Playing with our Missionaries

We took our Lawton missionaries out for dinner at the Plantation Restaurant in Medicine Park.  It is a cute little tourist area.  Elder Sheffield's going away dinner, as he went home a few days later.  We are losing almost half of the missionaries this summer.  We are really going to have a lot of greenies.

Sisters Herrin and Scoresby, they are super.  Elders Hanks and Sheffield getting ice cream at Braums one last time before Elder Sheffield leaves for home.  We will miss him, he was a lot of fun.

The view from the top of Mount Scott in Medicine Park.  The tallest "mountain"in Oklahoma -- 2500 feet.

Independence Day Ceremony at Fort Sill.

They had a ceremony the morning of the fourth of July, that was really fun.  We loved it.  They had the band, cannons, and  General McKinery, the base commander gave a talk.  They gave the date each State entered the Union,  and the motto of each, starting with the 1st and going to the 50th.  And they shot a cannon for each one.  I snapped a picture of Uncle Sam as everyone was leaving.

Vanessa's Baptism

Because Lynette is only 5 hours away, we were able to attend Vanessa's baptism in July.    It was fun to spend some time with them, and give us a little break.  Both Grandma's did the talks.  Shauna the one on baptism, and me the Holy Ghost.  We made a ton of cookies and cinnamon rolls for treats after.  There were a lot of friends there supporting them.   We played a little before the baptism.

Dad was helping Jon by mowing as we prepared for the baptism.  What you see is just the front yard.  The back is bigger.

This is the Nathanael Greene Park.  It had beautiful flowers of all varieties, ponds, turtles, and fish.

Annabelle in the butterfly house, checking out ?   It was impressive to see so many butterflies and cocoons , caterpillars

If there is something to be caught, Benson is all over it.  Here is caught a minnow.

Lynette and Jon caught a skunk in their trap they set, not knowing what they were going to catch.  When Lynette saw it was  a skunk she was not going to go in and Rocky ran past her, and he got sprayed.  This is his bath.  It took a lot of soap.  Jon let the skunks (turned out to be a Mom and 2 babies) go out in the wild.  He put a tarp over the cage, and they did not spray him.  He was lucky.

At the Baptism, ---Vanessa and Jon prepared a musical number.  Vanessa is getting pretty good on the violin.

The blond soldier is Linderman.  He needed a battle buddy to be able to come to church.  He is in AIT and not many soldiers want to give up their weekend free time to go to church.  So he started teaching Kirkland, and he ended up getting baptized.  They are both really sharp.  They have a 9 month AIT so Kirkland will have plenty of time to get a firm foundation in the church.   That made our 19th baptism of soldiers.  Sweet is the work.
Elders Sheffield and Rounds in the picture.

Life Fire Demonstration

We attended a demonstration that showed four howitzers and rockets being fired.  It was a  "wower".
Here at Fort Sill we are the only training base for artillery for all the services.  This includes, howitzers, as well as rockets for defense.  Surface to surface, and surface to air.

This is a 105 mm.  It was interesting to watch to the precision in which they loaded and fired each shell.

BOOM.   We were given ear plugs.  A 105mm

This is a 155 mm paladin, mobile transport artillery 

This is the mobile ammo unit.

What it looks like from the back.  Lots of "Stuff" in there.

This has six rockets in it, and you could hear and see them as they flew through the air.

The side of the hill they were blowing up was about a couple miles away.

Change of Command (Battalion Commander)

We were invited by Lt. Col. Chasteen to attend the ceremony for the Change of Command for his Battalion.  It was very impressive.  Lots of pageantry.

The full Battalion, 1000 soldiers marched past the to honor the outgoing commander.

The soldiers saluting the commander.

We quite enjoy all the pomp and ceremony.

                This is part of the history of Fort Sill.  This is called the Half Section.  It includes the cannon and caisson.
                This is the only horses in the military today.  They are used for ceremonies.  They galloped past the grand
stand as part of the ceremony.

