This past week, I headed off to Virginia for my son Joshua’s AIT Graduation. For those that are not familiar with army terms, AIT is the school where they learn their job in the army. It was so great seeing him. It was also mice taking a trip down memory lane. Fort Eustis was our first duty station, and we lived there from 1991-1993. It was interesting to see what had changed, and what had stayed the same since we left so long ago.
Before the ceremony, they were given a pep talk about their future in army aviation.
Joshua was the first to receive his diploma, as the Distinguished Honor Graduate. (Top of the class!)
We are so proud of him.
Joshua reciting the Aviation Mechanic’s Creed.
The graduating class.
After the ceremony, Jack, Jackie and I headed out to the water and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air while we waited for Joshua to finish up his paperwork.
Later that day, we headed to Yorktown Battlefield – and explored history.
The room where Cornwallis’ surrender was negotiated.
It was a wonderful trip. Watch the video of the graduation:
Can you tell me if and how I can contact Ft Eustis for information on AIT graduation March 24, 2017? .We will be driving from Washington state, yes, a very long drive, but my son is graduating with honors.
Hello Laurie! I’ve done a similar drive – North Carolina to Alaska, and Alaska to Alabama. Washington state was our half way point each time :)
For current information, I would say contacting the Army Community Services office for Fort Eustis would be your best bet. They can either answer your questions or direct you to the right office. (Their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/forteustisacs ) Honestly, I got everything I needed to know directly from my son. Plus Fort Eustis was our first duty station, so we were already familiar with the post.
Congratulations to your son!
Wow! We are getting nervous!!! Is our son really going away? Lol. We miss him already. So how is the life of an Army Avionics Soldier?
Hi Constance – Just happened to find your blog. Love it! Congrats on the wonderful accomplishments of your son. My son is graduating mid-Nov from Ft. Jackson and then going to Ft. Eustis (Tango 15). Thank you for all the information. Army is new to me – one of my sons is an AF officer pilot training with ENJJPT (Got to love all the acronyms!) and our youngest went this direction with Army. So proud of him and all of our US soldiers. We will be driving him up the coast immediately after graduation to Ft. Eustis – so looking forward to getting caught up with him and just hanging out. We are a very close family and not being in communication has been very difficult on this mom! I have some questions that maybe you can answer. How soon after graduation (Ft. Jackson) will we be able to be on the road? Once we are on base at Ft. Eustis how much freedom will we have to look around, check my son’s barracks etc.? He has to report at 5pm, but if we are there at 3 can all of us walk around base and be casual for a few hours? Once they graduate from AIT does the soldier go directly to the next assignment or are they allowed leave? Thank you again for the blog and letting us learn from your experience. Laura
Laura, I will send you a private e-mail :)
I also just found this blog. My son is a 15T also, Lauran, graduated Ft. Jackson Nov 22, 2016. Would love to hear about AIT graduation as well to know how much time to plan to attend. Do they have a family day as well? As they have more freedom, I imagine that is not part of the graduation but I want to get hotel reservations for the correct number of days. Thanks for any additional help and CONGRATS! Hope your son is now exactly where he wants to be :)
Hi Jeannie! We drove to Virginia and spent the night at the hotel the night before the graduation. Graduation was bright and early in the morning, and was very short. There is no family day because it is very small. After graduation, he cleared post and was done in just a couple hours. We picked him up and could have left then, but it was a long drive home, so we spent the day there in the area and visited a historic battlefield. Then we got up the next morning and headed home with him on leave. So the whole of the activities are over in a matter of hours. I hope that helps!
Yes, Thanks! We will be coming from Atlanta so it is great to know how much time to plan. I didn’t even consider he would have leave after AIT and rather thought he would be off to the next step. Good to know that is a possibility. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. Amazing awaits :)
Yes, they have leave accumulated and can take some before going to their next duty station. My son was engaged when he went into the army, and then got orders for Germany. Their original plan was to get married this summer, but ended up getting married while he was home on leave, so she could join him over there :)
Hi, My Son is going to Ft Jackson, and then to Ft Eustis. I am wondering where the usual Duty Station is going to be, after AIT Graduation. Thanks. Mike.
There is no telling, because after the training – nothing is “usual.” :) He should find out a few weeks before he graduates from AIT.
My son graduates from AIT next Thursday. Any helpful information about visiting Ft. Eustis? I’ve never been to Virginia. I’ll be staying in New Port News during my visit. Thank you for your helpfulness. Sincerely, Proud Mom
Congratulations, Proud Mom!!!
The ceremony itself will be small and fairly quick. Once Joshua got done, he had to go finish clearing and get released. While he did that, we went and ate a late breakfast, and then went and spent some time on the water, right there on Eustis. It is absolutely beautiful and serene out there so if the weather cooperates for you, I recommend it. It took a couple hours for him to do what he had to do, but after that he was free to go. If you went to your son’s basic graduation, that was a much bigger production. Graduation at AIT is short & sweet.
I will say that for Newport News, plan for traffic. Because it is on a peninsula, there are limited roads for people to get where they want to go, and that causes major traffic issues. So when you go in the morning, give yourself some extra time. If you get there too early, you can always swing by the Starbucks for coffee right there on post. Eustis is very small, so once you’re on post, it won’t take you long to get where you need to be. :)
Have a safe trip!!
A great accomplishment for sure and so handsome. Congrats Constance.
That had to be a surreal!