Long wait over, another beginning!

After four months, my family was able to make the poster shown in this pic:

So one wait is over, now just have to wait two more years to actually pin on! But that's the easier part...

It has given me pause to remember how this has only come from The Lord through my family and fellow Marines carrying me these 21 years today. I am truly blessed.

Marine Corps Birthday Balls

Had the wonderful chance to attend two birthday balls this year, one for officers of the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Installations, Pacific headquarters, and then the all-hands ball for III MEF Headquarters Group, and here some of the great times we had at the MHG one alongside the Marines Maxx serves with.  Important to note that for this MHG ball, the girls were watched over by fully and officially qualified Babysitter Elise!

You also have to check out the videos at the bottom of this post to fully appreciate this pic!

Guest of Honor for the evening was Major General Peter Talleri, the MCIPAC Commanding General, who delivered a truly unique message to the 600+ in attendance.  He made everyone there feel very special, but perhaps no group was made more special then these Marines for whom this was their first Marine Corps Ball.  MGen Talleri motivated them to celebrate the occasion in style!

And a terrific evening was had by all! 

My home away from home

I thought it was time to post a bit of my regular work day. Nothing classified about it, so I'll start here with some pics of my corner of the Adjutant Branch's bullpen. Seven of us in an open office makes all the difference, but here's my little nook. Can you tell what some of my side hobbies are?

JGSDF 15th Brigade Open House

Got the rare chance to enter Camp Naha and visit the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force's 15th Brigade as they had their open house event on October 20, 2012.  Posted a video of part of their live demonstration on my facebook page, which is a good representation of what was offered as far as military capability.  Here are some pics I took of the afternoon:

Advertising poster for the event, calling it a "festival."  Also shows at top the 15th Brigade's very cool slogan, "The 15th Brigade- for the protection of the beautiful island's future."

Some recruiting posters inside their main hall.

Small shopping area, with some fun souvenirs available to buy that day.

Wall of photos highlighting different events of the Brigade.

This is the Brigade's 40th anniversary, and this display shows a timeline of events in its history.

Normal festival booths of food and plastic junk toys.

Some booths where you could put on SDF uniforms and pose for pictures- good marketing tool!

Static display of vehicles and weapons.

I like logo designs, found this one interesting.

Weapons handling tables are always popular, even in a largely pacifist nation!

It was a very enlightening event for me.  My guess is that about 60% of the crowd were related to the Brigade or other SDF unit, but we were able to chat with several people who were just Naha residents coming on board the Camp to enjoy the experience.  I have lots of other observations and analysis, but I won't record them here, though I would be happy to discuss with anyone who asks (I did not have to submit a trip report for this, after all, it was on my free time!).

Tokyo trip

After about a month from arriving in Okinawa and being assigned to the G-1 section of III Marine Expeditionary Force, I asked the sergeant of my office what trip the Marines of the G-1 had talked the most about wanting to accomplish during their tour to Japan.  She said they all wished to get to Tokyo and visit Tokyo Disney Resort.  So I said, okay let's git 'er dun!  The next week we settled on the Labor Day four-day weekend to make it happen, and so began a six-month planning process that wrapped up just the other week!

Now, I did not take the most or the best photos of the weekend, nor have I had a chance to grab all the ones taken by the others in the group, but here is a smattering of the adventures we shared.  There was a total of nine of us- myself, my chief MGySgt Manzano and his wife, Sgt Moultrie, Cpl Flores, LCpl Nievescruz, LCpl Ritcheson, LCpl Gilley, and LCpl James.  Hope you enjoy the pics and videos:

Heading to the first train station from the airport.  We took subways and trains the entire time, and the first trip always seems the longest!

Long day of travel from Naha to Tokyo...

We stayed at Hardy Barracks, the Army-run hotel smack in the middle of the Roppongi district.  That first night Friday, couple of Marines joined me for a trip to the observation deck of Mori Tower, in Roppongi Hills.  Great view of the Tokyo skyline at night- you can see Tokyo Tower on the right and further in the distance on the left is Tokyo Sky Tree.

Here is a quick video from Mori Tower, as well:

The next day it was off to Tokyo Disney Sea!  

Getting there by train was actually very simple, LCpl Gilley in the green shirt and shades showing how to do it chilly.

A final monorail into the park...

One of the many themed areas at Disney Sea,

but that ship had the awesome air-conditioned lounge which served drinks, so that was the first stop for many of us.  We stayed here a couple hours, playing cards and getting ready for the long rest of the day!

Turkey leg, baby.  'Nuff said.  Except, who is that in the background?

Why is everyone wearing hats like that?

The area we spent a good portion of the day, kind of the center of the park- cool atmosphere with the coolest ride in the park and also with one of the dumber rides.  We did both that day.

Quick video of a cool feature of that area of the park:

LCpls Gilley and James livin' large in the jungle river delta area.  Lines too long for us to ride, but nice to walk through and we found some ice cream.

Entrance of Disney Sea at night, we stayed until the park closed at 10 p.m.

And limped back to the barracks, still chilly, though...

and though Cpl Flores here looks likes he's down for the count, he's just catching a breather before he hit the town hard ALL NIGHT LONG.

Sunday, and day two of the Disney tour, this time over to Disney Land, 

really summed up best with this video:

Doing what we got to do to get on Space Mountain, first priority! 

LCpl Ritcheson went completely native on us.

And this is the point in the day when most of the LCpls left the park to return to the barracks and sleep in prep for that night, but I kept pushing, taking in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Lots of people at the park that day.

On the way out myself for the day, had to snap this pic, just to show how busy it was.  The Japanese tourists were very patient to wait in lines for everything, from the rides to the food to even the picture places.

And so Sunday wrapped up at Disney, though most of the Marines continued on all night in various locales...

And come Monday, most of those Marines chose to sleep in pretty late, but not LCpls Cruz and Gilley!

All respect out to these two, who took trains for three hours out of Tokyo to get this spot to celebrate LCpl Gilley's birthday in big style!

There goes LCpl Cruz...

...and LCpl Gilley.  Well done hardchargers!

Monday night, and most of us came together for dinner, traversing the now all-too familiar street of Roppongi.

The Marines had found this great Chinese restaurant, and we all hit it again that Monday night.

Ending on a food theme, here's my lunch at Haneda Airport Tuesday before heading back to Naha, soul food...

Again, this small entry doesn't do the trip justice, hopefully you get the idea.  A trip I hope the Marines will never forget, it was the first time there for all of them.  What can top that?  Not too much, maybe, but the adventure continues here in Okinawa, so please stayed tuned!  Thanks for checking in.