26 Aug 2025 - Family Day at Fort Jackson with PVT Lucas Buehner

 

Wow!  This day we will never forget!  Back on 16 July we said goodbye and good luck to our grandson Lucas Buehner as he prepared to depart for US Army Basic Training. Since then we have exchanged letters with him and talked with him once.  Today we attended Family Day at Fort Jackson Army Base along with our daughter Jennifer Buehner (Lucas's mom), James Buehner (Lucas's dad), Lindsey Buehner (Lucas's sister), Dan Schellhase (our son), and Michelle Ervin (our oldest daughter),  Such an awesome day that started out very early. 

Traffic backed up all the way through the base!

  Since Lucas departed for basic training, we have been on the Fort Jackson Facebook pages and they have been very helpful with information about what to expect.  They have a graduation here nearly every week, so there is a lot of discussions out there to go by.  Everyone said the line of traffic at the gates is a mess and it is not uncommon to be in line on Family Day and Graduation Day for literally hours.  OK!  Got it!  We will plan accordingly and adjust as needed, right?  

Doreen and I have retired Air Force ID cards, so access for us is no issues. Jennifer is still active Air Force/Air National Guard and James is fulltime Federal civil service so no issues with either one of them.  Lindsey is a dependent so she has a card.  Michelle is a civilian contractor at Great Lakes Naval Base so she has an access card.  The only question was Dan and he has the drivers license with the gold star on it and he won't be driving through the gate, so we should be able to use any gate, where many of the parents attending the Family Day and Graduation have no affiliation with the military and have to use a Visitor Gate.  So we were able to sneak in a back gate this morning at 0545 hrs with no problems and go straight to the front of the line!! 

Once there, we still had to wait for them to start processing the attendees, but at least we were there.  Jennifer and the others were in their vehicle just a few spots back.  After a while things started moving and we drove into our parking spot near the front.  Then we parked and got in line to be searched/wanded before entering the stadium.

We were told 1196 Soldiers will graduate tomorrow and are present for Family Day today..  Unfortunately not all of those Soldiers will have family that are able to attend Family Day today.  The Soldiers in formation remain at attention until they are "tapped out" by someone, usually a family member. 

We processed through security and made our way to the stadium which is covered.  The public address system played some great music while we waited.   Then the announcer let us know the Golden Knights, the Army parachute team , would be putting on a performance and we saw them land.  

Family and friends continued to roll in and the stadium was packed!  Lines for the restrooms were crazy long.  Soon a presentation was made commemorating the history of the US Army and the role they played in our previous wars and conflicts.  

Across the field there was motion in the woods.  Soon they popped multi-colored smoke that covered the field.  

Emerging from the smoke were our Soldiers!!  It was an awesome entrance!  Alpha, Brovo, Charlie, Delta and Echo Companies marched forward and the closer they came the crowd focused on trying to find their loved one!  

    

The Commanding Officer provided a few words and then the families were released to find and "tap out" their Soldier!  There was a mass exodus of the stands as loved ones streamed onto the field anxiously looking for their son, daughter or loved one!  It was very emotional.  

So our crew followed along with Jennifer, James and Lindsey leading the way.  It was a "sea of Soldiers" and difficult to find who you were looking for.  And, again, the Soldier cannot move until "tapped".  Dan and Michelle were taking pictures while I video'd.  Soon James spotted Lucas and they made a bee-line there.  Jennifer "tapped him out" and we all got to give him a big hug and congratulate the new Soldier!!  So awesome!  

We had the rest if the day with PVT Lucas Buehner!  He said he wanted to EAT and sit in the air conditioning!!  Keep in mind there were 1195 other Soldiers and their families all wanting to get something to eat and reconnect, so the places that served food, the food trucks, the Post Exchange, the bowling alleys and all of the other facilities were packed with folks.  We decided to do a tail gate event in the commissary parking lot and just chill out there.  We went inside and the deli made some sandwiches and Lucas picked out things he had missed such as ice cream, and we made our way back to our truck.  

The Buehner family!

Lucas with Nana and Gramps

Lucas and Dan

Lucas and Michelle

Our little tail gate event!

Lucas relaxing a bit!

After lunch we visited the Post Exchange but it was crazy busy.  Michelle bought an "Army Aunt" pride tee shirt. 

We went to the bowling alley and there was a two hour wait there.  We toured an Army basic training museum that was really interesting (picture overload at this point).  WE finally ended up at the Library and played Uno with the group, but by this time Doreen and I were about done for the day since we started at 0445 hrs this morning, so we drove a few of them to the VRBO house, and we headed back to the campground to download and process pictures and write the BLOG!  

Later we got on Facetime and had a celebratory shot of Apple Pie to commemorate Lucas's big day.  

We are so very proud of this young man!  According to the current statistics, less than 0.5% of the total U.S. population is currently serving on active duty in the military.  When I served it was less than 1%. Unfortunately less than 23% of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 meet the core eligibility requirements for military service, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. This means that roughly 77% of young Americans are disqualified for military service due to various factors, such as medical issues, fitness, inability to get a security clearance, financial problems, alcohol or drug issues, mental health issues, and the list goes on.  That is a sad state of affairs, folks!. 

 Lucas is such a smart young man and has a great future ahead of him.  He has a plan, and is executing the plan.  Most importantly he has a back-up plan because our plans don't always work out.  We are confident this young man will achieve great things.  And we will be right there cheering him on!

  Tomorrow at 0-dark-thirty again we will head back to the base and the stadium to watch his graduation ceremony.  Then he is again released to his loved ones but this time he can leave the base.  So we will be able to spend some relaxing time with him before Michelle and Dan leave later tomorrow.  Lucas heads for San Antonio and his combat medic Advanced Individual Training (AIT) Thursday.  Doreen and I will head for Myrtle Beach and Jennifer and her crew will head back to Battle Creek MI.