate day is the graduation parade (the final day is the graduation ceremony, don't you know anything?) and was once again going to be a cold day, but this time we were alot better prepared. Bring it on cold weather, bring it on. The graduation parade is where the year 4 cadets are kicked out and the year 3 cadets are promoted to their 'officer' positions. Yesterdays parade in their lovely blue uniforms had resulted in lovely muddy trousers. Todays parade was going to be in their white trousers and short jackets - I'm sure glad I don't have their dry cleaning bills! More special than the kicking out ceremony was a surprise for all the cadets that had been organised by Benn's mum (what a mum). It is traditional to have a fly-by at the graduation parade and they have this done by planes that add up to the year of the graduating year, in this case 51 (51st class since opening - get with the programme). The Mustang P-51 was a fighter from WWII and Monika (that's Benn's mum), in her capacity as President of the Parents association of USAFA, had arranged for a fly by of 8 P-51's (let's just say it would be like having a fly-by of 8 Hurricanes if you were a Brit). One had pulled out with engine trouble and 2 hadn't made it due to the weather but 5 were in hiding at Colorado Springs airport. No one had a clue they were coming. So the parade paraded and then the fly-by started with 2 F-16's shooting overhead. I should also mention that the weather had closed in and the cloud base was around the 500-600ft mark - not good conditions, but they still flew. After the fighters came a B-52 which is a stupidly big plane that has no right whatsoever to hang in the sky! And then came the P-51's. And they sounded unbelievable. Truly amazing - better than the modern fighters could ever sound and I don't care if my picture isn't that good, I'm including one anyway. After the fly-by the graduating cadets were kicked out and , after the usual review (that's where everyone has to march very nicely past the senior officers so they can be eyeballed by their superiors and hopefully not get told off for anything - they were good cadets and no telling offs were given out), the year 4's were left on the field to be dismissed.

And then we had surprise the next. We drove down to the airport where we, as part of Team Slikker, were allowed to go and see the P-51's. In our case we arrived just in time to see 3 of them depart - what a sight and sound, so cool. Another had already left, but the one from Denver was still on the tarmac and we were escorted out to get up close and personal - and I mean up close. My problem with this day is choosing pictures to put in to the blog as, somehow, I've ended up with dozens of really good ones. This is Benn and Inga in front of the P-51 - he was the only graduating cadet that came down (how cool is his mum to arrange all of this?) To get this close to an operational WWII fighter plane was truly amazing - more amazing for Benn was the fact that the pilot allowed him to get in to the cockpit (Benn's degree and training so far is aimed at him becoming a pilot) - a truly amazing and unique experience that i'm sure he'll remember for ever.

After we'd watched the P-51 take off - such an amazing sight and sound - we headed back up towards USAFA to watch the Thunderbirds practice their airshow (these are the F-16 display team). Unable to locate the others we went to a shopping mall and watched from there for a bit before going shopping. We all then went for an afternoon snack of Bison burgers which taste absolutely amazing - better than beef by miles. Stuffed and tired we headed home to prepare the the next amazing event - Benn's commissioning ceremony that was to take place that evening - which meant we all had to scrub up and look nice.

After the usual panic of getting ready (trying to iron in a kitchen when people decide that they need to make messy sandwiches is not an experience I would recommend to anyone unless you like being on edge) we all set off, late as usual, for the commissioning ceremony. is the time when the cadet is formally sworn in to the Air Force and gets his or her bars. It's a BIG deal. Somehow, Benn's cadet group (31 - The Grimreapers) had managed to get their ceremony at the super-intendant's residence - the poshest of poshest places available. I have to say that we all scrubbed up pretty well. It was a very smart do and a very smart place but the downside was discovering that my digital camera really doesn't like low light and messes up loads whilst the flash chews up the battery life and makes everything harsh. Oh well, we had secret weapon in professional photographer and Uncle to Benn, Max, so good photo's could be had at a later date if required. Benn was near the end so we mingled or hung about, depending on your point of view until the time came to be ushered in for the main event. I have to admit that the entire affair was nowhere near as bad as I feared it would be - it was very formal and the whole thing was very simple, which is probably why it affects so many people - tip for everyone, simplicity tugs the heart strings far better all the time.

Sworn in and post mingle over we all headed back for another short nights rest. Tomorrow was the final big day and we'd need our rest.