USMC Birthday Ball 2015

This weekend we attended the 240th USMC Birthday Ball in Wilmington NC. It was an interesting weekend for us to say the least! I left my wallet at home, so I had no photo ID on me (no drinks for me!) or any of my cards. Not a good feeling. I also had a mini stomach attack in the car on the way down there that mercifully passed me by after just some very uncomfortable pain and nausea. Then we also thought the cocktail hour started at 6pm when it actually started at 5pm... and we found this out at 4:30pm. So needless to say I did not have time to do my hair this year! Oops. Luckily I got it cut and highlighted the day before so wearing it down wasn't too awful I guess? You would think we'd never done this before! But with all that going against us we still had a fantastic time.

We didn't really know anyone at our table, but we had other friends there to hang out with once the ceremony was over. This year's message from the Commandant spoke about the Legacy of the Corps and was really interesting to watch, as always.

We had some delicious food and were able to dance to a few songs together before it got pretty warm in the ballroom and we decided to call it a night.

Our professional picture... dang I wish I flipped my hair back or something!

Even though we had fun we ended up leaving earlier than we normally do... I realized that when we were snuggled in our pajamas in a giant hotel bed watching stand up comedy before 10pm! A surefire sign we are getting old. I can wear a fancy dress and heels and dance a lot or I can be in my pjs in a giant bed that is uber comfy? Hard choice! But we did have a great evening, I just didn't take that many pictures this year. We also ordered room service for the next morning to have breakfast in bed.

After we lazied about for awhile we met up with our friends Mark and Kayla to explore around Wilmington. We mostly ended up doing a lot of shopping and eating, but it was a lot of fun.

I love secondhand bookstores

We then found a painted mural that screamed photo opportunity! Mark and Ryan's came out the best I think... as nice as our couple-y shots were!

It was nice to have a day out with friends. We had a yummy lunch at Front Street Brewery, and I highly recommend their fried green tomato BLT!

Kayla and I enjoying downtown Wilmignton

After dinner Kayla and Mark introduced us to the deliciousness that is The Peppered Cupcake. Oh. My. Lanta. This stuff as heavenly good! All  natural ingredients, moist, delicious, wonderful flavors... I am a huge fan!

Hot Chocolate Cupcake

Shock O'lata Cupcake, my personal choice

After our cupcakes we headed home and watched the nail biter Giants vs Patriots game (SO. CLOSE.) and relax with some of the new tea we picked up that day. Even though we didn't get anything practical done (helloooo early morning vacuuming and laundry before work) it was really great to spend some time together and just relax and have fun. 

Very good weekend.

In Their Boots/Jane Wayne

The first Saturday in June SOI-E held am "In Their Boots Day" or what was formerly known as a "Jane Wayne Day". I've always wanted to go to one of these and I was pretty excited when I heard I finally would be able to go to one! Ryan's old unit held one when we first moved to North Carolina but we didn't hear about it until it was too late and I was unable to attend. Even though Ryan was mid cycle he was told he should be able to join me, so I signed up. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, it is basically like "Take Your Child to Work Day" but for military spouses and children... except maybe a little more geared towards spouses for the most part as you do have to be 18 to go to the rifle range.

So that is how I found myself getting up earlier on a Saturday morning than I do normally on work days when I open! By 7am I was on base signed in and ready to go. Ryan's friend Mark, also a Combat Instructor, had his girlfriend Kayla sign up as well and I was thankful for a familiar face.... especially since Ryan got held up at work and ended up not able to meet up with me. I thanked Mark and Kayla profusely for letting me be their third wheel, and to Mark for taking so many pictures and carrying our bags for us!

Our first stop was the rifle range. My husband has talked about rifle ranges since our dating days so I was pretty stoked to be able to finally do one. They had everything set up for us and we basically just had to lie there and shoot!

We were given flak jackets and kevlar as well as ear and eye pro... I think we did pretty well but Ryan made fun of me when he saw the picture. Apparently my kevlar was crooked. We had to wear long sleeved shirts, pants and closed shoes for the range so I was glad it was done early in the morning before the day got too hot. I know my husband will be on the range for hours and come home hot, sweaty and exhausted with interesting tan lines, so our one hour in the early morning suited me just fine.

We were only given fifteen rounds and I was proud of myself for hitting targets on the 50, 250 and 500 yard line! If I had know the "score" they were tracking was just based on hitting the targets in general versus the distance I probably would have stuck with the closer one! :P I won't share my score but I will say that I hit three on the 500 yard line!

After the range we took the bus back to base and got to try all the other activities, including a night vision goggle obstacle course and the ISMIT. The ISMIT is basically a simulator that they do rather than a live fire range. Above I am using the grenade launcher and below the 50 cal. machine gun. The grenade launcher was a ton of fun and the whole thing shook back and forth, it was crazy powerful! The .50 cal rattled me around a bit too!

