Rushell's Graduation

There were two special events that I wanted to share with everyone but didn’t get the chance to blog them before I left for my trip. The first was Auntie Rushell’s graduation and the second was the Mother’s Day tea they had at Aidan’s school for the mom’s of kindergartners. I’ll start with Auntie Rushell’s graduation and I would just like to write a disclaimer that I am not very knowledgeable about details of the army and helicopters. If anyone wants to correct me please do!

On Tuesday, May 5, 2009 Rushell graduated from the United States Army Aviation Logistics School. Rushell is now trained to be a helicopter mechanic and is trained to repair all the army helicopters like the Chinook, Apache, and Black Hawk helicopters. On Monday, after we picked up Aidan from school we drove down to Newport News and we picked up Auntie Rushell from the base. We arrived around 6:30pm. We got in a little pickle trying to get on the base because we did not have our car registration—somehow the new one with our Maryland address did not make it into the car. They were nice enough and let us go through to pick her up. We drove to the hotel to check in. We stayed at the Airport Courtyard Marriott. It was a fantastic hotel, brand new, with a swimming pool and centrally located. Auntie Rushell said, “this is a nice hotel. It’s like a Russ and Joan hotel.” We ordered takeout burgers from Red Robin just across the street and we just hung out until about 9:30pm when Rushell had to go back to the base.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (Auntie Rushell had to be at the graduation before 8am to rehearse the ceremony) and then around 8:15am we made our way over to the base again for the graduation set to begin at 9am. Of course we got into a little trouble again because we didn’t have our registration but they let us on because they knew us from the day before but they told us we’d better stay on the base until we are ready to go (meaning once you go off the base, you’re not getting back on!). We were in a relatively small room with about 40 guests and 30 graduates. The ceremony included:

Welcome...Narrator

Honors to the Nation…National Anthem

History…Narrator

Guest Speaker Bio…Narrator

Remarks…Guest Speaker

Issue Diplomas and Award Aviation Badges…Guest Speaker

Aviation Mechanics Creed…Distinguished Graduate

Conscience of the Aviation Maintainer… Honor Graduate (this was Rushell!!!)

Recognition of Platoon Sergeants and Instructors…Narrator

Conclusion…Aviation Song, Army Song, and Soldier’s Creed

The new graduates

The graduates were sitting in rows based on their performance in school. Rushell and two other students were in the first row—that’s because she did the best in her class…ahem! The second row was made up of those that got the second highest score and the rest of class was in the following three, four and five rows. The whole ceremony took less than an hour. The boys were really good and really entertained by the whole ceremony.

Auntie Rushell was asked to read the Conscience of the Aviation Maintainer…it was the longest and best of the readings (I’m not at all biased). She did a really great job. The reading goes like this:

Auntie Rushell reading "I Am a Professional"

I Am a Professional

I know I am a professional because I have been trained by those who will accept nothing less.

I have been given the fundamentals, and by applying those fundamentals correctly, I will become more skilled as time goes on; but even now I am a professional.

When working on aircraft, I will always know I am right because I have the integrity and the honesty to admit when I am unsure and to seek out the correct manuals for the answers.

Yes, I am a professional, and as long as I work on aircraft, I will remain one because, I know that I am partly responsible to every crewmember ever to fly on the aircraft that I maintain.

As a professional, I have pride in my work, and a satisfaction in knowing that my skill is an important integral part of Aviation , because…

I AM A PROFESSIONAL

Author: Earl Hildebran

Us with the new graduate

After the ceremony the graduates received their diplomas and their wings. Apparently, because Auntie Rushell is a woman the person doing the pinning only handed her the wings which was annoying but someone better pinned her wings on her uniform. After the ceremony Auntie Rushell took us on a tour of her hanger which was really cool. We got to see where she studied and worked all day and we got to meet some of the other graduates and the instructors. Rushell was happy that she no longer had to walk around a yellow line on the floor but now she could cross over the line! We also got to see a Black Hawk helicopter.

The Army's newest helicopter mechanics

One of the funny things that happened was related to Rushell’s nickname. Apparently, most people refer to her as “Nana: because she is one of the oldest privates in her group, even some of the sergeants call her “Nana” because she older than they are too. So when we were standing around, one of Rushell’s colleagues came over with his family and Rushell and her colleague took a picture together and his mom said “is this Nana?” Apparently, everyone knows her by “Nana”! We all cracked up!

Two US government employees. Can you guess which one is in the Army?

Afterwards, around 11am we parted as Rushell had to finish closing things down and checking out as she was flying to Seattle early Wednesday morning and we went back to the hotel and the boys went swimming and we got a late check out at 1pm. The boys LOVE staying in hotels (me too really). We cleaned up at the hotel and then grabbed a quick lunch before heading back home. Aidan had to be back at school the next day and I had to be at work.

On a personal note, I was really proud of Rushell. I’m really proud of her for being top of her class, she did a great job with the reading, and she is so grown up. Ahh…. The boys had a really great time too. When we left, I said “well that was really neat.” And Aidan, said “yeah, that was really fun!” It was a great experience for us all. Also it helped give me a little perspective in my own work life. Just Monday morning I threw a fit about how I couldn’t get my work done and then after watching these young people who signed up for and are dedicated to the Army while we are involved in two wars really helps put things in perspective. I also just needed the day and a half off from work.