Come Fly With Us: 2nd lieutenant

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

No More Butter Bars: Promoted to 1st Lieutenant

On Saturday, May 28th, Dan promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant in the US Air Force! It had been two years since he first commissioned from the Air Force Academy.

Since he's in between jobs right now (aka hasn't started pilot training yet but is already at the base waiting on casual status), there was no promotion ceremony. There are a few others this affected as well, and I'm pretty bummed no one recognized them... so I made sure to make him put on his flight suit with his new rank to at least acknowledge his accomplishment with a photo... or a few.

I know this promotion is automatic in the Air Force, but I am still incredibly proud of my hard-working husband. He has an insane work ethic, so I just know he's going to crush pilot training (which he starts REALLY soon, guys!).

Out with the butter bars... in with... more bars! No catchy nickname for this rank, but it's still so fun!

He has his ENJJPT patch showing in the bottom right... I love it and am so excited for him to get started!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

USAFA Grad Week: Commissioning

Welcome to the second installment of the craziest week of my life!

A few hours after the graduation parade and the department awards, the graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy were commissioned.

That means, they went from cadet rank to 2nd Lieutenant JUST LIKE THAT.

Each cadet got someone to commission them. Dan chose Joe, a good friend of ours. He is the same guy who gave Dan his original USAFA shoulder boards at Acceptance Day back in 2010, so he thought it was appropriate to ask him again.

I was lucky enough to be able to exchange BOTH of Dan's shoulder boards for him. As soon as the short ceremony was over, I got to remove his cadet rank and pin on his butter bars! It was an awesome feeling, one I had been waiting for for a very long time.