Moment 4
Graduation day, four years of hard work is over. It is done and can never be taken away. Just need to complete the ceremony. Over a thousand of us to get our diplomas, each one of us shaking the United States President's hand. It needs to be a regular military operation to complete in time, which it happens to be. Speeches come first, thankfully they are short. We line up by our brigade organization: Second Regiment, Fourth Battalion, Twenty-first Company for me. We wait our turn. The time for our company finally comes. We are alphabetical within the company, so I am about in the middle. My time comes and they say "Livingston" which is the guy three behind me. I cannot get his attention in time to keep the regimented procession on pace, so I go in his place. I shake the President's hand and then tell the person with the diplomas what happened. I am sent to get back in line. Then, they do call my name and I go up and shake the President's hand a second time, saying "hello again". He looked confused. I get my diploma and celebrate, quietly on the outside, but setting noise records on the inside. I go back to my seat, now I have to wait for the rest of the brigade to complete the procession. One last thing to do, throw our covers (naval term for a hat) in the air and we are done. Out with the Midshipman's cover, in with the Naval Officer's. We erupt with cheer as we throw them in the air. Such elation I feel at this long anticipated moment, only to be dashed by a descending cover colliding with my face.
