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5 of the kids and I drove to Ft. Benning to watch a nephew graduate from Boot Camp.

Wow.

What a show.  The marching band was spectacular.  My little boys were shocked to discover that soldiers can play instruments, and dance. Yes, dance.  It was quite fun.

I was holding my 4 year old in my lap when the machine gun fire and smoke covered the parade field.  Good thing. He was so astounded he would have fallen off the bleachers.  The smoke cleared and suddenly there were soldiers in battle fatigues waging a mock battle while huge guns boomed in the distant woods.

There were soldiers dressed in uniform for every battle this particular company and battalion has been involved in from the Revolutionary War through the current conflicts in the Middle East.  It really was amazing.

To say that we are proud of my nephew is an understatement.

We went through The National Infantry Museum multimedia walk-through presentations.  As you enter each area an announcer's voice is triggered which names the war and then gives a brief history. After leaving the WWII area my 5 year old said, "So the next war is WWIII right?"  It gave me a chill.

I'm proud but I'll be praying...



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My 17 year old was composing a poem today with the "help" of her 5 year old brother.  Finally she suggested firmly that he go write his own poem.

So he did.

Well, he dictated it to a 12 year old sister who, happy for any diversion from her own school work, wrote it.  Then she burned the edges of the paper on which the poem was written to the supreme satisfaction of the 5 year old.  Unfortunately the flames moved a little too fast and the second section of the poem has a huge hole.

What I can read is as follows:

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