My Brother - My Hero

I’m about 7 weeks late on this post, but better late than never! I guess it’s still pretty relevant considering Sunday was the 10 Year Anniversary of September 11^th. I spent the morning eyes glued to the History Channel watching all of the 9/11 footage in awe. I don’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I remember where I was and what I was doing when the plane hit the North Tower 10 years ago. Remembering all the lives lost and all of the heroic people who were there that day, I was also thinking about all of the people around the world affected by the day’s events and everything that has happened over the last 10 years. I got especially choked up when I logged into Facebook and saw this:

I’m so proud of my little brother! It’s hard to believe that it’s only been 9 months since he told us he was enlisting in the Air Force. So much has happened in that time. He went off to boot camp in May as a goofy 19 year old boy and graduated in July as a man - a United States Airman.  We got to go down to San Antonio to participate in all of his graduation ceremonies and activities.

From the Airman’s Run…

To the Coin Ceremony…

To the Graduation Parade…

It was an eye-opening experience - touring base, watching the interaction between the different ranks, listening to stories of some of the activities they did. On thing’s for sure – I wouldn’t survive…they have, like, no closet space :) From his manners to his mannerisms, Kevin is definitely different…but in a good way…in a way that he’s still that goofy 19 year old boy when the time is right. It was great visiting him. We got to squeeze some fun in in-between everything that was happening on base – we even got to go to Sea World!

When we left him, he was getting ready to start Tech School - 13 weeks of training for the Security Forces program. I talked to him Friday and he is loving every minute. They’re practicing tactical drills out in the field – “it’s cool, they’re actually shooting as us and we have to shoot back!” Well…cool’s not the word I would use, but whatever floats your boat, buddy. It’s scary to think that in just 3 months, he’ll be stationed at his first base (Panama City Beach…YEA! I think I’ll visit!!) joining the fight to protect and defend our country. Scary for me, I mean. He’s ready and can’t wait! Thank goodness for cell phones, e-mail, Facebook, and Skype. I can’t imagine how people did it even 20 years ago. Luckily, Kevin gets to come home for a visit in November. Can’t wait to see my little brother, my hero.