My Favorite Marine

My son, Travis, has been a great hunting partner for me throughout most of his life. His love of hunting and shooting and the outdoors is infectious and has filled many, many hours of his 22 years. After graduating from high school, he left home for college, but in December of the first semester, he came home with some news that grabbed a hold of my entire being; he was joining the Marines.

Now, throughout his life he had heard us preach about freedom doesn’t come free, but I never dreamed it would be our son volunteering. So I went through the whole gambit that millions of other mothers have gone through: pride, fear, joy, sadness, just to name a few. What I was most proud of were his convictions, and they are what calmed my fears and sadness.

He left for Boot Camp on a cold day in February. Not surprisingly, he had gone rabbit hunting earlier that same morning with our oldest son, Jared, and our grandson, Waylen.

We didn’t get to hear much from him once he left for Boot Camp. In fact, I hardly left the house for fear of missing a call from him. I had my cell phone strapped to me night and day, but didn’t know if he would be calling our home phone or my cell. After a couple weeks, we got a call from his Chaplain. He had had an opportunity to visit with Travis, and Travis was concerned we would be very anxious to get word from him, so his Chaplain wanted to let us know he was doing fine.

The time for his graduation from Boot Camp came not soon enough for me. It was heartwarming to see our family pull together and show such support of Travis. When it came time for his graduation ceremonies in San Diego, Calif., we all made whatever sacrifice necessary to be there for him. Upon arriving on the base, we strove for just a glimpse of our beloved Marine. There were hundreds of them and they all looked basically alike in their uniforms.

As they were marching down the parade deck, I spotted him. Well, I couldn’t be sure it was him for long, because tears filled my eyes and blurred my vision. He looked so thin, and where was that big smile that always melted my heart. We were all yelling and screaming as they marched sternly by. I caught the slightest movement of his eyes barely glancing in our direction. He had finally located us too. After they were released from duty for the afternoon, it was a tearful reunion for all of us.

He had many stories to tell us and it was wonderful spending the remainder of the day with him on base. It was especially thrilling to see the honor and respect his fellow Marines and drill instructors showed him and he them. What he hadn’t told us until that moment was that he was graduating at the top of his class as Company Honorman out of more than 400 Marines. That really shouldn’t have surprised me, because he has always been the type to give his all to something he believes in.

The next day at the graduation ceremonies, my husband and I were treated like royalty. We were seated near the highest ranking officers and got to personally meet and shake hands with many of them. The fanfare and patriotism I felt at this ceremony was incredible. It renewed my hope for America to stay a strong, successful, Godly nation, to see this group of young men and women that were willing to sacrifice their lives for our freedoms. I know this was just a small group in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of troops that are currently serving our country. I thank God every day for them and pray for their safety.