I'm finally getting caught up.
Mike tested to promote to Staff Sergeant last summer. He found out he made the cut (well above the cut actually) in August and has been waiting since then to sew on his new stripes. Last week was his promotion ceremony. Here he is shaking the commander's hand and recieving his promotion certificate.
Next is the best part of the ceremony. The "tacking" on of the stripes. The new stripes are put on over the old ones (just with tape for the cermony) and then two people (of your choosing) come up to tack (punch) them on. Although, Mike got hit pretty hard, his was not the highlight. Some other chick had two big 'ole dudes come up to tack hers on and she got slammed. I don't know what she was thinking. Ouch!
These are guys from Mike's shop who promoted at the same time. You might recognize the guy on the far left. "DJ" is Mike's friend that came into the AF at the same time as Mike. They were in tech school together, stationed at Aviano together, and now we're in Germany together.
We decided to wait to celebrate the promotion with friends on the 4th of July just a few days later. I'm getting pretty good at making mediocre cakes. :)
Some of our friends live about 30 min away, but they have a great pool in their town. We can use it for just 2 Euro. We went out there on the 4th to hit the pool before the BBQ. Here's Mike and Ezra going down the slide.
Daddy throwing Ezra up in the air. We thought the picture with Ezra's head cut off was really funny. Whoa! That's high.
On top of the hits Mike recieved at the promotion ceremonly, as a means of congratulations, everyone in the shop or even the squadron (that knows he recently promoted) is entitled to a punch. This was his nice bruise several days later.
Mike and his cake.
The boys and their 4th of July shirts.
Our 4th of July 2009 family photo.
Here's a video of Mike and the other promotees reciting the Airman's creed. I should have filmed the tacking on part of the ceremony, but I forgot. :(
