And thanks to his Mom and Dad for raising such a fine young man.
Posted on 05/18/2004 9:19:19 AM PDT by RightOnline
It is with great pride that I, RightOnline, and The Lovely Wife (aka "RightOnlinesWife") announce the commissioning of our eldest son (oldest of our seven children), known to fellow FReepers as "Future Snake Eater", as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.
F.S.E. was commissioned on Friday afternoon, then received his B.A. degree the following day from NC State University. Combined with his recent marriage to his lovely new bride at the end of February, this has been quite the past few months for the RightOnline household and Future Snake Eater.
He will soon leave for Infantry Officer Training School, then Airborne, then Ranger school......then off to Ft. Lewis, WA, where he will lead a Stryker platoon.
Please join us in congratulating a fine young man who is going to make one hell of an Army officer.
God speed, Chris.
Following in the excellent tradition of my father, grandfathers, uncles and brothers-in-law, congratulations on your son's commission and all the other wonderful 'happenings.'
You must be so proud!
Thank you, my friend.
Congratulations ROL!
Opting for staff or field???
ROTC played a part, no? Great program!
ROTC, yes. NC State. Wolfpack Battalion. He was also in the NC Army National Guard for years prior and during.
Wanted to take a sec and thank ALL of you for your incredibly warm, heartfelt congratulations......and for getting our son's (and his wife's) new military career/life off to such a wonderful start.
Today, I spoke on the phone to a nice lady from the transportation office at Seymour-Johnson AFB, and she called me "Lieutenant." It was a little disorienting (I'm so used to "cadet" right now), but I think I can get used to it!
Congratulations to you, your wife, and your son, the new "butter-bar"!! May God bless him and watch over him now and in his military career. I'll pass along one of my favorite poems to your son:
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Best Wishes!
Field, definitely. I would be none too happy if I did all that infantry training and got stuck behind a desk first thing!
ROTC played a part, no? Great program!
Yes, I came into the NCSU ROTC program as a second-year cadet (going to basic training/AIT allows you to skip the first 2 years). I wanted to do one year without any commitments (just in case I hated the whole officer notion), and I absolutley fell in love with the whole thing. Not so much the classes or the field work, but my classmates--we were a small class, only 10 strong, but we were all very committed, and it was truly an honor to rise up through ROTC with those terrific men and women. Most of them commissioned last year and I have lifelong friends who are Apache and Blackhawk pilots, a platoon leader for a UAV unit, and a fire support officer for the 3rd ID--just to name a few.
ROTC was a terrific experience that I would highly recommend to anyone in any branch. I'm glad I did it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Congrats Sir/and Maam.
And thanks to his Mom and Dad for raising such a fine young man.
Some people will do anything for a dollar.
I was an honor graduate from IOBC in Class 1-76. Spent four years at Ft. Lewis, including one as a platoon leader in 2/60 (Mech) Infantry.
Congrats!!!
Try and stay away from maps.
I did it in July-September, and I hate huimidity. Was also an honor graduate (top 5%).
Congratulation to the three of you.
Did the silver dollar get passed during the pinning?
My nephew got his gold bars last year, pinned by his mother (AF Vet).
Nice traditions. Glad you could be a part of it ROL and ROLW.
I was commissioned in '90. It's an exciting day.
She then gave it back to him, ordering him to keep it in his wallet at all times as a reminder that his mom and dad love him very much and that he needs to stay safe for all of us.
So where are the pictures?
We demand pictures!
Congratulations, by the way.
When I was a 2LT with 2/60 (Mech), I was the OIC for the brigade EIB testing after I aced an earlier EIB examination. I was amazed at how incompetent some captains and majors were at map reading and adjusting artillary fire. Battalion S-3 flunked the FO station and even though an SFC wanted to give him a pass, I told him he was a no go. He was pissed, but that wasn't my problem.
FSE, you are going to find a lot of stupid people within the officer corps. Some of the best, and worse, are USMA grads. the worst of the worst are USMA grads.
Superb choice. NO one could say it like Kipling; that's long been a personal favorite.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.