As I looked out over the crowd, I realized I didn’t need my family’s approval anymore.

The ceremony ended with the playing of the Marines’ Hymn.

We marched off the stage in a single-file line.

Thirteen thirty hours.

I stood on the asphalt behind the base security annex.

The afternoon heat rose off the pavement.

Agent Robert Hayes stood beside me holding a metal clipboard.

A white United States Marshals transport vehicle idled in the loading zone twenty yards off.