Graduation Information

[Guest Vistar1]

My husband's UPT class is graduating in August and we're looking for a good speaker for the ceremony. I know they provide a list of "reserve" speakers, but we'd like to find a really inspirational person to be the keynote for the event. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

V.

[Gravedigger]

I think the best military speakers I have ever heard are former FACs. They don't bullsh*t, and they won't make you fall asleep with death by powerpoint. If you can find an old grizzly O-1 pilot, I think that would be choice.

[ClearedHot]

If you want a truely motivational speaker with links to the USAF there is none better than

LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICHARD E. "TEX" BROWN III (USAF, RET). LTGen Brown is the son of a minister and he has a way with words that I will always remember. He is one of the most decorated pilots to live through Vietnam with three Silver Stars and Eight DFC's. He works for my father-in-law these days but he travels several times a month to do motivational speeches. If you need his contact info let me know and I will PM it to you.

LtGen Tex Brown Bio

[ 18. May 2005, 07:39: Message edited by: Clearedhot ]

[Guest IGB]

My class requested George “Bud” Day to be our speaker but was denied. The OG or WG/CC denied it because of his then ongoing class-action lawsuit against the government on behalf of WWII and Korean era military retirees looking to keep their promised life time of health care promised when they enlisted. It was no doubt surprising to us that a Medal of Honor winner was denied to speak at a little UPT class graduation.

"Bud" Day Bio

[zrooster99]

I volunteer. I can be very motivational.

[Guest Vistar1]

Actually, we thought about Col. Day. We used to live in Fort Walton Beach, FL (which is also where Col. Day lives) when my husband was flying Gunships. He was a great guy, but getting up there in age and wasn't as "sharp" as I'm sure he used to be. Fantastic man though. Thanks for the above suggestions, I'll bring them up to my husband.

V.

[gimmeaplane]

Old POWs/vets are always a good bet for motivational speeches. Most of them are more than happy to do so, especially for a group of soon-to-be grads likely to encounter combat in short order.

Gen Welsh is the best speaker I've ever heard. But he's kind of a busy man.

Heard a good one from the Nighthawk pilot shot down over Belgrade once...but I believe associating his name and the event is still classified. That, and I don't remember the name.

[Guest SnakeT38]

Fred Platt, Houston Tx, Ex CC of the Ravens for

many moons.........you won't go to sleep!

[Guest Rainman A-10]

Tex Hill, Flying Tigers AVG squadron CC. He's old but you better not go mano y mano with the scotch.

[Guest rumblefish_2]

Gen Brown is one hell of a softball player, too. AFPC always kicked our butts when I was at Randolph and Gen Brown consistently hit 'em out of the yard.

We had Robin Olds speak for us and I know he does it often. Not a very formal speaker, but his stories at the bar and during the wing-breaking make everything well worth it. Not to mention he is one of the best of all time...

[Guest Rainman A-10]

I agree with CH, Tex Brown is a great man.

He has some great Lt A-1 SANDY stories from Vietnam. Amazing what you could do as a Lt in that airplane.

His was one of the few opinions I cared about when I decided to leave active duty and go to the Guard. He would be a great choice if you can get him.

[Guest Kawen]

Can someone fill me in on how fancy the women dress for the banquet at UPT graduations? I understand my pilot will be wearing mess dress and I'm wondering what would be appropriate for me. Is a simple black dress not fancy enough? Do I need to step it up to something more like a prom dress? I don't want to be over or under dressed for the occassion.

Thanks guys!

[Techsan]

I don't quite remember any wives/fiances/girlfriends wearing anything like a prom dress. Most wore just the simple black dress.

[Guest Hoser]

Kawen,

I think the invitation will say something along the lines of 'formal'. A prom dress would be a little much, in my opinion. Think along the lines as if you were going out to dinner and a show on Broadway.

Hoser

[Guest Vistar1]

My husband just graduated in August. Out of about 12 wives/girlfriends, I would say 1/2 of us were VERY formal. Meaning, we all found our dresses in the prom section. But there were also girls there who were in "Easter Sunday" church attire and they looked just fine too.

Just wear what you feel comfortable in and keep in mind that us girls don't get too many opportunities to dress up besides prom and our wedding...so take advantage of it! You won't feel out of place, I promise! I felt perfectly fine until the seams I had recently tailored gave way in the middle of dinner and I had to run home and jump into a "backup" black formal dress. But otherwise, I don't think anyone regretted their choice in dresses.

Enjoy yourself!

[Guest Kawen]

Thank you all for your advice!

[Guest SeekYeFirst]

Hi there-

I JUST attended my husbands UPT graduation. I obsessed for weeks about what to wear. I didn't want to go to formal and look retarded, but I didn't want to be underdressed either (it was too special of a night to wear a church dress). I understand your deliemma.

Here's the solution- find out what the other wives from your class are going to wear. Stick with what everyone else goes with. That way you won't feel out of place either way. Our group of wives decided to wear formals. It felt very appropriate since the men were wearing their "formal" uniforms. The other women at the dinner (mostly moms, grandmas, sisters, IP wives) wore simi formals (cocktail dresses/sunday dress). We were more dressed up than the other women but hey- it was a big night for us!!

Good luck, and don't stress about it. Just ask the other wives what they want to do. If you don't have other wives in your class then I would suggest not going super formal (unless you are very brave). You will stand out if you are the ONLY one in a very formal dress. Maybe a long, simple dress... or a short dress that you would wear to an evening wedding.

Good luck!

