The Graduation

Graduation day came to us in a week full of packing tape and boxes. We were halfway through packing for our move when we had to stop, breathe, and put on our nice clothes to celebrate Matt's accomplishment. We did not pack a thing that day! 

TBS stands for The Basic School. All newly commissioned officers in the Marine Corps attend this school together. After TBS everyone heads their separate ways to complete training in their field, but for a few months you have pilots, lawyers, infantrymen, and even engineers like Matt all suffering (I mean working) and learning together. TBS is still training. Matt worked an average of thirteen hours a day, and afterwards he worked at home to complete assignments that were due the next day. Every few weeks he would go into the field and not come home for days. I would not even hug him when he came home from the field due to the lack of showers in that time. Matt's company was called Arctic Alpha since the majority of their training spanned the winter months. Matt had to sleep and hike and shoot in cold rain or snow. I am not describing all of this to complain for Matt, but rather to explain why TBS graduation was such an accomplishment. He worked so hard. I am very proud of him. 

We started off the day at the Marine Corps Museum. We visited the museum for Matt's birthday in August, but it looked different filled with hundreds of Marines and their families.

I found my friend Emily among the Marines! We matched!

The graduation ceremony was later that afternoon in Little Hall. Luckily my friend Kristine saved me a seat because it was packed!

Matt looking very sharp in his dress whites. 

The next day we continued packing. We were done with our TBS adventure and ready to move on to MOS school!