Airman First Class Smith

We finally made it to Chad's BMT Graduation! We are so proud of him! He not only graduated, but he graduated with Honors and earned the Expert Shooting Ribbon and an excellence certificate. That is exactly how Chad is, he pushed himself and excelled as much as he could. He didn't just want to do a good job and scrape by, he did the best that he possibly could do and went above and beyond what was required. He is so amazing and we love him SO much! He has already proved to be an amazing Airman!

On Thursday we were able to watch Chad run in the Airman Run, which is a 2.5 mile run that is required for Graduation. Then we watched him in the Coin Ceremony. We were sitting right in the front and could see him a little. The Coin Ceremony is actually when he officially became an Airman and the Graduation Parade is just for show. After the Coin Ceremony, he had to stay standing in formation until I touched him, so Bella and I ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Bella kept saying "My Daddy, that's my daddy!" It was really fun and cute! We went straight into the Honor Graduation Ceremony, but Chad got to sit by us except when he went on stage to receive his Honor Grad Coin. Then we got to spend the rest of Thursday with him on base, but he had to report back to his dorm every night around 1900.
Flight 662 marching into the Coin Ceremony

Chad receiving his coin (I know it's far away, but that's him)

Standing with the Honor Grads

Receiving his Honor Grad Coin and Certificate (sorry it's blurry, my camera wasn't working well in that lighting)


The Graduation Parade was rained out on Friday morning, so we watched a small ceremony with only Chad's flight and their brother flight right at their squadron. Bella and I got soaked and had to change our outfits twice, which luckily we had time to run back to the hotel. But by the time the ceremony started the rain had let up and we were lucky to be standing right where we could get some good pics of Chad during the ceremony. He looked so good! After the ceremony we got to tour his dorm room and then spend the rest of the day with him! We went to a Mexican Restaurant Chad likes Downtown for a graduation lunch, and then took my dad to the Alamo and walked the Riverwalk. We even got to go to a pre season spurs game so he could stay out past the 1930 curfew and stay out until the game was over. We thought Bella would hate having to hang out in the bleachers during the game, but she got really into the game and was clapping and dancing. I think we will have to take her to a basketball game again!
standing with his flight (he is the fourth one in with glasses)

Saluting during the retreat

swearing in the Airman's oath

Bella checking out the rank pins on his jacket

standing in his blues next to his ABU's (Airman Battle Uniform)

his locker

his top drawer with his clothes rolled

These are his four ribbons. The top is serving during time of war, the bottom (L-R) is Honor Grad, Expert Shooting and completing BMT.

the bed he slept on in his dorm

These were his Training Instructors, Sgt. Rodriguez and Master Sgt. Seguerra (the men with thier ranks on their sleeves)

the Alamo with my Dad

Bella clapping at the Spurs game


It was so good to see Chad and we are glad it is over!!! Chad is now at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX for six weeks. It is about 2 hours from where we live and we are going up every weekend to be with him! After that he will be home for 12 days as a Recruiters Assistant and then we will move to our first base, and we find out where that is next month. We are just glad he gets to talk to us every night and we can go see him whenever we want. We actually already went up tuesday to bring him some stuff and then drove back tuesday night, but mostly we will just go up on the weekends. The worst is over for now, and we are just enjoying as much as we can right now! We are so proud of our Airman!!!! Love you Chad!