[Guest medik6]

You do not wear a prom dress. This is not high school! But your husband/boyfriend will be wearing the equivalent to a Tuxedo so a nice floor lenght cocktail dress or evening dress is very appropriate. Poofy high school prom dress is tacky.

[Guest Frog1995]

I wore a short black dress with some beading more of a cocktail dress, but most wore prom dresses. I was not wearing a long formal prom type dress. I wasn't out of place. I say try more for a cocktail dress than a long formal.

[Guest Vistar1]

Prom dresses (for the most part) aren't "poofy" anymore. The dress I wore was in the "prom" dept. but could've just as well passed for a cocktail dress. I don't want you to get this picture in your head that wives are dressed up in gowns that require full crinolines and gloves up to your elbows! It wasn't a catillion..there's not even any dancing!

Dresses ran the gammit at the banquet and you just wear what you want to...either way, you'll fit in.

[Guest IAGuardWife]

No dancing? NO WAY! That's such a shame. We tore up the floor at our graduation!!!

Any floor length or cocktail length dress will be nice. Simple, but elegant, is usually best.

[Guest livoqzo]

Just wanting to know some basic information on Assignment Night and Graduation Night.

Such as "who is responsible" for Assignment Night? Spouses do Shadow boxes and decorations?

Thanks!

[Toro]

Flight commanders are generally responsible for assignment night. I've never seen this be anything much more complex than some sort of silly event that involves drinking.

Flight commanders, Protocol, and the class SRO (along with students assigned individual tasks) are responsible for graduation. While spouses are not responsible for anything, they can help out. From three years of UPT graduations I don't recall any spouses helping out with the graduation, but there are generally 2-3 of them that help out with the FTU graduations. Decorations are generally the stuff they put together (they stuff most guys could care less about).

Nobody has to do shadow boxes. When I went through, everybody did them individually as desired - not a great idea since it's easier to do a group order with a similar design. A couple recent FTU spouses had a great idea - they contacted all the spouses and contacted me (a Flt/CC at the time) to get contact info for parents of anybody in the class who wasn't married. They explained they were going to make shadowboxes for everybody in the class as a surprise and got the funds from the spouses or parents. They got the hero shots from the guy in the class who took them for everybody (assuming they were going to be used for the graduation ceremony) and put in a mass order. A couple hours prior to graduation, they set them up in the entrance hallway - cool surprise for everybody as they entered to building.

[Guest Desi1125]

Just wanting to know some basic information on Assignment Night and Graduation Night.

Such as "who is responsible" for Assignment Night? Spouses do Shadow boxes and decorations?

Thanks!

When you have your spouse's welcome into the OSS or your hubby's squadron, you should get a Spouse's Information Packet which explains these things. While no, wives are not required to do certain things, it's pretty common for them to do things like order the shadow boxes and VERY common for them to take care of the graduation dinner table centerpieces. While the planning for graduation is done through the SRO and the person he selects as the class graduation officer as well as the Protocol Graduation Officer, it was our experience during this past year of UPT for wives to be a big part of it.

We had 10 wives in our class and we were all very active in fundraising and plannning class social events. We had our own monthly coffees to talk about new ideas and other fun stuff. I highly recommend that becuase it really makes you feel like you're a part of something, and you really do make great friends.

My husband graduated 07-10 from Columbus. Their patch was Pirates of the Caribbean themed so for assignment night we asked the club manager and the Protocol officer if we could do a little decorating and we got approval. We bought a bunch of pirate stuff from cheap party stores online and decoarted the bar and the podiums a few hours before assignment night. We came back the next day and took them down (per the club manager's request). It was easy and fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There really isn't any "planning" involved for assignment night other than the guys have to order class mugs to sell. The two flight commanders (at least in our class) didn't do anything and really didn't care, they just wanted to read the scripts and have the ok on the material included.

Leading up to graduation the guys were all really busy with their final check rides. The T-38 side was behind their timeline so they were double turning almost every day. In order to give the guys a break, the wives offered to not just help, but take some things off their hands completely. They were more than happy to let us. We facilitated the entire class' shadow box order. Through our fundraising the wives had enough money to pay for each student's shadow box as a gift. We made the spreadsheet, gave the guys 2 weeks to fill it out (in case they wanted to order extras for mom & dad or spouses) then turned it in, tracked the order, picked them up the day of graduation, set them out for display for the breakfast and had the guys take them home that night after the dinner. Some classes don't do this. For instance the class ahead of us had their guys handle the shadow boxes. Some people choose to order them individually, however, the frame shop at Columbus discourages this. Its more work for them, and its more expensive for each person when it's not a bulk order.

Our class wives group also paid for and assembled the graduation dinner centerpieces. We orderd 200 bulk roses, and a few hours before the dinner we all came and trimmed them and arragned them on the tables. The guys asked us to order the head table centerpieces as well so everything would be coordinated. The guys paid for those because they're supposed to. We also decided (keeping with the pirate theme) we had little silver treasure boxes filled with gold M&Ms with a favor tag thanking each individual guest. This was something no one had really done and is totally not necessary to the event, but like I said we had 10 wives who were all very helpful and excited so it didn't take much work to get it done. The event turned out great, the guys really loved all the stuff we did and how much it helped them.

Like I said, the wives handbook has a lot of info in it regarding graduation. It has a timeline for wives (8 weeks out, 6 weeks out, etc) so that will be helpful. Good luck and have fun! Graduation is a really special event!

[Toro]

My husband graduated 07-10 from Columbus. Their patch was Pirates of the Caribbean themed

Ironic.

I was in 97-10. This was our patch.