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Army Strong. Army Proud.
Zach Kesler is now Specialist Zachary D. Kesler and we are so proud!
Jared & I left for Missouri Wednesday afternoon (after waking up at 4a and working all day!) to be at family day and Zach’s graduation. It was an eventful drive to say the least. We pulled up onto a car accident only moments after it happened. A guy who graduated from college that very morning got drunk and hit another car while going down I-44. Thankfully everyone seemed to be ok, but it was very scary and really made us sad.
Back to Zach…
Thursday was family day on base. We were all so excited to see Zach for the first time since June. We took a bunch of family photos… what else are you going to do to pass the time?
Finally it was time to go in and be seated. As we walked in we saw the different battalions seated and I think all of our hearts were racing. My thoughtful father in law brought some binoculars so we could try to spot Zach. We searched for about 5 minutes and finally saw him… sleeping. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Zach was asleep. We went through the family day speech which was basically a bunch of rules and blah blah blah. I thought it would be a little more special and get to hear about their achievements, but apparently Drill Sergeants don’t like to say anything positive! This is also when we found out that no one was receiving a pass to get off of base. No swimming, no Mexican food, no napping, no changing into comfy clothes. All of us looked at each other with major disappointment but we still got our 8 hours with Zach and that’s all that really mattered!
The Drill Sergeants released everyone to go find their families and it turned into madness very quickly.
Party time!
After meeting up with Zach we hung out at the USO and ordered pizza per Zach’s request. It was so awesome to sit around and listen to Zach’s stories and catch him up on life since he’s been away.
Next Zach showed us around the base (& got to see part of it for the first time, too!). While giving us the grand tour we ran into Zach’s battle buddy. In Zach’s words, “You can’t go anywhere without your battle buddy. You have to eat, sleep, and poop with them by your side.” Zach & his battle buddy were named best battle buddies. They rarely got in trouble and were always with each other. He seemed like such a great guy. His orders were to stay in Ft. Leonardwood for tank training for 5 weeks then he hits the battle field.
In the photo below Zach & his battle buddy heard the bugle and had to face where the sound was coming from until it was over. It was really awesome to see.
(Just in case you’re wondering: the coat and pants do not match on purpose. From my understand it is this way because when calvary soldiers wore this uniform they would often take off their coat and put it in the saddlebag. The sun would fade the pants and change them to a different shade of blue. Interesting!)
Bakir (pictured above) is from Houston and is a UT grad, but we won’t hold that against him. He and Zach are both going to Arizona for more training.
Finally graduation day is here!
… the photos are pretty blurry. My digital camera is demon possessed.
During the National Anthem.
Zach’s battalion, the Black Knights marching on stage.
The glasses Zach has on are military issued BCGs. Zach informed us that they call them Birth Control Glasses. Ha.Zach had 20 minutes after graduation until he had to leave. Major bummer. We tried to squeeze in as many photos as possible.
All in all it was a great trip and we are so proud of Zach. He has overcome many, many, obstacles within the past year and to see him get to this point is truly God’s goodness.
