The youngest family member of the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space just did not want her picture taken. Three-year-old Ainsley McLeod kept her head buried on the shoulder of her father, executive officer Maj. Scott McLeod.
Finally, to her dad's satisfaction, she smiled for the camera. And the last picture was snapped en route to the office's time capsule.
The capsule - an old ammo box filled with photographs, organizational charts and other memorabilia - was buried in front of the office's building 5250. This was part of the PEO's observance Thursday of annual Bring Your Child to Work Day. The time capsule will be reopened in 25 years.
"A lot of what we do is linked to families," Barry Pike, the PEO's chief of staff, said.
Before the youngsters posed for group photos, Pike welcomed them and showed a video of the office's weapon systems in action.
"Your parents and grandparents have a lot to do with keeping our nation safe and strong," he said.
He told the youngsters some things they can do to help keep this nation strong. "Stay in school, don't do drugs, and respect authority," Pike said.
Beginning with ages 4 and 5, the youngsters posed for group pictures which would be included in the time capsule. "Everybody stand straight and tall," instructed Jayne Jordan, a program analyst in the external affairs subdivision of Operations Directorate.
Six youngsters ages 13 and up represented the last group. The children's photos culminated with the youngest, Ainsley. And then everyone, including the parents, posed for a group photo in front of the building.
The capsule's other contents included a coin, organizational charts of the PEO and all its project offices, fact sheets on the weapon systems, informational CDs, and a copy of this edition of the Redstone Rocket.
Pike was assisted in the capsule burial by Ainsley's brother, Donnie McLeod, 5, and Jessica Peterson, 9, daughter of Lt. Col. Luke Peterson, an assistant project manager at Non-Line of Sight Launch System Project Office.
"I think it's awesome," said Chelsea Nowakowski, 13, daughter of Donna Vanberkom, Avenger major item manager in Cruise Missile Defense Systems Project Office. "To see how it was now and how it'll look in the future, how it's changed so much."
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