After the events the parents were able to spend about an hour with their boys. The graduation was in the morning but they allowed the parents time to tour the facilities with their sons. The boys had to stay with their platoons on the field until their parents found them. When I walked to his platoon Jonny came running out with the biggest smile and gave me a big hug. I was afraid he would be too embarrassed to give me my big hugs, but he wasn't at all. He was one happy boy to see us.

We hugged, talked and started walking around when we thought he would probably want to talk to Rachel, Nicole, and Vika. They were back in Utah and were anxious to hear from him so he made his first call back in a month back to the girls in Utah.

My military boy with his shaved head.


Marine Military Academy is adjacent to a large memorial of Iwo Jima. The soldier in the front of the memorial was from this area and is buried here behind the memorial.

Jonny walked us around the school and showed us all the different obstacle courses that they did. This one was part of the leadership course where they had different things to accomplish as a group.