Family Day in Ft. Knox, KY

We got to go and visit George for Family Day/Weekend in Ft. Knox, KY this weekend. Jacob was able to go with us, so we drove to Ft. Bragg, NC to pick him up on Thursday and then headed to KY. We finally rolled into our hotel at 3am and then had to get up and be at the base by 9am for the ceremony. We listened to a short speech and then they had the guys don their berets for the first time. This picture was taken after they turned around to present themselves to the families attending. You can only see half of George's face behind the short guy on the end of the 4th row from the stage. Jacob had gone up front before it started and George spotted him for the first time and was so glad to see that he had come. It made the long drive worth it. After the ceremony we signed out two of his buddies (Dombrowski & Cuevas)and returned to the hotel. We had gotten an extra room for him and his buddies to stay in. We went to lunch with another buddy (Richards) and his family, who as it turned out were also staying in the same hotel, so we also did dinner together at a Mexican restaurant that was next door. They spent most of the weekend in their room, playing games and eating (I had made each of them up an Easter basket - plus all the things George had asked us to bring. As expected most of it was not eaten, so a lot either came home or Jacob kept it. He took all of the candy with him to take to work and put out for everyone there.

The donning of the beret!

Pvt. Ferenz

He may look a little swollen on the rt. side of his face (I don't see it) as he had to have a tooth pulled on Thurs. He had the appt. already for that, but the day before on the way back from their march, it flared up and by the time they marched back and he got to the dentist he had a major infection. The dentist pulled it, cleaned it out good and chewed some people out for not setting him up to have it pulled long before now. He was not happy about it being left to have a chance to get infected, as the tooth had been coming apart and had been infected before he went in and he had been on meds for it just before he reported and he had told them that. It was feeling and looking much better by the end of the weekend.

Jacob and George (and no that is not a beer - its one of those energy type drinks)

Dombroski - Cuevas - Richards -Ferenz

Forming up and preparing to return to their barracks.

George is in the middle - 3rd row.

It was hard to leave, but it had been nice to be able to spend Easter weekend with both boys. George had to be back on base by 4pm on Sunday. He starts his Armor Crewman Training this week. Graduation for that is the end of May, so we will be returning for that. We did not leave until early Mon. morning. Then the long drive again to drop Jacob off and head home. We got in about 1am.