Graduation

I am currently on a Northwest flight headed to Minneapolis. We were delayed a bit out of Providence but it could have been worse. I have officially graduated from Officer Development School and it feels pretty good. The graduation ceremony was alright. We struggled marching with the live band there but most people in attendance didn’t seem to notice. Standing at attention or parade rest for that long was quite a challenge but we all survived. It was really weird saying goodbye to people in Hotel. Some I will see in 2 weeks at NJS but most I will probably never see again. We spent so much time together and went through so much…what do you say to these people? We mostly just wished each other luck and said “see you in the fleet.” Didn’t seem like enough.

This whole experience has been incredible. Looking back on it and thinking about how scared I was in the beginning and how that changed into confidence as time went on, I do think I have changed for the better. I feel like I can say, “I am an officer in the Navy” and stand tall while saying it with pride. We learned a great deal of info about the Navy in our classes, but I think we learned even more about ourselves. There were certainly times that I wanted to quit and go home, but we pushed on and we all made it through. I think pretty much everyone can say that they are proud of what we accomplished and that they are better people as a result of going through what we did in the past 5 weeks. Its hard to believe that those going through OCS are not even half-way done and still have seven weeks to go. It should get easier for them shortly, but still.

After I checked out, I went to the Tennis Hall of Fame with my parents. Dad and I played on the grass courts for an hour. It certainly is much different than regular surfaces but we had a great time even if our longest rally was only about 5 strokes. The museum was nice but I’ll have to go back during NJS to appreciate everything there.

At the airport, a lot of people from my class were there and so we all hung out for a bit before going our separate ways. Gardner from India company was flying to Minneapolis as well and I was able to get both of us bumped up to first class so we got to relax a bit on the way back.

Now I will be home for a while before heading back for NJS. I’ll be spending a lot of time with Teresa, but I’ll see some other friends as well. It should be a nice break before the next round of training. For now, its time to relax.