We also got decked out again to ride in a Light Armored Vehicle, or LAV, which made my husband jealous as he even said he's never gotten to ride in one! 

That LAV went fast too! Kayla and I were standing in the back (we decided to be good grown ups and let the ten year old kid take the gun turret) and we had to hold on to keep from falling off our perches as we flew around the turns!

They also landed some helicopters in a nearby field that we were allowed to get on and explore.

I got to sit in a Huey! It was a tight squeeze, not gonna lie. No wonder they have height restrictions for pilots! When we explored the CH 53-E I nearly wiped out three different times since the floor was slick with hydraulic fluid and my sneakers have basically no grip. The crew at least got a good laugh out of me, happy to help!

"Get to the choppa!"

I had a wonderful time and I am so thankful SOI-E went out of their way to plan such a fun event for the families. We all received t-shirts, SOI-E canvas bags, and Jane Wayne day dog tags too. I had a blast and even though I was bummed Ryan couldn't make it I was grateful Kayla and Mark kept me company. If you ever get the opportunity to attend an "In Their Boots Day" go for it!!

Dining In 2015

On Friday the MCT portion of SOI-E had a Dining In that we were lucky enough to be able to attend. Ryan and I have been married nearly five years and together over seven and this is the first time we have been able to attend one! Other units had them scheduled and then cancelled over the years so we were looking forward to an evening out together. Plus, I always love a reason to see my husband in his dress blues! Dining Ins are a little less formal than Birthday Balls, so cocktail attire is encouraged, but I did see a mix of dresses for sure. Most women were in cocktail dresses, some were in long formal gowns, and one or two were in very casual dresses. It seemed anything semi dressy was acceptable, but I googled the bejeezus out of it ahead of time to make sure! I rarely have an excuse to wear a little black dress, particularly one as comfortable as the one I did wear, so I was all about the cocktail attire.

We clean up pretty good! I worked half a day and then used the extra hours to work on my hair and make up, always a challenge for me, but I thnk I did ok. The Dining In was held on base and it was a beautiful evening. The last time we were at this pavillion was for our first Ball in Lejeune, and the docks were under construction. A backhoe does not a romantic backdrop make! But three years later it looked really nice. We arrived for the cocktail hour and were early enough to take advantage of the limited open bar... as in we each got one free drink before the free part ended! Works for me! We mingled and I met some more of Ryan's fellow instructors and their spouses, which was nice.

The Dining In is all about rules and ceremony... including lining up and marching in to your seat. Once you are seated, you do not get up until the break otherwise the Vice can make your spouse pay a fine and visit the grog bowl. Other infractions include rudeness, breaking ceremony, uniform infractions, or anything else the Vice and the President deem to be punishable. Needless to say if you have to pee, you hold it! The dinner was nice and once the guys got into the spirit of fining the heck out of one another it was pretty entertaining. The grog bowl is pretty disgusting. The liquid inside almost looked like a bloody mary and was kind of thick with chunks of unidentifiable things floating in it. The poor Marines who had to take shots of it (some only had one, others had as many as five or more) looked pretty green afterwards!

 

Other traditions, besides staying seated, include the President having to taste the beef (to make sure it is "fit for consumption") as well as the wine. The Marines are usually pretty mean and do something to the food and wine to make it gross (I believe ours covered the beef in super hot sauce but I have heard of it even being covered in cat food before) because the President has to eat it. If he doesn't, no one else is allowed to eat anything! So unless you want a hundred or so hangry people, you stomach a small bite.

After the break (and a huge, mad dash to the bathroom) the fines are closed and you do the traditional toasts and the guest of honor speaks. Ours was a Sgt Major who has been in many years and nearly moved me to tears at one point when he spoke about some of the amazing men he served with and lost... including one of his good friends who was killed in the recent helicopter training accident in Florida a little while back.

Everyone is given a cigar to enjoy for when the smoking lamp is lit. Ryan and I have been smoke free for over eight months now, so we didn't even chance it with a cigar... I was pretty proud of us for sticking to it.

 

After the toasts and speeches the President dismisses everyone to the bar to join him for a drink (and a cigar) and you are free to mingle or go home. We hung out a little longer and chatted with some people before heading home again.

 

It was a lovely night and we both had a really nice time. I do have to say, as much as I love dressing up, it was super nice to change in to my sweat pants when we got home. We snuggled on the couch and watched the Simpsons and ate grilled cheese sandwiches.... you can't beat that!

 

239th USMC Birthday Ball





Pardon the weird quality, it is a picture of a picture after all.



