By Shane Ersland
Staff writer
As Cadets and their family members waited to spend quality time together, something they hadn’t done in 29 days, there were differing opinions of how the day should be spent. But one theme remained constant with everyone: food.
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| Edith Harvey gives a kiss to Cadet Geoffrey Harvey July 16 after Charlie Co. Cadets were reunited with their families. Photo by Ryan Stone |
Hayes, from Co. C 1/46th Inf., was at the barracks Friday waiting for her mom, aunt and brother to pick her up for family day. Her mother, Viki Hayes, of Dallas, said she had already planned for her daughter’s needs.
“We brought food in the car; we had a list from her,” Viki Hayes said. “If we showed up without it, we would have been in trouble.”
The Leader’s Training Course holds family days for each company. A program is held before Cadets and their loved ones are reunited, where course cadre educate families about the training and opportunities in the Army should the Cadets contract.
After the program, loved ones pick up the Cadets for eight hours of free time together.
Before showing families the Co. C 1/46th Inf. end-of-cycle video at Waybur Theater, a few kids were brought on stage in front of the audience of 300 people to dish out some training of their own. The boys were told that the cadre who had been in charge of ordering sit-ups and push-ups of their Cadets were coming on stage, and this was a chance for the children to get some payback.
As the cadre mounted the stage, one boy yelled “50 push-ups!” So as not to drag the affair out too long, the cadre members performed only 10, much to the kids’ dismay.
At the Charlie Co. barracks, Cadet Nicolas Wacker had a plan for his family.
“I’m going to go to Applebee’s, or anything that’s home-cooked and good,” he said.
Wacker and Hayes will both attend Marion Military Institute in the fall. They lived at home before attending LTC, and their loved ones were anxious to see them.
“It’s been miserable,” Viki Hayes said. “We’ve missed her like crazy.”
Wacker’s girlfriend, Kayla Washburn, made the trip and said he told her he was having too much fun at LTC and wasn’t ready to go home yet.
“I was like, ‘Thanks, I miss you, too,” Washburn said.