very proud

We are so proud of Nic. Standing on Hilton Field during Family Day and Graduation it was overwelming how much pride was in the air. These soldiers have given up so much and worked so hard to get to this point. I am very thankful we could be there to see him honored and be apart of that.

Nic starts AIT next Monday, after Alex graduates and his platoon joins them. Finally, the two of them will be together! Different companies but closer than they have been.

After the third week they will get their phones, ipods and laptop. It will be great to have more communication with him.

After AIT they both come home for two weeks...and Alex' wedding!...then Nic is off to Jump School, Ranger inprocessing and 2 months of Ranger School.

Thanks so much to everyone that has written Nic. He said it really kept him going and felt bad he didn't have time to write everyone back. I have his new address and if you would like it please send me an email.

Nic's room at AIT

8 soldiers to a room. They have pillows! First time in 11 weeks.

I got a text from Nic that said, "look mom, I hung up my clothes".

more pix

checking out of basic

best friends

Nic and battle buddy Ford. Great friends since before reception. They met in Salt Lake at MEPS.

We all hated flying. Hillary kept telling us before the trip how awful flying is...she was right! I had forgotten.

More pix of Graduation Trip

We had so much fun with Nic! I am sorry I haven't written about since I got home.

He is such an outstanding young man and is doing something he really loves. It is great to see him excel. It was fun hearing about basic and seeing all the things he has been doing.

Brandon pretends they are playing Battleship. Hayden wants to!

His crazy family

What's the internet?

Nic had this sign made for us. It says:

Parents Appreciation Certificate

Let it be known that Brandon and Heidi Yates having mastered the art of parenting by having a child successfully complete Basic Combat Training and for being the parents who stood by, watched over, comforted and guided me down the path to a successful graduation has accordingly been awarded this successful parents Certificate of appreciation from Nicolas Fowler on April 2009

I will cherish this forever! He is such a wonderful son.

PFC Fowler!!
















We had a shirt made for Hayden that says "My big brother is army strong"
















Nic's barricks















INTERNET!!

Watching a DVD of Nic's company. Nic is in it a lot!

We had the best day with him! We couldn't take him off post, but the base is awesome! He is the most amazing young man!

He takes this so seriously and because of that has done an outstanding job. He served as squad leader and team leader. He is definitely a great example to his fellow soldiers. We met a couple of his good friends and their families.

Family day was amazing! What an overwhelming feeling of pride for your child and your country. It was really cool to see so many people proud of their children, spouses, etc. Definitely very proud to be an American today and even more proud to be Nic's mom.

We are getting ready for graduation. I have lots of info to share and will try to write more later.

Its graduation week!

We leave early in the morning for South Carolina and we are all very excited. Family Day is Thursday and Graduation is Friday. We get to spend both days and Saturday with Nic. We will have our laptop so I hope to add info and pictures each day so check back. It takes a few days for the automated system to send out email updates so you might want to check here.
We found out Nic has been promoted to Specialist! Only 3 people received promotions so he is doing an outstanding job. Upon his first assignment he will be SPC Fowler!
Saturday I got a text message from Alex! He won an on post pass for the day for getting Expert Shooter! WOW! It was fun texting him throughout the day and he got to talk to his cute Kelsey alot and said that made him very happy. He misses his family tons and cant wait to see them for graduation. I asked him if his DS would be upset if we come take him to lunch and he didn't seem to think he would go for that. Its going to be hard being right there and not seeing our adopted son!
I am so proud of these two. They have really excelled and shown what amazing people they truly are. We have all missed them a lot, but it obviously has been the very best thing for both of them.
See ya' all...working on my southern accent
Heidi

EXCITING NEWS!

One Week from today we all leave for South Carolina!!! we got really exciting news from Nic...
Nic has been chosen to go to Ranger school!
They chose four out of 260 people and Nic was one of them. He is so excited! Here's part of his letter:
Dear madre,
I just got upstairs from an extremely exciting day! Like a life altering day for me. I don't think I have been this happy for a very long time! You know what an Army Ranger is right? Special Forces pulls from Rangers and guess who got chosen to go to Ranger school? Your son!!! I was one of four (out of 260) that got picked! I will be an Airborne Ranger so I go to airborne for 3 weeks and to RIP for 3 weeks (Ranger in processing). Then I do 12 weeks of AIT and then I am sent to a Ranger base and do 2 months of Ranger training!!! You have no idea how excited I am. Like for REAL! This is seriously one of the happiest times I have had in my whole entire life!
I am going to be an AIRBORNE ARMY RANGER HOO HAH!!! I had always dreamed of being a seal or special forces and now I am on my way.
I won't be home for an extra 6 weeks...like the middle of August. I am so excited to jump out of planes. Like you have no idea. That is going to be way cool jumping out of planes! As a Ranger I will get all the hightech equipment and not just be a foot troop. I will have actual missions, like snatch and grab, rescue and behind enemy lines stuff. Oh and off note... you guys need to get online and look up the military new camo that will be issued in 2012, except Rangers and Special Forces have it now! Its called multicam.
I really cannot even explain to you how awesome this really is. Like really it is the most amazing thing ever and I never thought I would get the opportunity to prove myself! Well I will come off of cloud 9. I am sure you have heard enough. Just wanted to share my excitement with you and everyone there! I won't write for a while because I leave for Victory Forge Saturday and come back Thursday so I just want you to know how much I love you guys.
By the way 2 weeks from today I get to see you guys! Love you very much, Nic

We are all so excited for Nic! I can't wait to see him next week and hear all about the things he has been doing and about this new adventure. Here are some links I thought you all might like:
video of family day
video of Army Rangers
part one of special series on Rangers : this says 200 of the army's best are chosen to go to Ranger school. Nearly 75% will not finish due to injury, fatigue or inability. It will "make basic training seem tame and on average 23 soldiers drop out the first day". Ugh.
parts 1-9 of Rangers series