Now, Jon doesn't officially retire from the Army until 1 August, 2009. His retirement ceremony was 12 March. Now, I know this is confusing for all of you "civilians" so I will explain: you have to have your retirement ceremony before you start your terminal leave. Jon's terminal leave starts 14 April. This is basically 21 days of leave the Army gives you before so you can start transitioning to a new job. Jon can start his new job (more about that later) 4 May. So for almost three months, Jon will be getting double pay!!!Before the ceremony (looking so handsome):
Now back to the ceremony....it was really nice. We pulled the boys out of school for it. They start with a nice movie that shows a soldier and what they endure and the soldier going through his ranks. Then they call up the soldier and his/her family onstage and they give him his final ribbon, a flag, a coin, and thank him for his 20+ years of service. Then they thank the spouse with flowers and a certificate telling them they know it wasn't easy. Then, after that, they introduce the soldier as retired. We sit down and they show another nice film for the Army families thanking them for their sacrifice. No one, except a military family, knows how hard it is. Then we all go up to a receiving line and everyone who was at the ceremony shakes our hands (including the boys) and thanks us...it was very nice :)
Waiting....
Finished (whew)>>
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