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My son John V. Calabrese graduated from the Great Lakes, IL Navy boot
camp on Friday, June 23, 2000. I flew up from Dulles Airport on Thursday
morning, June 22, 2000. I attended a reception for him on Thursday, June
21, 2000 and his graduation ceremony On Friday, June 23, 2000.
The flight there was delayed by an hour due to the fact that the crew had
to arrive. It was bumpy, as it usually is when I fly to Chicago. I was told
that I would get a Pontiac Grand Am when I
got
At right, John Calabrese in his uniform after his graduation. more Grand Am's, how about a Plymouth Breeze. I said OK. Then I get my paperwork and see that I was assigned a Buick Century. When I got to the car it had a "Low Tire" warning on the dash when I started it. I was glad since I personally am not fond of Buicks. So the 4th car was a Chevy Impala, which was nice. What wasn't nice was that gas was $2.15 in Chicago, a prospect that I was not looking forward to. I got to the motel around 3pm, got a room with my son, who arrived about that time with my ex and ex mother in law. We all then went to the graduate's reception. The program was very nice. There was a Navy band, then the graduates came out in formation. We cheered wildly as they were introduced. They then went through some formation drills, and then they were able to spend a couple of hours with us. John looked great. He had gained weight and muscle, stood taller and prouder, and looked great in his uniform. We also met some of his fellow graduates. We then returned to the motel and, the next morning at 7:30, returned to the base for the graduation ceremony itself. It was very professionally done with alot of great band music, honor guard and flag ceremony. There were speakers as well. John was in his dress whites. He had achieved the rank of E3 since he had attended ROTC in high school. It was hot out and some of the recruits fainted during the ceremony. They stood out there for 2 and a half hours. They went through their stances that they had learned in boot camp. After the ceremony, John had to transfer his stuff to his new quarters, which are near a training hospital on the same base. He will spend the next 3 and a half months there learning to be a medical corpsman. I took him out to dinner Friday night, then flew back to DC on Saturday morning. I had to rebook my flight since the original was cancelled. What's with these airlines? I'll discuss that in my commentary section some day. Anyway, I am very proud of my son John V. Calabrese and wish him well in his Navy career. |
