Share a summary of the pilots into the retirement celebrations. After almost 22 years in the Air Force, he’s finished!
I started this post a few times and have so much to say, so I divided it into two posts: a summary of the astonishing military career of the pilot and everything we did to my thoughts and experiences with the life of the military woman to celebrate. .
This is a day that we have excited about it for a while, and we are so grateful that so many friends and family could celebrate with us.
A picture of so many people we love who have come to celebrate with us:
The pilot retired a few weeks ago, and we had a whole weekend to celebrate this important milestone. The family started on Wednesday afternoon and evening, so we only met drinks and Zinburger here in the house. On Thursday we had a family pickleball party at Corbetts with tons of apps and a friendly pickleball competition. We came back here for dinner and Friday was the big day.
He had the standard “Fini flight”, which is her last flight in the squadron. He headed a four ship of some of his closest friends in Tucson, had to fire the weapon a few more times, and we could go to the airline to watch him landed. Everyone cheered when they flew over us, it was pretty emotional.
For the last time he steered to park the jet and waved everyone Top weapon Style.
One of his closest crew chefs came from Vegas for the day to be his head of the crew one last time.
We sprayed him with water and champagne.
took a million pictures
(Love these ladies so much)
(The best friends of the pilot since he was 7)
And then went inside to the official ceremony.
I was not quite sure how to summarize his incredible career in a short ceremony, but they did an incredible job. The short version: he had 3,400 hours in the A-10, four missions, 7 1/2 years in the A-10 Schoolhouse, a bronze star and several meritorious service medals. He was an instructor pilot, evaluator (can give other pilots testing trips), search for fighting and rescue and forward air controller.
Even with all his achievements on paper, I could really see the rear scenes of everything he did as a squadron commander in the past three years. He was constantly on the phone and looked at everyone on his computer and really took care of everyone in the squadron. He helped others through serious illnesses and enormous changes in life, helped find the transition crossings, find new possibilities and employment, wrote awards, helped with pensions and transitions and always delivered the season. He did all of this while he worked hard to compensate for everything with family life.
It was an honor to be at his side and I am proud of his achievements and his leadership.
After the ceremony it was party time! We went to the relay bar, where we catering from Hawaiin Bros (an ode to the roots of the 47th squadron), the epic cake and the cupcakes from village Bakehouse, catering
(It had all the patches for every squadron of which he was part)
And they made further awards inside.
Everyone went home to relax and group, and then we made an open day in Three Canyon, a local beer garden with live music. I thought, friends and family would come over and say hello and go if you want (especially because we were most part of the day on the base), but our friends showed up and closed the rest of the AREUATION with us. It was epic.
The next day I planned a few optional events for friends and family who were in the city: a hike at the Sabino Canyon,
PS basketball game (she couldn’t miss her club games because they are in a tournament),
And dinner in the Charro.
El Charro really exceeded everything for our 25 -year -old group. I booked the reservation a few months in advance and they had us in the back room with a menu.
Children’s table:
All of them got salads, guacamole, salsa, chips and green chile cheese chips and then had the opportunity to find enchiladas, tacos or tales. We made jugs from Margaritas for the tables and everything was super simple, so fresh and so good. It was the perfect way to complete the weekend!
I had a few questions about what the pilot will do now, where it is withdrawing from the Air Force. He will take over the next few months and then go back to the world of the trade airline. At the moment he enjoys a well-deserved X-Box time with his friends, additional naps and just takes it easy. After so many years from such a high stress style, I am so happy that he has the chance to relax a little.
Xoxo
Gina
*All Fini flight and ceremonation photos come from the amazing Kristi Harris
