34 Years of Service

My dad has had 34 years of service in the United States Air Force. I'm sure that if he were allowed to do another 34 years he would! Amelia and I along with Kelly and Jason drove down to Colorado to attend my dad's retirement ceremony and party that was held yesterday (September 6, 2008). My father has been a loadmaster on the C-130 planes during his career, he was also an instructor to many different areas of the military. Upon retirement his title was a Senior Master Sergent. The ceremony was conducted on the C-130, the plane that my father loves. He has spent many years flying on these planes and considers it a second home. My father fought in Desert Storm and in Operation Iraqi Freedom, he has also fought in Afghanistan. This morning we were discussing all of his medals that he received and he said that the medals that signify him doing his job don't mean as much to him as the humanitarian medals mean to him. He participated in Operation Baby Lift, where he went and took refugees from Vietnam and dropped them in a safe area. He also had other humanitarian missions, unfortunately I don't remember them. The ceremony was great, and I video recorded the whole thing for posterity sake. The one thing from the ceremony that sticks out in mind was when John, the man who was the narrator for the ceremony talked about my dad. He indicated that my dad was the perfect description of a patriot. He told a story of how on the base, every day at 5:30pm the National Anthem is played and usually everyone is running for cover so they don't have to spend a minute and a half of their time at attention. If they are inside they don't have to do anything...and if they are on the plane doing things they usually just ignore it indicating that they can't hear over the engines. Well, one day my dad was there and it was 5:30pm and he told John to come out for the National Anthem. Between both of my parents I have been blessed with a great love for our country and our troops. I get irritated when people talk and don't pay attention when the National Anthem is playing. I am honored to have my father (and my brother) serve our country to fight for all the rights and freedoms that I enjoy. I have a history of patriots from my family. My grandfather was in the Air Force, my father and my brother. The other humbling thing about the ceremony was when my father presented my brother and sister and I with flags that he carried with him on our behalf while he was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I feel so honored to have a flag that my dad kept with him while he served our country in the fight against terrorism. Thanks Pop for all that you did to protect our country! Enjoy retirement!!

Here is Amelia with her grandpa before the ceremony. This is the C-130 the ceremony was held in.
This is John, the officiator of the ceremony.
Here is Peter waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Here is my Pop and Jeff Flight, Jeff and John were the main people to set up my dad's retirement ceremony! Thanks Jeff and John for doing a wonderful job!!
Here we are after the ceremony outside the plane.
Here are the two Pete's after the ceremony! Peter was a loadmaster, but is currently in pilot training school in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Okay, so this is not an attractive photo of me and I am in dire need to lose the extra pounds, but it was nice to know that I am not so huge that my bro and pop can't lift me...
Here is Amelia with her Uncle Pete at the party that was held at Solo's in Colorado Springs, Colorado! She had a great time with her Uncle Pete!!!