Guest Author - Stacey Abler

I receive many emails each week from wives and moms wondering what they should wear to their soldier's graduation ceremony. First, congratulations to you and your soldier for making it to this point. Graduation from any military course or program is a great accomplishment. Of course, your soldier will appreciate that his family is there to witness his rite of passage as he moves on to more training or to his unit.

When attending graduation, you will see people dressed from one extreme to the other. At my husband's graduation from OSUT at Ft Benning, Georgia, there were people who were very nicely dressed (overly so in my opinion), those who looked like they just rolled out of bed and headed to graduation, and every thing inbetween. The lesson? No need to worry about being over or under dressed. No matter how you choose to dress, you will fit in.

For basic graduation, your soldier will be in his dress uniform. My advice is always to wear something you are comfortable in and dress for the weather. Yes, your soldier would love to see you in a cute, short strapless dress. But if its 20 degrees outside, you'll quickly be regretting that decision. A nice, simple dress or even jeans with a nice top are perfectly acceptable for graduation.

Keep in mind most military graduation ceremonies are outdoors so you'll be exposed to the weather. You will also be most likely sitting on metal bleachers. Either bring something to sit on or leave the white pants or skirt at home.

Finally, I always give this advice somewhat jokingly and somewhat completely serious. It will have been many weeks by the time you attend graduation since you last saw your soldier. You'll have a large grassy and sandy field inbetween you and your soldier when they finally announce family is welcome on the field. If you're wearing high heels, its going to take much more time to get to him! Always keep that in mind when you're choosing your shoes for the day.

Congratulations and don't forget your camera.

Stacey Abler is an Army Wife and owner of the website, http://www.marriedtothearmy.com.
In addition, she also operates several Cafepress stores - http://www.cafepress.com/soldierswife for Army families and http://www.cafepress.com/soldierswife2 for Navy, Marine and Air Force families.

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