Proud Army Sister

At the end of July I was able to take a trip to Ft. Benning Georgia with my parents to see my little sister Amber graduate from Officer Training Camp, prior to that she was in Oklahoma surviving Boot Camp. I remember how scared I was for her to go and thinking that she was crazy for making such a serious decision, but after seeing the growth and challenges she persevered through I admire the dedication she had to just do it.  

Being that my Dad is in the military I've been able to see the benefits they offer to you while in it, but of course this comes with lots of hard work.  I think during her time in training she was able to experience things you would only go through while being in the army and she conquered the mental games they often would put you through and came out on top!  She has so many amazing qualities that will be a strong asset to whatever unit she serves in.  I'm so very proud of her for setting such goals and accomplishing them. Here are some memories from the trip!

Waiting at the Phx Airport to leave, I'd never been on a plane with my parents so it was exciting to take a trip just with them! :)

 

My Dad was able to get us a place to stay at on Ft. Benning, so we were really close to Amber.  I was thrilled to see her for the first time cause it had been so long, we are really close and it had been hard not to be able to talk to her while she was going through her training.  She had left Arizona with hardly any of her belongings, just a book bag.  They didn't allow her to take anything to Boot Camp and while she was in Oklahoma they took her phone away so I could only write her letters and pray for her safety. 

I naturally stress way too much, so I had been so worried about her, but she ended up doing so well. The first night we were there they had a formal dinner for all the officers and their families.  We were able to meet some of her friends who went through training with her and the captains who trained her.  Since she already had her bachelors degree she was able to go in as an Officer.  She met us at our hotel and was already in her uniform, I felt like she had grown up so much...I mean you are kinda forced to when they drop you off in the wilderness and tell you to survive on nothing.

I know it's no news flash or anything, but if you didn't know I am super GIRLY and would have died the 1st day at Boot Camp, so of course when I first saw Amb I had to fix her "mandatory bun" into something more girrlish!  She kept telling me to keep it professional, but I couldn't help but put more glitter on my army sister and make her hair more stylish...sorry Army but I'm still going to make my sister look cute on her special night!!  Amb taught me quick that when it comes to her uniform there is no joking around!!!

This is outside the museum where they held the formal dinner that night.  Inside they had incredible displays of past soldiers who had fought in war, this is when I truly began to see that our soldiers give their life for our country, and I'm inspired by their honor and commitment. 

Ft. Benning itself was a really huge place and had everything you needed right there on the base, outside of Ft. Benning was a city called Columbus.  What's great about the stores on post is that they don't charge taxes, *awesome*.  Amb was still pretty busy after her formal night, but on her down time she was able to show us around and took us to this yummy BBQ place that had some delicious corn bread and sweet potato fries! 

 

        

Amber had one more graduation ceremony where they did the actual pinning of the specialized area of what she was going into which was Human Resources. This ceremony was different cause we actually got to see her go up on stage and get recognized and be saluted! She was being so picky about this hat she had to wear and wanted it to look perfect, so I kept making fun of her about it and at first she wanted me to put her pin on the hat but I couldn't do it right so she took it away and did it herself.  Sorry again Amb about not being more serious!! :)

My Dad was able to pin her and go through the rights and responsibilities she has as an officer in the army, my Mom got to be apart of it too.

As most of you know I LOVE to play hair stylist and I was so happy cause my Mom let me do her hair for the graduation!!  She always wears it the same, so I round brushed it and flat ironed it...she looked so HOT!  My Dad was not used to it and so she said that she doesn't know if she would wear it like that again! *sad*

Here are a few of the other girls that had gone through training with Amber, there weren't many! They all went by their last names and so these girls were known as Cookies (Cook) and Pops (Popp).

Our last day there we went to Atlanta and walked around where they had the Olympics and of course on the day we decided to do that the humidity was out of control so we ended up going to the airport early!

Raise your hand if you think my sister looks like Lindsey Lohan...she gets that comment all the time! 

My good friend Mary Anne who I grew up with in Sierra Vista was stationed at Ft. Benning with her hubby, so I was able to make a visit at her place and meet baby Canon, love you girl! :)

I can now definitely say that I am a proud army sister, I'm thankful that Amber chose to represent our country, and I will always admire the pride and honor she has for the United States.  Thanks Ammery for being an example of strength to me, I love you lots and I'm glad that I was able to share in your army journey and witness all that you had endured in training, I was seriously impressed!!  

She is now stationed in South Carolina and getting trained in Human Resources, she eventually will be deployed to Afghanastan or Iraq, but thank goodness she is an officer so she won't have to be in combat.