This just in...

I just found this linky to an article about Wreaths Across America 2008, in NY Wing.


If you desire to read it, go HERE to read the article, and then I'll tell you the story of the whole morning. Sound cool? Good.

Okay, you back? Here we go. I got up early that morning. Early as in, before seven. AM. I ate my breakfast and grabbed a bag containing my dress blues and several layers to go underneath said dress blues (yeah, did you notice the snow on the ground? Yeah). Then I hopped in the car and Daddy drove me to the Jamestown Airport. Despite the promise of blue sky from weather.com, the sky was cloudy. Depressingly cloudy. It depressed me, but I nevertheless went in to "my" airport (you know you're in the Civil Air Patrol when you have referred to the local airport as "home" before) and had my flight simulator lesson. Flight sims are fun. You fly without getting sick, and you can wreck the plane or fly really horribly and it doesn't matter.

After my flight sim lesson, I strolled past the airport doors, glanced out and saw blue sky. Cheerful blue sky. Can I say "happy" applies here? More like "elated!" Then, while my cadet commander had her flight sim lesson, I read my history book (you know you're in the CAP if you have ever done schoolwork at your local airport) and talked with another cadet. Then, while he had his flight sim lesson, my cadet commander and I changed into our dress blues. Now, because we were on color guard, we couldn't wear our coats over the top (unless they were the specific dress blues coats, which we don't have). So we dressed in Layers. Major Layers. As in, 6 shirts-Layers (wow, say that 10 times fast...). But I was still cold.

At 1100 hours, we loaded up and drove to the Lakeview Cemetery. There, we met the rest of the cadets and senior members, practiced our color guard routine, and had BDU-clad cadets shovel a path to the Soldiers Circle. When the big clock struck 1200, we filed out. Our MC led the ceremony, which was kept short because of the cold. They laid wreaths down, had Taps, and the veterans' color guard fired their guns, three times. When it was over, we filed out. We put our color guard paraphernalia away until next time, and then went to our nice warm houses.

I have a proposition for you, reader: Next December, find out if any CAP unit near you is doing a Wreaths Across America Ceremony, and then show up for it. I know it may be inconvenient, but the veterans you will be honoring had to do much more inconvenient thing. More inconvenient than getting up at 6:51 AM, even. Who knows, you may even get your picture in the paper!