Easter Pageant at the Holy City in Medicine Park, OK

There was a pageant held that we went to depicting the life of Jesus Christ.   It started at his birth and went through to the resurrection.  A lot of people watch it every year, as it has been a tradition for years.  We all bring blankets and chairs and sit on a hill.  It went from 8:00 pm to 12:00 midnight.

The cast members mingled with the audience before it started.

In the background, you can see the buildings made from stones that
make up the city.    

Roman Soldiers

They posed for me before it started.

People gathering on the hill before the pageant starts.

Graduation Ceremonies

Every Friday we have two Batteries graduate from Basic Training.  There are around 200 soldiers in each Battery.  There are five Batteries in a Battalion. Alpha, Bravo, Charley, Delta, & Echo.  There are four Battalions, which means there are around 4,000 soldiers doing Basic Training at any given time.
The graduation ceremony is very impressive.  We go every week, and we enjoy it.  We also go to the Family Day (the day before, for the special program for families.)
The soldiers march in to a cadence.  That is impressive.  They have a prayer (OH YEH). Prayer is in the army.  The Band plays the National Anthem,  The Soldiers say the Soldier's Creed.  They have a guest speaker.  They present awards, honor the honor graduates.  (We often have our LDS soldiers in the honor grad group.  (Top 10%).  Each soldier announces himself and then walks across the stage to shake the hands of the Commanders, who line up to receive them.
They show a Video of the soldiers training.  Which is very fun to see, esp. the part where they come out of the gas chamber, because they make them take their mask off for a second.  They have the Drill Sergeants come in and present an award to the Drill Sergeant of the Cycle Award.  They reaffirm the Oath.

This is the cadence the drill sergeants use to have the soldiers exit after the graduation ceremony.

They sing the Army Song, and the soldiers March out to a cadence.

Soldiers waiting for the graduation to start.

The soldiers sing the Army Song at the end of the graduation ceremony.

We get to sit upfront with the chaplains, and the commanders in the reserved seating, which is nice, because families line up at the door, a couple hours early.  We go past the two block long line, and walk in and take our seats.  Very sweet.

Movie played at the beginning of each graduation.  A speech by President Reagan.  Very inspiring.  Hooah!

Ft. Sill Military Branch

We see our soldiers for 2 hrs. each Sunday.  Everything needs to be done in that two hours in not a lot of space.

Sacrament Meeting.  The room is less than ideal for a meeting being long and narrow.  The soldier standing in the center of the room is directing the music.  The Branch Presidency and Relief Society Presidency are the only civilians.  We had baptism at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting (it is conducted during opening exercises, and then confirmation in the meeting)  This room is divided into 3 rooms for the missionary discussions (All 5 lessons are taught in 3 sessions).  Sunday School is taught down the hall in another room.  Twice a month we have 15 minute Priesthood and Relief Society classes. 

We had a guest speaker today and he brought his son (another civilian).  Generally we have the soldiers speak.  Once a month we watch a conference talk but unfortunately we don't get to hear some of the best ones because we only have 10-15 minutes for talks in Sacrament Meeting.  The soldiers teach Sunday School, Priesthood, and Relief Society lessons.  

The Old Plantation Restaurant at Medicine Park

There is a quaint little town about 20 miles from Lawton called Medicine Park that has some of the nicer homes in the area and a little "touristy" downtown area with a nice restaurant called the Old Plantation Cafe.

The entrance to the Old Plantation Cafe.

The Elm trees around here have Mistletoe growing in them. (The clumps of green)

The Mistletoe.

Medicine Creek runs through the center of the town.  Pretty but they charge two dollars to swim,

The view from the top of Mount Scott the highest point in Oklahoma (2750 ft.).

City Ordinance says you cannot remove any of the cobblestones from the town.  You can use
them to build your home but you can't take them away.  Lots of homes and businesses use the stone
for construction.

Sister Griner enjoying the fried mozzarella sticks.

Took all of the Lawton Missionaries to lunch at the Old Plantation Cafe.
Sis. Griner,, Slack, Herrin, and Smith
Elders Langi, Millett, Sheffield, and Barker.

Riding the Rubber Ducky Sleigh.