Brian's Change of Command- Wednesday June 20

On Wednesday, June 20th Brian became the new Commander of the 15th AMOS (Air Mobility Operations Squadron) at Travis AFB. He has been in this squadron for the last year and was excited and honored to get the call last September telling him he would be taking command.

My parents got into town on Tuesday night, just in time for dinner with us all. My dad hadn't seen Brian's family since our wedding and my mom hadn't seen them since the summer of 2009. My parents stayed on base at the hotel both Tuesday & Wednesday night, since our inn was full!

Wednesday morning Gill made a fabulous pancake breakfast for us all. Then I took my parents to see the kids swimming lessons, while Brian headed out to meet up with the Commander, Rick, whom he would be replacing. (Rick has been Brian's boss for the last year...)

Brian and Rick went for coffee, then to an old fashioned barber shop for a "professional shave" so they would be looking perfect for the ceremony. Brian was touched that Rick passed down the commanders pin that was passed down to him when he took command. This pin has been passed down from commander to commander in our squadron for the last 10+ years.

We were so excited that Kristen, her kids (Riley and Wes) and her mom, Lynn were able to drive up to celebrate with us. Scott and Bob both had unexpected work related crisis' come up last minute, so they weren't able to attend. 

However, when Brian wrote his speech for this day, he referenced them both in his line "to old friends, and friends that are old." HA! i hope kristen and lynn remembered to tell the guys about that!

unfortunately, my sister and her family couldn't be with us this day either because she had a very important medical appointment that could not be rescheduled. their absence was certainly felt...

2pm- time for the ceremony!

(please note that my husband has been too busy with important mission related work since taking command to get me the official photos from this day! so, these are dark and not great- but they will have to do for now. i promise to add the official ones- there were two photographers there that day!- once i eventually get them...)

there were a few unexpected surprises that day that i didn't even know about. the first was the bagpiper! it us unusual to have an Air Force bagpiper on base, but we've got one! he even wears an official AF issued uniform, with a kilt! we met him this spring (he is from scotland, been in the AF since 1991) and with brian's scottish heritage, he was in awe of his position (and kilt!) and last minute thought it would be great to be piped in for his Change of Command- and it worked!

when i heard the bag pipes, i got tears in my eyes. following the bag pipes were the group commander, current commander and brian-

 the national anthem was sung live, by a former squadron member and the Color Guard gave a very impressive presentation of the flags-

 here i was smiling, this must have been right before i thought it was a good idea to give the kids their phones and instantly heard a Dora video come on loudly! OOPS!

 here is rick relenting command, with the squadron flag

 and brian accepting command!

 brian gave an awesome speech and delivered it perfectly! he even said the word "sexy" 3 times! only brian...

 in the back of the room, about 40 of his Airmen stood at attention, in formation, during the entire ceremony. here he is accepting the first salute, as commander-

 the squadron gave me beautiful flowers as a welcome

 the ceremony concludes-

 now begins the hard work!  brian will do a fantastic job, there is no doubt. and i will try my hardest not to put my foot in my mouth continually...

after the ceremony there was a reception with some awesome food. most of the time, people choose just cake and punch. we had a cake from an award winning bakery driven in from sonoma, plus sushi, wings, veggie trays, etc.

they took down the stage so quickly after the ceremony (or maybe we just stayed there talking too long) that i wasn't able to get a family picture where i wanted it... BUT- having a humvee in the background is pretty cool too-

 i knew we were talking too much when i looked over and saw my mom resting in this vehicle!

 then of course the kids wanted to get in too!

 there are certain perks that come with being the commander and i noticed this sign when we left the ceremony! it was a reserved parking spot-

after the ceremony we had a family dinner at our house- and oops, no pictures! another funny note though- i looked outside and saw brian grilling, by himself. then i saw my friend's kristen and hailey in the living room talking... their husbands, had they been here, would have been outside grilling along side brian. funny that his friends were not there to celebrate the day with him, but their wives were!