This past weekend we attended the 239th USMC Birthday Ball for SOI in Wilmington, NC. Even though Ryan is still in student status we decided to go to the SOI Ball rather than the ball his old unit was having (and the fact that one was on Saturday and one was Sunday had nothing to do with that decision!). Last year, Ryan was deployed during the ball season so we were pretty excited to go this year. I love seeing my husband in his dress blues and I love having an excuse to dress up. This year I wore my bridesmaid's dress from my best friend's wedding this past May... military spouses are definitely some of the few people in this world that wear them again!

 

We decided to make a weekend of it and get a hotel in Wilmington so we didn't have an hour drive home that night. We get to the hotel, grab some hot drinks since it got cold literally overnight, and then Ryan realized he hadn't gotten a hair cut! So he went off to do that while I got ready.

 

Naturally the day of the ball I had a huge breakout on my face, I cut my leg badly in the shower for the first time in months, and for good measure I wacked myself in the neck with a hot curling iron as I was doing my own hair. Geeze. Top that off with still feeling off from my gall bladder I barely ate all day. At least from far away you can't tell that I felt like a walking hot mess.

 

Obligatory mirror selfie

We took a cab to the Convention Center (all $4 it cost us) since it was chilly and got there with time to mingle. We got our Professional pictures taken early on since I knew Ryan has zero patience for such things and once we got going it would never happen. This year's picture (seen at the top of this post) is probably hands down our best one to date! We were both pretty stoked. I know it was good because my non social media using husband switched his facebook profile picture for the first time since 2011.... seriously.

 

Another new thing, we had to all get stamps inside our wrists if we were over 21 and wanted to drink, that was diferent for sure, but we were definitely buying us some overpriced alcohol so we obliged. It was nice to meet Ryan's other fellow students I had heard so much about. For the first time since we went to a ball in DC years ago I was pretty thrown by all the "brass" in the room. So many officers and higher ranking enlisted, it was a tad bit intimidating truth be told!

Ceremony

The itty bitty PFC that was the youngest Marine this year must have really felt it. She was born in 1996, the same year as my baby brother who is still in high school! Oy! Ryan and I bet on the year they'd be born, I sadly lost.

 

We had a decent view of the ceremony and the video, which dorky me absolutely loves every single year. This year got me teary (not a first) because the battles they mentioned in the video I know my Poppy fought in during WW2. Seeing some of the footage, especially talk of the bloodiest battles of the war at Peilalu and Guadalcanal, and knowing my Poppy was there was hard to wrap my brain around.

Our guest speaker

Our guest speaker was very good (they usually are!) and I am ashamed to say I forgot his name. I will have to edit this when I get home. My favorite part of his speech was that he ended with the following poem:

"The wonderful love of a beautiful maid,
The love of a staunch, true man,
The love of a baby, unafraid,
Have existed since time began.
But the greatest of loves,
The quintessence of loves,
Even greater than that of a mother,
Is the tender, passionate, infinite love,
of one drunken Marine for another."

Now even though my stomach stinks I nibbled on some delicious food, the highlight being this chocolate cake. It was hands down some of the best chocolate cake I have had in my life. Seriously. I wanted to take what I could not finish home with me to eat later. If it could have fit in my purse I probably would have!

 

 

Proof I am getting old. I cannot take a selfie to save my life. Or a ussie? Whatever you want to call it! I cut myself out when I try to do it and when you turn it around the quality is pretty awful...

Thankfully one of my husband's fellow students was nice enough to take a picture for us... that one thankfully came out nice too! The large red carpet they had leading to the dance floor was a nice touch if you ask me.

 

 

We danced and hung out for awhile, had a few drinks, before everyone decided they wanted to go out. Any of you who know me know I am not a big partier by any means... but I did my best. We went back to our hotel to change because, well, really it was too cold for most of us! We started at City Limits, a country western bar that I was more than happy to stay in, especially since our cover fee was waived, but we were in the minority. Instead we ended up at Sputnik, another nightclub. Definitely not my typical scene, give me a quiet pub with trivia any day, but I made it a good three or four hours before I begged my husband to have us leave! Aside from a drunken pizza detour (for the Marines sadly, not me) we eventually collapsed into bed way past my bedtime.

Someone stole the VIP sign from another table after we managed to snag one... we aren't that cool, I promise!

 

All in all, another succesful Marine Corps birthday in my book! Happy birthday Marines!

 

Happy 239th Birthday Marines!

239 years and man, you still look damn good for your age!

Our Birthday Ball will be this weekend and I am pretty excited... not gonna lie. I have my bridesmaids dress from my best friends wedding I can wear, proof that you can actually wear them again! (Especially when you pick them out yourself.. thanks for that Sammy!) It will be with my husband's new assignment so I won't know anyone (hello SOI instructors, we will be your official n00bs for the evening) but I am really looking forward to Ryan and I having a nice night out together.

Happy Birthday Marine Corps! You will see another update next week from me I am sure. Don't forget to watch the Commandant's Birthday Message if you're not attending. I usually wait until the ball to watch it so I will just link it above for those interested.

