Johnson's: We will miss him

Last Saturday a group of engineers from Hill Air Force Base joined together with their families at the SLC airport to say good bye. Among the airmen was Senior Master Sergent Joseph Moulton, more commonly known to us as Dad.

Joe will be serving our country for the next 7 months. He will be receiving some intense training at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin for the first 3-4 weeks of his deployment. We know that some of this training will be on combat first aid and shooting some really cool guns. We have already heard from him this week via e-mail and it sounds like he is loving all the weapons he gets to play with.

After his play time in Wisconsin he is headed over with the other 40 or so airmen in his squadron to Afghanistan. While in the desert over there, he will be supporting our troops by helping maintain facilities. On his last tour (in Iraq) they helped build bathroom facilities so that the troops over there had a place to shower and use the el bano (pretend that n is nye). This will be similar to that we think. Not entirely sure though. Anyways...the airport...

We got up at 5:30 am to be to the SLC international airport by 6. We got there and helped him get his personal belongings for the next 7 months (all in 2 bags btw) down to the area for baggage check in. It was there that the news camera crews greeted us. Fox 13 apparently loves us more than KSL, but both thought we were good looking enough to air. Check out the following link:
http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-419th-squadron-to-afghanistan,0,7686454.story

After a few minutes of hanging around with everyone that was deploying and their families, BACA (bikers against child abuse) came into the airport, each with an American flag. After a little while, they went up near the security check point and lined the hall. Each time and airmen came though, they all put their hand on their heart and showed their respect and appreciation for those sacrificing to protect our country.

We all got to escort Joe to the gate the plane was leaving from. We had to have a security background check in advance and have photo ID to get past security. We got to the gate and had to just lounge around and talk for a half hour or so before his plane left. Then came the part we were all hoping would never come. We had to all say our goodbyes. It was an emotional goodbye for all that had to say it.