The Air Force's newest officer

2nd Lt. Thomas Sensing, USAFR, left

Big day Friday! I arose very early, drove to the Nashville airport and boarded a plane for Tampa, then drove to Bradenton. There I administered the oath of military commissioning to my son, Thomas, who thereby became a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force Reserve. He will hold this commission while he completes medical school (which he just started this fall). When he graduates he will be commissioned a captain in the regular Air Force's Medical Corps.

As a retired Army officer, I am authorized to administer these oaths. So it was a really great thing to commission my own son. Next summer he will attend the USAF Commissioned Officer Training school at Maxwell AFB, Ala., where he'll buy his uniforms and all that (and maybe get a haircut!). A lot of medical students have already started school by the time their military scholarships are awarded, so they don't worry about that sort of thing until the summer break.

Got back home late Friday night. A grand day all around!

So far my family is represented in the Army (me), the USMC by my eldest and now the Air Force by Thomas. My daughter just started her freshman year at Tennessee Tech where she is studying chemical engineering and sort of considering applying for the Navy's Nuclear Power Officer Candidate (NUPOC) program at the end of this school year. Here's the vid: