A video capturing an Air Force tradition has gone viral.
On June 17, TikTok user @gillianndavis posted the clip, which shows the moment she approached her husband at his graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training and embraced him—allowing him to break out of formation. "The best feeling in the world," she captioned the video.
The "tap out" is an Air Force tradition where a graduate remains in their position until being touched by a loved one. In the video, the creator paused for a moment before embracing her husband, and he waited, looking straight ahead, until she touched him.
The video has received 34 million views and 5.5 million likes, with one viewer commenting, "I LOVE that you just stood there for a moment, knowing that he had to wait FOR YOU to touch him first."
Newsweek has contacted @gillianndavis for comment via TikTok.
In the video's comments section, the creator said she paused because she wanted to say a few words to her husband first. She added that the couple hadn't seen each other or spoken in months, making the moment especially poignant.
"I told him how much I loved him and how proud of him I was," she wrote.
The video sent some social media users into a "tap out" video frenzy, as they commented how beautiful and emotional the tradition was. "I just looked at why do soldiers need to be tapped out and now I'm crying tears of happiness," one wrote.
"Stuck in a 'tap out' loop now and I'm crying," another added.
While many viewers were concerned for graduates who had no one to "tap them out," one user commented that they could be tapped out by someone close to them from their training or by a higher-up.
The Air Force Basic Military Training website said that while the "tap out" tradition has been honored for years, it is not a hard rule that the graduate must remain waiting in formation position.
For some, the video prompted memories of their own graduation ceremony and the counterintuitive mandate of the "tap out."
"I remember being tapped out, my mom came up behind me and said my first name and didn't understand why I didn't turn around," a commenter wrote. "We didn't even know til day of. When I was in, TikTok wasn't a thing yet, so I didn't research prior."
Another added, "I remember being there and holding my bearing so well and then I felt my mom come up and hug me and I broke down uncontrollably crying."
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