My oldest just finished Basic at West Point!
 

My oldest son just completed Basic Training at West Point, and we got to high-five him on the way past us during their 12-mile March Back that concludes CBT. It's powerful to see 1,200 of America's finest youth march past to the applause of the many folks lining both sides of Washington Avenue; the relief, the pride, and the joy in what they are doing was evident on their young faces. Another amazing thing is that the alumni of West Point are invited to camp with them the night before and march along with them the following morning... and several hundred did (back to the class of 1948)! The "Long Gray Line" is a very real thing at the USMA.

Something has been getting in my eyes at odd times over the past few weeks as I process that my boy is gone...but he's off doing what he's always dreamt of doing and forging lifetime bonds with amazing peers.

Look at the smile- and of those around him too!


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Congrats to you and your son. What a great photo! It is quite a moving thing. I attended my son's Ranger School graduation last year and it was pretty overwhelming emotionally. First to see him so beat up and down 25lbs but he recovered pretty quick and graduation was amazing to watch!

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Congratulations to the both of you and your boys! Fine young men that you can be very proud of, which I know you must be bursting at the seams!

U.S. Army 12 B
Combat Engineer
82nd Engineer Battalion 1978-81

Wow. Very impressive.

Gotta love those BCDs!

That's fantastic Ken. Congrats to both of you.

BCDs! HA! Haven't heard that in a long time.

Bravo! Well done to those young patriots!!

Congratulations!

Duty. Honor. Country.

Congratulations!

What a great photo! My engineer's son also graduated the academy there last year. I'm so proud of that young man.

You have reason to be so proud. They are a class of our future leaders. Congrats to you both.

GO ARMY (BCDs good one)

West Point? Wow, 1st Class shop, very, very impressive. Congrats to him and YOU.

Awesome, feel the proud being the parents, job well done.

Congrats to him and you parents!

Well done! Congratulations.

Congratulations to the future ring knocker...:)

Congratulations to both of you!

Outstanding !

Thank you all. He has always had what I can only call a vocation to serve our country, and it never faded. What has been funny is that he's not alone; many of the new cadet parents we met sound just like us..."my other kids have zero interest, but this one somehow always wanted to serve".
Jerry- awesome stuff on your Ranger and pass on our respect. I've watched enough programs on the Rangers via the Military Channel and YouTube videos (pretty much all my cadet son would watch, lol) to have an idea of what that took.

To get back on Porsche topic, this shot is from a Porsche fun run some NY/NJ/CT Pelicans used to put together over on the Palisades a parkway. It was only a blink of an eye ago and yet the two of them were in the rear seats as we blasted up to the Hawks Nest. 10 years ago...
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Now look at him:

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Outstanding! Congrats to him and you.