huge thank you!

Last Wednesday, we took Daniel to Bush Intercontinental Airport as his leave ended and he was headed to his first duty station at Fort Carson. We arrived in plenty of time for his 2:15pm flight. American Airlines gladly accepted and checked his three very large pieces of luggage (carrying all of his personal and military gear with him) at no charge. The ticket agent even marked his luggage sith "priority" tags so that it would be among the first luggage off the plane and onto the conveyor belt when he arrived in Colorado Springs.

I watched sadly and proudly as he passed through security and out of sight. (I managed not to cry until he was completley out of sight.)

Although Daniel has flown alone before, he had never gone out of such a big airport with several terminals. I was a bit nervous for him, but we left him in the proper terminal, and I gave him maps and directions for the DFW airport to help him find his connection. (He was to have a 2.5 hour layover in Dallas, so I figured he had plenty of time to find his gate there as well.) We had considered booking him on Continental Airlines because they had non-stop flights, but the flight was about $100 more than the comparable American Airlines flight.

Once Daniel was beyond security, he re-set his watch to Colorado time. He then determined that he had time before his flight to go to the USO and relax for a bit. (At Bush Airport, the USO is in Terminal D, but he was departing out of Terminal A.) He checked his watch and then proceeded to log onto the internet. At about 2:00pm Texas time, he thought he would go ahead and move back towards his gate (thinking that he still had over an hour until flight time because he had reset his watch). When he arrived at the gate, he discovered that he had just missed his flight. He was absolutely devestated and angry (with himself) for his mistake and worried that he was going to be AWOL if he didn't find some way to get to Colorado Springs that night.

Fortunately, the American Airlines agent near the gate saw his frustration and began to assist him. She did some checking and got Daniel on the 4:15pm flight to Dallas, where he would still be able to make his connection. Unfortunately, this meant that he now would only have 30 minutes to make his connection at the huge DFW airport. Daniel then called me to let me know what happened. I began to explain to him that he wasn't going to have much time for his connection and that he should talk to the flight attendants on board to try to get permission to be one of the first ones off the plane in order to make his next flight. He understood, and we were both grateful that American Airlines was making these arrangements for him at no extra charge.

While I was on the phone with Daniel (and trying to get him to calm down a bit since he was still frustrated with himself), the American Airlines agent came over to him where he was sitting. The agent told him that he wasn't going to be on the 4:15pm flight afterall, but instead they had put him on a 6:15pm non-stop flight which would get him into Colorado Springs about 30 minutes later than his originally scheduled arrival time and handed him his new paperwork. Again, she told him that there would be no charge for this change, and she even offered to escort him to his new gate (in a different terminal).

Since I was still on the line, I began to search frantically for this new flight. I didn't think that American Airlines had any non-stop flights from Houston to Colorado Springs (and I was right). I couldn't figure out what they had done. I asked Daniel for the flight number for his new paperwork, and he told me it was flight 2116. I searched for that flight number, and American Airlines didn't have a flight that corresponded with that number. I asked Daniel to look at his paperwork again, and he discovered that it was a Continental flight. American Airlines and Continental had worked out some sort of deal to get this young soldier on the non-stop flight FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE TO DANIEL!

A short time later, Daniel and I hung up the phone and the American Airlines agent escorted him to his new gate. Daniel called again to let me know that he was at the gate, and I told him that he did have time to go back to the USO and relax from this ordeal since he had a 3 hour wait for his flight. Daniel was too nervous at this point to venture far from his gate, but he did find something to eat in the terminal.

I can't say enough good things about American Airlines and Continental for how they handled this ordeal and how well they treated Daniel. Truthfully, I don't know if the fact that Daniel was active duty military and traveling in uniform had anything to do with how well he was treated, but regardless, both airlines went above and beyond the call of duty to get Daniel to his destination on time!

family day/graduation pictures

Sorry for the delay in posting pictures from Daniel's family day and graduation.

Sign at the entrance to the base.
Sign on base announcing Daniel's Company's family day and graduation.

Daniel's company with one of the drill sergeants, just before they released the guys to us on family day.

Daniel and his Grandma. He told her that he was sad that Grandpa couldn't be there to see his accomplishment, but she assured him that Grandpa would be VERY proud!

Daniel and his little sister. She missed him a lot.

Daniel with his parents. We are soooo proud of him!!!

Daniel with his best friend, Tiffany. She surprised him with her attendance, although Daniel says he wasn't really surprised because "she wrote on page 15 of her letter that she might come."

Daniel announcing his name, rank and hometown, just before he got pinned with his castle signifying that he is now an Army Engineer Soldier.

Daniel with one of his drill sergeants after graduation. They are now "equals" in that they are both Army Engineer Soldiers. (Of course the drill sergeant does still outrank Daniel.)

Daniel with his Company after graduation. This is the last time he stood with these guys that he has lived with for the past 15 1/2 weeks.