And graduation... Not the best vid in the world, I'm still waiting on pics...



DTR's own Moto Marine...



That's all for now... stay tuned...

 

Look at MY medals...and this one is for typing, and this one is for surfing....

Is all of this training to make you a better instructor or are you just prepping for another distant location? GREAT PICS AGAIN. Coming home soon?

Chris

 

I hope you're talking about yours, not mine...
It is required to advance... but I love this kind of stuff. It pulls you away from your MOS (job) and gets you back to the green side. I have not been a DI for a year and a half, now.

We come back mid July-ish....

 

And I was all set to pay Ssgt Morton a visit where he's at. All planned and everything but some wise guy that plans these things planned a last minute change and I missed out. Really sorry there Madhat... instead, they saw fit to send me to Okinawa, where he just left, and now I am stuck for bad weather... boy I'll tell ya, sometimes you just can't win.

Nice rack Mark, I got a couple of those myself... 'course, we "chair" guys don't get around like the Marines do... LOL

 

Hey, 1stSgt, we know the way things are... Never get your hopes up until you see them/you're there.

I have not been many places... The lowest ribbon is the one I'm most proud of... Hopefully I'll have an afghan campaign medal soon, along with the sea service deployment that's coming next...

 

LOL>>>

They came out with the Afghan medal after I left... I got a different one and was told I couldn't get two for the same service. Makes sense, but since I qualfied for that "other" one a few times over, I'd like the Afghan one. Oh well, I am not going to make a special trip back to get it. I am least proud of the one you are most proud of. (at least for my service) Yours required significantly more effort than mine and you should be proud. I am most proud of my armed forces medal... cool story of a mission behind communist lines during the cold war (really long time ago)... can't talk about it here. About stuff the govt denies exists. (at least then; the current administration? Not so much)

My favorite award is not of my own. My grandfather was wounded in the Army in WWI. That was before the purple heart. I have a framed, not sure what you'd call it, "picture/certificate", rather large, like 18"x 24", something like "Columbia bestows her honor on..... who was wounded in action.." and is signed by Woodrow Wilson. Probably my most cherished keepsake.

 

That is pretty awesome about your grandfather. Mine had a bronze star and a purple heart, he was a doc in the army in WWII. I wish that I would have known the man a little better, he died when I was young.

 

Well, I went to Hiro to be a strong arm, but someone chickened out. So, I spent all afternoon drinking Japanese beer and eating some very authentic food...

This was the house...



This was the beer I was drinking. Pretty good, too. The white can was a little hoppy, the beige can was right on.





The old man that 'forced' me to drink...



The table...



Some sort of shrine...



They had this seaweed, I loved it. It was dried and sweet, I meant to get some before I left, but the kids ate it all. I'll have to go shopping for some before I leave.



Oh, yeah, my moto plaque...



Again, stay tuned. Time is getting short, so I doubt there will be many pics left...

 

Ok, here is the end to the saga...

We left Japan on Monday morning...



And landed in Anchorage, Alaska to refuel and change plane crews. However, after flying toward SC for about 30 minutes, the Captain came over the intercom and said we had a fuel leak, so we had to turn around and go back. Seems a relief valve took a poo... So, we unloaded all the bags and checked into the Hilton for the night.




I felt kind of bad for that hotel, there were almost 200 Marines in the lobby with all their crap...



Those are some big dang bears...



The view from my room...





And the top of the hotel. This was at 2300...

 

The plane landing at Beaufort...



And the family!





Oh, happy day!





The kids made me a nice little banner...



And, that's it! Six months of pics, and a happy ending. Sorry, no pictures of when I got inside or the... ahem... activities that followed...

Thanks for following!

mad

 

RIGHT ON !!! WELCOME HOME, MARK !!!

Cheers,
PISTOL

 

I would feel for anyplace with 200 marines in the lobby... much less with their gear.

 

Yeah, we got there at about 1500, and were all out at 0100...

 

your coming home pictures reminded me...

My wife only met me at the airport ONCE and that was one of my trips from the UK.

 

I think I saw Russia in one of those pics

WELCOME HOME......thanks for the virtual trip you took some of us on.

You'd think Anchorage wouldn't have a single building with a flat top. not with all the snow they get. Interesting.

Chris