We celebrated a job well done by the Class of 2010, cheered for company mates whose names who have become familiar over the past four years, and realized that this special group won't ever be as close spatially or temporally as they are today. Our son commented a few days ago how quickly he has become disconnected from the Academy - moved all of his things out of Brancroft Hall, moved off the Yard, and checked out. His email traffic is down to a trickle - there are others now picking up the leadership roles left behind.With right arms bent at 90° angles and right hands held up, solemn promises were made, three-cheers given by the Classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 for the new Ensigns and Second Lieutenants, followed then by three cheers for those they leave behind, covers thrown high into the air and barely reaching the ground before throngs of children and not-so-young-children dashing to retrieve one or two or three - and some times more.
Then the stands full of family and friends made their way down to the field where the new officers were surrounded by their well-wishers and many posed photographs were taken in all the possible combinations of posies - with the only constant among each the display of shiny Marine rank insignia bars or Navy shoulder boards. ________________________________
(1) Vice President Biden singled out Huy N. Truong, who had been injured while serving in Iraq before he entered the academy. "He could barely speak English, he'd just received his green card, yet he put his life on the line for the nation," Biden said. Truong, a native of Vietnam, caught the attention of his command staff, who helped him apply to the Naval Academy. From the Baltimore Sun, May 28, 2010.
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