Jonathan's Graduation! Distinguished Honor Grad!

This incredibly handsome young man is our son, Jonathan.  He graduated from Air Traffic Control School at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, on Friday, February 14th.  Joe was able to fly out to see him graduate and spend a few days with him before he went to his new duty station in Germany.  I can hardly believe that this is my baby boy.......yes, he will always be my baby boy!

The ceremony was held in the Army Aviation Museum, which made for some interesting pictures.  There were three classes graduating that day and each class had a Distinguished Honor Graduate, which was decided not only by physical training scores, but also academic scores.  Jonathan was the top of his class which made us all incredibly proud!

Here is Jonathan at attention, while the Commander is reading off his scores and recognizing him as the Distinguished Honor Graduate for his class.  (I wonder why they always have to have such a poker face - I know he was wanting to grin from ear to ear!!)

Here is the Base Commanding Officer giving the soldiers some encouraging words.

Joe spent the rest of the day driving Jonathan and his buddy, PFC Jackson, all over the Fort to get all of their paperwork ready for their deployment.

What a great way for Joe to spend his birthday!

The next day, Joe and Jonathan toured more of the Army Aviation Museum as well as a tour of Ft. Rucker. Here they are in front of an Apache helicopter.

This one is a Black Hawk, made famous by the movie "Black Hawk Down".

On Monday, February 17, Joe picked Jonathan and his buddy Jackson up at 3:00 am in order to get them to the airport by 4:00 am!

We are so incredibly proud of you, Jonathan, and wish you the very best as you head to Germany!  You are much loved and prayed for, and we pray for God's blessings upon you!