Home Sweet Home

We are all finally back in NC. I arrived at Cherry Point at 0230 on Christmas morning and then it took 5 hours to get the bags unloaded, drive to Camp Lejeune and then get all the weapons turned in before we met the families and everyone else waiting for us at 0730. It was a great Christmas present for us all and I am glad to be back.

I went into work today to drop some stuff off and check in. Tomorrow thing start back up with a regular schedule. I kind of like the Navy way of ending a deployment. You pull in and then go on leave as soon as everything is settled with the return. The Marines do it a bit differently. I got one day off and then some today as I didn't go in until the afternoon, but I still will have the rest of the week as work days and then after the new year we have more days of classes and stuff and the battalion doesn't get its leave block until January 11th. Makes it feel less like a deployment and more like a long field operation.

But, the most important thing about our return. EVERYONE MADE IT HOME! No KIA during the deployment and I find that impressive with all the fire fights and IEDs we encountered in 7 months. That speaks volumes to the Marines and their leaders over the deployment. We had many close calls but everyone made it back alive and no one lost any limbs. There are still some Marines in the hospital due to injuries, but again they all came back in one piece. Thanks to all who prayed for 1/9 the last few months.

Notes from California-EMV Part 2

So I just got back to the main base out here, Camp Wilson, sort of unexpectedly due to some training I have to give to all the companies before we leave here and two of them are back here for the next two days so I get to give them the training tomorrow. It will be nice to get a shower and do some laundry. The soda I just finished was amazing after not having anything cold to drink for the last two weeks. What a great time out in the field though. I was able to get out with each of the companies for a few nights over that time and held some field services with good attendance numbers of about 10% of the companies. I also got to get out and walk alongside the Marines as they performed on some live fire ranges, one of which I have heard them talk about since the day I arrived 6 months ago. Range 400 out here is a sort of coming of age type experience for the infantry types and I must say it was quite impressive. I walked along with the Battalion Commander who provided some great insight into what I was seeing. There were times where machine guns were firing overhead and I was 100 yds from explosions of all kinds. Pretty surreal to say the least.

We have endured all kinds of weather out here in the desert. From 100 degree days to 30 degree nights to even some rain and 50 mph winds. It is truly looking like a great place to get that final training in before we head out and deploy. I'll leave now so I can go and finish some other work, relax and get some sleep before getting up late tomorrow (6 am instead of 4am like the past few days.)

Shout out to some Middies

I actually got these photos a few weeks ago, so I apologize about the delay. School has been keeping me quite busy over the last month. These are actually photos at the US Air Force Academy where some Naval Academy Midshipmen made a statement the week that Navy traveled to Colorado Springs for some football. Just some light humor that proves how ingenious and creative submariners can be. It is nice to see the tradition will carry on through the next generation.