On Thursday, February 16.2017, my son graduated from the U.S. Army Airborne School at Ft. Benning. He earned his wings and is now a basically trained, five jump parachutist. Apparently, my son is insane. Why else would one jump out of a perfectly good plane? Certainly not for the extra pay each month.

This is what I thought about while my son was at Ft. Benning for Airborne training. Didn’t I just have a baby a few days ago? I thought he would be a writer. My husband thought he would be an investment banker. Why is that precious gift from God jumping out of a plane? The answer is that he is living his dream.

John is a Captain in the U. S. Army. He branched Logistics and is currently assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division (All-Americans), Ft. Bragg, NC. The military is the only career he has ever wanted and, of course, he wanted to be Airborne.

Wednesday morning, my husband and I drove the four hours from Knoxville, Tennessee to Ft. Benning which is about an hour West of Atlanta, Georgia. The weather was not good. It was very overcast and high winds. The Airborne training group at Ft. Benning maintains a Facebook page. This way families know when the Airborne candidates are jumping and the time for graduation after jump five. Mike Gotschall, one of the candidate’s dad, was keeping everyone up to date on the weather conditions. Still not looking good.

My husband and I decided to chance it and head to the drop zone in Alabama. There is nothing like the gut clench that you feel at the thought of watching your baby boy jump out of a plane.

Let me tell you that the Army family is second to none. I met Mike Gotschall’s wife Donna and we became instant buds. Her older boy did Airborne training already. I don’t think that stops the gut clench. There were a ton of families there. We talked and laughed and worried.

The wind never died down, three black hats (Airborne trainers) jumped and we knew that our children would follow on soon.

The Airborne candidates jump out of both sides of the plane. They try to avoid crashing in to one another. Watching them is wonderful and terrifying. Pretty soon, they were racing up paths to check in with the black hat with the clip board. They would turn in their parachute and reserve before heading over to grab a hot dog and a bottle of water.

Ready for this? If they didn’t move fast enough, the black hat would yell, “Double-time, Airborne!” There were 300 Airborne Candidates jumping from Charlie Company. These young adults have just jumped out of a plane for the fifth time and the black hat doesn’t think they are moving fast enough! How many do you think asked for a “safe space” or accused the black hat of a “micro-aggression? Zero. That’s right. These kids, many of them quite educated, are not snowflakes. They are what makes America Great!

And, I started screaming “Congratulations Airborne” at all of them. Everybody was yelling “Congratulations Airborne”. The Army is family and we support each others’ children.

Then, I saw this big, square head checking in with the black hat. There was my boy. Safely on the ground. After he dropped off his gear, we started hugging him and found out that he was in pain. His first four jump landings went fine. This time, the wind caught him at the last second and he went “ass over teakettle” three times and then got dragged a short piece by his parachute. Plus, the toll that five jumps in a week takes on the human body.

After he was released for the night, he came over to our hotel. He told about being terrified before his first jump. “What the Hell am I doing?” “I have a good life.” “I really don’t want to die.” He shuffled forward on the plane, handed his static line to the jumpmaster and jumped anyway. John told us about the candidate who quit right before jump five. When I asked why. John told me that it was because his “heart pumps Kool-aid”. I cannot verify the accuracy of that statement.

Just before 11 a.m. on Thursday morning, we assembled with our new friends, the Gotshalls’ at the Airborne Walk at Ft. Benning for Airborne graduation. The ceremony lasted about thirty minutes and renewed my faith in America’s institutions. The young lady who sang the National Anthem a cappella did a beautiful job, the chaplain led a wonderful prayer and the Company Commander of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment gave a lovely speech.

Family members who are themselves Airborne were called forward to pin the wings on the new Airborne in their family. The rest of us were then allowed to pin our loved ones. The new Airborne platoons sang the Army song and recited the Airborne creed. Since I was sitting there with eyes like saucers and my mouth hanging open, I didn’t video any of the Airborne graduation. I did find the Airborne creed on youtube.

What do you do after you earn your Airborne wings? My son is going to try to get five more jumps in at Benning next week. You need a minimum of twelve jumps to start the qualification for Jumpmaster. My pride in my son, like my love for him, is unlimited. Just like his future…Airborne!