Commissioning Marine Makes Surprise Presentation 
By Sherri Tombarge
LEXINGTON, Va., May 15, 2008 – A great deal more than metal changed hands May 15 when VMI Cadet Aaron Christopher Alderman took part in the U.S. Marine Corps pin-on ceremony at Memorial Garden.
The new second lieutenant received his bars, and he also made a presentation of his own.
Catching his father, a Marine Corps noncommissioned officer, by surprise, he presented him with an NCO saber.
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Cadet Aaron Christopher Alderman
presents sword to father.
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“Every enlisted Marine has a sword,” said Master Gunnery Sgt. James Alderman, Chris Alderman’s father. “I never acquired one for myself. That was the only missing link between me and the Corps. This completes me.”
The elder Alderman cited many Marine Corps birthday celebrations when he, as the oldest man in his unit, passed the second piece of birthday cake to the youngest Marine present, symbolic of the experienced Marine passing knowledge and tradition to the new Marine.
“Today, I am truly passing down knowledge to the young,” he said of his son’s commissioning.
“I feel like a childhood dream has come true,” said the younger Alderman.
Chris Alderman got that dream without explicit encouragement from his father, but through “silent leadership,” said the elder.
“I’m a long way from the rat I was on Aug. 18, 2004,” commented Chris Alderman. “I feel like a rough stone refined.”
“And,” added his father, “the finishing polish is about to take place. The stone is about to become a gem.”
-VMI-
