proud daddy... :)

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Outstanding!

'Wreaths Across America' is a great program. Our club (Inland Mopars) purchases wreaths for our member's families that are interred at Riverside National Cemetery (SoCal). I was out at RNC this morning to pick up the wreaths and then we distributed them direct to the gravesites.
Unfortunately, the coverage of gravesites is not as great as 'A Flag For Every Hero' on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
 
She's a great American!!! Raised by a great American. It does my heart good when I see young people serving others.
 
getting away from sea cadets a bit. i forgot to mention that in september she started her freshman year in high school. she decided to go to a technical high school and is taking welding shop (along with all honors classes). so far she loves it. she has two other female freshman in that welding shop. the two instructors seem to really like the girls being there. sound like they are leading the way too, which is pretty cool.. the freshman boys are playing catch up..lol. the three girls seem to have a goal of out doing the boys in shop with them and if the other two are anything like rylee, the will not allow anything to get in their way of what they want to do.. its pretty cool to see.

she also made the volleyball team (never payed before) and when that season was finished she tried out and made the basketball team. i was joking with her basketball coach and said if she gets out of line to just smack her arouns a bit. he says , are you kidding? she is my tasmanian devil out there. i love her on defense..lol being a feshman with not a lot of experience she hasn't gptten too much playimg time but she is determined to kick *** and with actual good coaching now i believe she will thrive.

with all her sports, sea cadets and work (closed for the winter now) she still managed to make honor roll. to say i was impressed is an under statement, she had a rough month in math the first month or so. her middle school did not prepare the kids very well for high school. the math teacher recommended that she drop down out of honors. the counsular talked to rylee. rylee told her that she wanted to stay and that she was getting it. i think rylee took it as a personal attack. she ended up with like a 93 in the class for the first marking period. her comment was "and she wanted me out of her class"...lol. i got a kick out of that.

older generations are so hard on the younger generation. bad mouth the hell out of them.. truth is, that if you look at any generation you'll find go getters and you'll find losers. just the way it is. if they got to spend a day with some of the kids my daughter is around for just aday or a weekend it think they my see the younger generation a little different.
 
she was all excited about making a rose. i assume they will come home for the girls mothers for Christmas.

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Great stuff, Joe! Thanks for the updates. Now tell me something. Will this early training benefit her when and if she decides to join the Navy? As in maybe be able to go in a higher rank?
 
RustyRatRod said:
Great stuff, Joe! Thanks for the updates. Now tell me something. Will this early training benefit her when and if she decides to join the Navy? As in maybe be able to go in a higher rank?
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if she decides to join the navy or coast guard after high school (there is no obligation) she can go in as high as an E3 depending on the recommendation of her commander.. so far it looks like most are starting as a E2 that come from her unit.. still good to come out of boot camp at a higher pay rate..:)

her unit has a 90 some percent of kids joining the military, so far all of them said that boot camp was a breeze because they knew what to expect and that they have really already done it all and know what and how things need to get done.. so really even if they get no extra pay they kinda have a head start.

out of the ones that graduated in june. two are in army ranger school, one in marines recon , one a corman in the navy and one in i believe the naval academy,

her one ship mate is active duty national guard since the summer of his junior year of high school.. he found kinda a loop hole to get into west point.. its difficult to get in any of the academys but west point (maybe all i don't know) leaves 80 seats open for active duty cadets. those seats never fully fill up from what i understand. so by him being active duty for almost 2 years before graduating high school gives him a really good chance to get into west point as soon as he is out of high school.. plus he has two years active duty that counts towards everything while still in high school.. its a pretty slick way of doing it..

i figure even if rylee doesn't go into the military that all the experiences and training can only help her in life.
 
She'll do great whatever direction she goes.

The Air Force also keeps slots open at the Academy for current active duty Airman. I think it's great. I didn't find that out until I became a recruiter or I may have applied (not that I would have been accepted but....).
 
66fyssh said:
She'll do great whatever direction she goes.

The Air Force also keeps slots open at the Academy for current active duty Airman. I think it's great. I didn't find that out until I became a recruiter or I may have applied (not that I would have been accepted but....).
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thats good to know.
 
the kid just got back from training.. mom and i got a nice suprise during graduation.. rylee recieved the division honor cadet award.. the adult staf couldn't stop telling us how good she was. they didn't have to tell her what to do, she just did it. never asked why they were doing something, she just did it.. gets a new ribbon for her ribbon rack too.. kid did good..

