Ceremony Weekend

Today was arguably one of the hardest days of my life. Seeing my son board the plane that will take him into one of the most dangerous places is almost beyond description. But he boarded and I survived so now we will see what is in store for us for the future.

We are learning that the military makes plans, changes them, makes plans again, and changes them again! They need to have more women in control and they would plan things out correctly the first time! As I mentioned earlier the ceremony was to be "somewhere" downtown. Then it changed to "some building right outside of the Offutt Air Base, and then it changed again to it's final destination of the Bellevue Christian Center. Apparently when they started looking at the numbers of family and friends which would be attending, they needed a larger location, thus the move. Now I must admit we may have added a little to that problem. Brett had a whopping 26 family and friends in attendance to see him off. I can't begin to tell you what that meant to Brett, Phil and me!! The closest anyone lived was Lincoln and the majority of us had traveled over 2.5 hours to be there. It was a huge comfort to be surrounded by everyone.

The morning consisted of a family meeting which Brett had told us would be a briefing about where they were going and what they would be doing. Now this was most interesting because they started the meeting by telling us, because of security reasons, they couldn't tell us where they would be going or when exactly they would be leaving because that would give the enemy information that we don't want them to have. The rest of the morning was about health insurance and every conceivable claim situation, dental insurance, legal information, how children will handle this, dealing with the media, etc. It was probably very beneficial for spouses but since we aren't a spouse and Brett doesn't have one, it was a lonnnggg morning. The official send off ceremony began at 1:00pm. Several dignitaries were there and some had conflicts and couldn't make it (Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson were too busy so they sent representatives. Nothing was even mentioned about Mayor Fahey from Omaha which is the city where the 530th MP Unit is based. But we were so impressed with Rep. Lee Terry and his young son who attended and were so down to earth as well as Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy. Just wanted to let you know this as voting comes around.)

They spoke and said some moving words. Then they had a coin ceremony where they give the soldier a coin and they give the family a different coin. You are to exchange coins and then upon their return you will exchange the coins back. Kind of a neat concept until you try to go through airport security with one in your pocket. More on that later.

We all made in through the ceremony feeling proud and excited because Brett is excited and looking forward to the new adventure. You get some comfort when the other guys talk to your soldier and you realize that they have friends and won't be going over there lonely like you had in your head. Afterwards, we went back to our motel and Brett came and spent the evening with us. Of course, that meant a trip to find prime rib for Brett (he's had more "last meals" than I can count!) The Rathke Family stayed in Omaha with us so we had some great fellowship during the evening. Eventually, Brett made it back to his hotel and we said we'd see him in the morning.

They were flying all of the soldiers on commercial flights in 5 different groups. Brett said they had all gone somewhere on the same flight one other time and it was complete chaos so he figured this was to alleviate all the commotion at one time. Brett's flight was departing at 10:55am from Omaha so Phil, I, Lindsay and Josh headed to the airport at about 9:00. We found Brett right away but due to security reasons, only two of us could go to the gate with him so we waited upstairs as long as we could so Lindsay and Josh could spend some time with him. Now I don't think I can adequately descibe the scene and the gut wrenching emotion that was at that airport today. I think enough tears were shed there to turn the airport into a harbor! It all started when I saw Brett swallow. I saw the Adam's apple move and I interpreted that to mean he was nervous (probably he just needed to swallow but my mind might have been overthinking!). I looked over at Lindsay and she had a few tears seeping out. Then I looked around and saw a soldier holding a baby that couldn't have been more than two weeks old. I decided this must have been a nephew because his approx. 3 year old daughter was having a fit that he was holding that baby. In the meantime there stands his very pregnant wife. Now MY tears start spilling out. And like a swimming pool with a leak, the water just would not stop coming out! The more I fought it the worse it got. So I figured well, I'll just quietly let them seep and that's that. Then they came along and told all the soldiers they had to move down to their gate and security. This was time for Lindsay and Brett to say good-bye. More tears. (Tears are falling as I recall this!)

Next we walked down the corridor to security. The Patriot Freedom Riders (the bikers who protect the families from protesters) were lining the walkway down to security. As if that isn't touching enough, Brett walks down one side and shakes each hand and thanks them for what they do while Phil walks down the other side and does the same. Sometimes I really underestimate how great my guys are!

Now comes the security portion. They tell you to take your shoes off and unload pockets, etc. Phil and I go through just fine but Brett...well, he gets stopped. And removes more things from his pockets. And gets stopped. And removes his shoes. And gets stopped. Now he has to step aside and they use the security wand on him. And he beeps. They look him over some more. And he beeps. Now they are doing a thorough frisk of him. We never could figure out what in the world was causing the problem. His chest kept going off. His dog tags weren't on and they said that wouldn't cause it anyway. They finally let him go. Meanwhile the gate was just a small walk away and they announce for the soldiers to board. The entire civilian crowd starts clapping. It was so moving! We said our goodbyes, I love yous, and stay safes while wives clung to their husbands for every minute that they could. Once Brett was boarded we headed out. And I cried. And cried.

The strange thing is that we really are happy for Brett and excited for him but it sure is hard on a mom and dad. And I can't even imagine what those with spouses and children go through. And some of them had been through this two or three times prior. Yes, sacrifices have to be made for the many freedoms that we have. This is just the first time it's been so personal. And I feel badly about that. Hundreds of thousands have gone before now and I've never really appreciated all that they have given up. When my grandpa left for WWII, my grandma was pregnant with my mom. My grandpa didn't even live with her until she was 2.5 years old! And communication was rare. Then my mom said that when my step-father went to Vietnam there weren't any ceremonies. They basically just loaded them up and they went. And we all know what they came home to. It breaks my heart to think about it. We need to appreciate our freedom and we need to be so thankful for the technology that will allow us to keep in touch with Brett.

God speed, Brett. God speed.