25 Aug 2025 - Touring Ft Jackson with Daughter Jennifer & Family, Son Dan Arrives

 

This morning we drove to Ft Jackson and met our daughter Jennifer and her family - husband James and daughter Lindsey at the Exchange.  They are staying at a Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) not far from Ft Jackson.  We shopped for a few things at the Exchange, then hopped in their vehicle and went to a few other places on base.  

Jennifer told us that she had talked with Lucas yesterday and he said they would be practicing on the parade grounds this morning after 0500 hrs, so Jennifer came on base and watched them!  Lucas spotted her, but they had to be cool about it as he could get in big trouble!

We spent the rest of the morning touring around the base, and we stopped by Gate 4 to verify we had all the boxes checked to get our son and the rest of the crew in through Gate 5 tomorrow morning for Family Day and Wednesday for graduation. No issues, and that is huge.  We will be able to go through a gate separate from all of the hundreds to thousands of families trying to get on base that do not have military ID cards.  We have read horror stories of lines starting at 0500 hrs in the morning and literally taking hours to get on base.  We should be able to slip through Gate 5 quickly.  Family Day tomorrow starts at 0900 hrs.

Our son Dan was flying in this afternoon and Doreen and I drove to the Columbia airport to pick him up. We held in the "cell phone hold" lot until he was in front of the building then quickly slipped over and picked him up.  While waiting I read one of the historical plaques and discovered this airport used to be an Army Air Corps base back during World War II.  Bases like this were littered across the United States.  This was the Lexington County Airport built in 1941 and was then transformed into the Columbia Army Air Base after the war started.  It's mission was to support training crews for medium bombardment groups such as the B-25's and A-25's.  It's military population peaked at 7800 in February 1945 before reverting to standby after the war.  

From the airport we met our daughter and her family for a late lunch at a local pub.  It was good to catch up with everyone and have some food and beverage.  

We left the restaurant and went over to Jennifer's VRBO to relax and bit before Doreen and I headed back to the campground.  Our oldest daughter Michelle is leaving work at the Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago tonight and flying into Charlotte NC.  Then she will drive less than two hours down to Columbia and stay at Jennifer's and we will all meet at Gate 5 at 0600 hrs in the morning to attend Family Day and see Lucas!!  Can't wait! 

As I write this Michelle has landed in Charlotte and will soon be getting her rental car and heading down here.  

Tomorrow will be super exciting as we watch Jennifer "tap out" her son, our grandson PVT Lucas Buehner!!  So awesome!  Then we get to spend the day with him.