A Filipina in Air Force Basic Training

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

One thing about my wife that really summed up all that she has been through was yesterday, Thursday, when she had an on base pass. My wife was playing with our son at the playground at the Air Force Inn we were staying at. All of a sudden a tune was being played in the air. It has been so long since I was in the military myself that it took me a moment to recognize what it was. It was the beginning of Retreat, when it is time to lower the flag at the end of the working day on military installations. And before I could even realize what was happening, my wife had gone instantly quiet and immediately stopped her play with our son. She turned to face the music and snapped to attention and stood silent. Then they played the National Anthem, and she gave a crisp, professional salute and held it to the end of the last note, then smartly snapped her arm down to "order arms", and resumed her play with our son. It was at that moment that it really struck me what my Filipina wife had become. She had become an Airman representing the United States Air Force. She had been molded into one of the greatest airmen in the world of an Air Force that is the most powerful of all in the world. And I was so proud of her.

In the some parts of the Philippines every morning, there is the national prayer and the playing of the national anthem. If you happen to be in a mall at the time, you may see employees snap to attention the same way.