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Would Appreciate A Little Insight!

Time is ticking down until my long-term boyfriend flies out for BMT, and I already have concerns about graduation! I am extremely proud and excited for him. I know I will miss him (and cry and be depressed, it's a given...), but our relationship has withstood some major tests (we were in a situation last year where I was literally allowed no contact or communication whatsoever with him for three long months),
but we have never seen "breaks" as an option and take our relationship extremely seriously. I am not too too concerned (yet) about the distance since we've been in numerous long distances situations before and I am very aware of just how much having little to no communication with the love of your life for long periods of time can hurt (the AF is going to be a different beast entirely, I'm sure, but I'm doing everything I can to avoid going in blind...)

That being said, I do (already) have some concerns about his graduation from BMT! I am a full-time college student, and of course, just my luck, it appears that his graduation is going to fall on the Friday during my FINALS WEEK this semester... May 3rd!!
Fortunately, as of right now, the finals for all of my courses are scheduled early within the week, but between studying, moving out (I have to have all of my things out of here and stored elsewhere by noon on Saturday May 4th since summer semesters will be starting), and figuring out what the heck to do about this graduation situation, I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
Worst comes to worst, some of my exams get moved, or other reasons will prevent me from attending the ceremonies entirely.
I am using every ounce of energy and time planning that I can muster however to avoid that!!!
So I guess I have a few questions I want to pose to ANYONE who can help or give any remote form of advice!!!

1) Should I start making hotel reservations and booking plane tickets now?? I am guessing the earlier I do this, the better, right??
2) If I am unable to attend the Thursday ceremonies due to super conflicting travel arrangements (which I already foresee happening), will that prevent me from attending the graduation on Friday and seeing him for the rest of the weekend in any way?? Is it possible to miss out on the first day, or do I have to sign in somewhere on that first day to be able to see him at all that weekend???

He is very very understanding and has already told me not to stress myself out if I cannot come, but I am trying my absolute hardest to make this a priority; he has been there for me in every situation imaginable so I genuinely feel like I HAVE TO be there! If there's a will, there's a way. At this point I feel like I would fly out to TX just to spend five minutes with him... so I hope you guys have some insight!!!

I am sorry for how super lengthy this post is. Summarizing has never been a forte of mine.
chloebax chloebax 18-21, F 5 Responses Jan 16, 2013

Your Response


I got my flight and hotel early only because my fiancé was there during holiday season. Ticket prices go up depending on the season... Buy you also have to realize that some people get recycled. Thankfully, my man didn't get recycled, so everything worked out well.

College professors are pretty understanding. I was in a situation where I had to be away the week of finals (back in the day) and I was able to take them the week before. Explain your situation and hopefully they'll be able to help you out.

Good luck!

1) Don't make reservations until he knows his graduation date for sure! Hotels book up very quick on base and nearby off base so just be prepared for that. I absolutely loved my room on base, they gave me officers quarters lol. I also stayed a night at the Holiday Inn nearby which was fine since I took a shuttle on and off base, also anywhere else that I needed to go.

2) You don't have to sign in anywhere and you simply show your base pass to get on base. If you have to miss a day that's fine, just go the next =)

If you can make it Thursday I highly recommend it. The Airman's run and coin ceremony is so nice. I teared up when I spotted my guy jogging past me and tap out at the coin ceremony is sweet.

Talk to your professors. Mine have been pretty good about random military stuff coming up and having to work around it. Some will let you take them early so try whatever you can!

Good luck =)

Do not book anything until you are 100% sure of the date. My boyfriend is down there right now and he told me one date, and then we got the schedule in the mail and it was different. I had to change flight and hotel reservation and it ended up costing me more

First I would definitely talk to your professors if any finals conflict because they might let you take them earlier (during finals week)... and believe it or not some professors are understanding! Lol if you miss Thursday it's not a big deal, you'll just go to the other ceremony on should be able to find info for it online or call Lackland... he just needs to make sure he gets you a visitors pass which they will go over all those details with him at basic. My husband called me and asked me for my drivers license # and birthday so they can do a background check and then you'll get the passes in the mail. If you want to stay at the on base hotel, I think they take reservations only a few weeks in advance and it's first come and it books up fast! When I went to my husbands grad it was alll booked up. Hope this helped!

Thanks so much!!

How do you know when your airman's graduation date is? And I wish I had some information for you but my boyfriend just left for basic on the 3rd so I'm pretty new to this as well!

My boyfriend's been talking to his recruiter a lot about the situation because his sister's wedding is actually that Saturday on the 4th and he didn't want to miss it but unfortunately he will have to... his first recruiter was actually a pain and Tim should have left like a month or two ago but long story short his old recruiter (who stunk with communicating and helping us with getting this whole AF ball rolling) was just replaced by a new awesome one lol. Plus you can get a general idea of when it will be if you just do the math of how long they are there, etc.
You'll still get an invitation though in the mail for the graduation when you get much closer to the time :)