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!).