Central Coast family celebrate Air Force graduate from afar in COVID-19 outbreak
Basic training graduations for the Air Force have been modified or adjusted to abide by social distancing standards.
Scotts Valley resident Tim Gower said he was weeping with pride and excitement at the thought of his son, Salinas High graduate Dane Bower, becoming an airman.
"All of the airmen saying the airman song at the same time and the decibel levels are insane," Gower said. "Seeing the precision of the march and the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony."
"Dane always wanted to be in the military, he just didn't know what," Paula Lemmon said.
When Dane started basic training in January, the two had the celebrations for his life-long dream all planned out. They were most excited for the moment they would embrace him, post graduation for the "tap out."
"(The tap out) means you touch them or you hug them, and they are released from standing at attention. And that's the first time your family gets to see and touch your airmen," Gower said.
But unfortunately the only thing the two would tap Thursday was the play button. The Air Force is not allowing visitors for basic training and is instead live streaming the ceremony on Facebook in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Some people were like, well, you're a military family now, get used to disappointment of not being able to see your soldier," Gower said.
But for these two, now military parents, the disappointment, quickly turned to pride and gratitude when they saw him among his nearly 800 fellow graduates.
"When he walked by, the first thing that came out of my mouth was, 'Oh there's Dane!'" Lemmon said.
"I was actually pretty impressed with his turn," Gower said. "Solid crisp turn, I was like, 'Atta, boy! There you go.'"
The two said they have gratitude to be able to see their son, amid a pandemic that's altering the lives of millions around the world.
"I know there's a lot more people in this world that's having a lot more difficult time than us. Just being able to watch our airman graduate," Gower said. "I just chalked it up to,you know what, my kid is a part of a very unique situation in American history."