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You did a great job man you can tell she is going is a Top Notch independent and straight laced soldier...you should be proud...you deserve too...such ambition!!!
 
last night was the annual fund rasing banquet for rylee's sea cadet unit. it wa s nice surprise that she was awarded somerhingfrom the daughters of the american revolution. not exactly sure what it is but it will be officially awarded at a dinner in may..

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been a busy summer...

at the end of june a chief petty officer reached out to rylee and asked her ot be a lead petty officer for a training in baltimore aboard the uss john brown. its a WWII liberty ship. i was like a chief requested ya, you can turn that down..lol she has done that training as a new cadet, again as a staff cadet and now as a lead petty officer.. they really like her there.

then in july she was in kentucky for a week for a photojournalism training. she loved that training.. its been the most organized one she has been to so far. they noted how she took charge when the lead petty officer wasn't around... pretty cool to see her doing that...

after being home from kentucky for 4 days she was off to michigan for a week to do marksmanship training. she now has her NRA certificates for a hand gun,rifle and shot gun.. she said that was a good one too... they noted that they would love to have her back as a staff cadet...

in july she also got promoted to petty officer first class making her the highest ranking cadet in her unit... lots more reponsibility now. she is learning how to deal with all the personalities and how she has to take charge.. she is a little too soft spoken for now.. i'm sure she will figure it out soon enough.. hell she is only 15 and they will put a lot on her.. the better she does the more they will pile on her... she can handle it.. just gonna be some growing pains along the way..

in sept she got a call from the adult in charge of the color guard. he asked her to round up a group for an event honoring gold star families.. aparantly he asked someone else to do it and they did nothing for a week..they were now only two weeks from the event.... he was super impressed with her having a text out within 20 minutes of them talking and getting three other cadets together to do this event. she even through together a sadurday practice the week befor the event.. he now says she is the honor guard commander..lol.. just what she needs, something else on her plate..

today we got to take a tour of the latest subnarine, the USS New Jersey... man is that is that cool... they asked the cadets if they could stay and help pack goody bags for its official commissioning this saturday.. three could stay and rylee was one of them. jamie and i along with another parent stayed late to help out.. it worked out well because before our ride back to the car they got to get a few pictures of them topside. no cameras allowed inside. they were supposed to get pics of the entire unit on it btu that didn't work out.. they tours were backing up and we had to go. the three that stayed got to the sub with no one around..

saturday they will be there in their dress blues for the official commissioning. they will hand out pamplets, water and help seat people... such an awesome experience for these kids.. not manuy classmates get to do anything like this...

rylee is the short one...:)

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oldkimmer said:
Wow, she gets to do a lot of awesome things. Your daughter is amazing. U guys raised a great daughter to be very proud of. Kim
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yea its an incredible program that lets her experience so many different things.....

how she does the cadet stuff, school work and school sports amazes me.. its a ton of stuff. and now she just started working out with a trainer to get stronger.. she is a strong kid already but needs to build more muscle for her sports.. running me and mom ragged.. gotta keep her busy though or her mind goes evil..:)
 
Great pictures!!

I got to do a lot of cool things during my military career but I've never stood on a brand new submarine!!!!

and she's not even in the "real" military yet.

I see Annapolis in her future!!
 
66fyssh said:
Great pictures!!

I got to do a lot of cool things during my military career but I've never stood on a brand new submarine!!!!

and she's not even in the "real" military yet.

I see Annapolis in her future!!
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that would be cool. thats tough to get in though..

she is still undecided about things.. she is only a sophomore so its understandable.. she is in a tech school for high school where she is doing welding.. one day she wants to go into the welders union, the next day its maybe the navy or coast guard.. i won't push her in any direction..
 
abodyjoe said:
that would be cool. thats tough to get in though..

she is still undecided about things.. she is only a sophomore so its understandable.. she is in a tech school for high school where she is doing welding.. one day she wants to go into the welders union, the next day its maybe the navy or coast guard.. i won't push her in any direction..
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The trades are lacking in new blood!! I've welded for 37 years. made big $$ doing it. If she chooses to go union, Ironworkers is where she should go (just a suggestion).Especially in the City (NY) They make yuge $$

Congrats on raising a great kid!! I have friends that didn't luck out in that category :(
 
85glht said:
Congrats on raising a great kid!! I have friends that didn't luck out in that category :(
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the big fear is that there is still time for her to make a stupid decision that really effects her for life.. gotta hope it never happens.. you just never know. we have tried to expoose her to everything possible for us and just hope the good head on her shoulders wins out..
 
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