Captain has promotion ceremony in hot air balloon Published Sept. 8, 2015 By Lee Ross Nucleus writer KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Captain Jason Gabriel didn't go the traditional, coffee and cake route with his promotion ceremony. At 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, Jason and his parents, Steve and Jane Gabriel, launched a hot air balloon from an empty lot in Rio Rancho. As the gondola lifted off the ground, Steve began the swearing in ceremony. "There are no words," Steve said. "I'm just excited to be part of his promotion today." Steve, a wore his uniform from when he was in the Air Force, and brought the captain's bars he wore from 1982 to 1990. Jane was on the flight to pin the bars on Jason and take video. Jason said he was grateful to his parents and the rest of his balloon crew, without whom the event wouldn't have happened. "All these people are willing to miss half a day of work to do this with me," he said. "It's really special." He added that he has done a number of honor flights in his balloon, "Spirit of 76," for active-duty military members who are rejoining their families after a deployment. "I like giving them the opportunity to do something really unique," he said. "It's a way to reintegrate and get your life going again." Jason said he can appreciate how important those kinds of things can be, especially after he deployed to Afghanistan for six months. He returned in January this year, he said. "Everyone else's life keeps going while you're gone," he said. "It can be difficult to come back to that." Jason had a more traditional promotion ceremony later that day.