Also, if you need some Marine Corps Birthday Ball Dos and Don'ts it is by far the most popular entry I have ever written on this blog. I update it yearly, so even though it is from 2011 it is still relevant for any google stalkers out there! Welcome!

Observations

As many of you know I work at the base library. With my new job at reference I am interacting with hundreds of Marines daily.... literally. Then I go home to my Marine (he's my favorite for sure, I am definitely biased there) and life is good. Being it is a library there is a wide variety of Marines, all ranks and jobs and the like doing everything from printing leave requests to MarineNet classes to research papers. Sometimes I complain about being tied to the desk at the "computer" person (usually the first half or more of my shift) but I do love interacting with the Marines and I do enjoy helping them the rare times they need assistance with research or databases.

Since the sleeves went back to being rolled this year I've also noticed a certain accessory a lot of the Marines seem to be wearing these days...

Picture from this link via the AP

The KIA bracelets.

Maybe with the winter cammies and the sleeves down it never caught my eye as much... but with the rolled sleeves and the summer weather I cannot tell you all how many I see a day.

And to be honest that breaks my heart.

These Marines, easily from 18-50, have seen and done so much these past ten years. So many have lost collegues, friends, and brothers/sisters to the point that I can barely track how many I see each day... and those are only for the ones who wear a bracelet... I know plenty do not.

So although we hear in the media "the war is over" we all know the truth. If you have some extra thoughts to spare send it for these Marines. It is a rainy, cloudy morning here in North Carolina and the three hours I have been on the desk so far I have counted 43 bracelets and it is making me a little sad.

That's all.

Our Next Step...?

Found on Pinterest

Everyone knows the military is nothing but 'Hurry up and Wait'. We've all done it. Waiting for deployments to start/end, PCS orders, re-enlistment, leave requests, picking up rank... our spouse's (and I suppose by proxy; us) do quite a bit of it. This is just the latest step of many. For a pretty direct example check out my husband's last re-enlistment saga.

Anyways.

My husband has known for a long time that he wants to be career military and do his 20 years. With the drawdowns and everything else happening lately this plan is becoming harder and harder. He is doing all he can to be at the top of his game and stay in. Hitting his eight years in the Marine Corps last month has been prompting him to do more considering he only has two years left on his current contract. For the past six months he has been trying to put together a package for his SDA (Secondary Duty Assignment) which is similar to a B-Billet but can only be certain things. Like squares and rectangles, all SDAs are B-Billets but not all B-Billets are SDAs... yea I had no idea either. His options were MSG/Embassy Duty, Drill Instructor, Recruiting Duty or Security Forces.

MSG/Embassy Duty was our to die for wish when we first got married, but to go accompanied you need to be a Staff Sergeant or higher. Since Ryan needs to do his SDA to have a chance of picking up SSgt this is sadly not an option for us. He could do it unaccompanied but we have no desire to go through that. My husband would also rather jump off a bridge than be a Drill Instructor. He has flat out said he'd almost rather do unaccompanied MSG than DI. To each their own! Recuriting Duty wasn't too appealing but Security Forces was the gleam in my husband's eye. It was his original MOS when he entered the Marine Corps and he loved every minute of it. So that was where he decided to put his package together and submit for.

The monitor said they were not accepting for the next fiscal year until May 1, so Ryan was determined to have his package ready for then. He went and spoke to the career planner and got things going. For weeks he ran all over base getting physicals, signatures and all sorts of things. We had a bit of drama with some signatures but the package was complete well in time to get sent up to Headquarters by May 1. All we had left to do was cross our fingers and wait. We knew Ryan's 2 NJPs from back in the day could be an issue, but the monitor for Security Forces when asked heard that Ryan had them but had been prior Security Forces he said, "Send in the package".

Time goes by.

Last week, over a month after the package is sent in, the career planner calls my husband. He asks, "What's up with your package?" My husband replies, "I would ask you the same thing, did you hear anything?"

No.

It was sitting on his desk.

The damn thing sat on the career planner's desk for a month. It went up that day.

It was denied within two days because there were no spots left.

When Ryan told me it was like a punch in the gut. What now? I was thinking at work that he'd maybe try for Recruiting Duty next, unappealing as it was, when my phone started blowing up. Ryan over and over again to call him.

So I step outside and call him and he informs me the monitor for Security Forces is also the monitor for SOI (School of Infantry) and if Ryan was interested he'd want him as an instructor at the school. Were we interested? Ryan and I talked on the phone for less than a minute but in the end he, with my support, decided to go for it. At this point we do not have many options left. So Ryan hastily scrambled and submitted yet another package, as instructed, and we are waiting again.

What if he gets it?

Well.... we will be in the Camp Lejeune area for another three years... damn :P I was sort of looking forward to moving. I can live with it though. I finally have a full time job, we have a house, and it's doable. 86 hour work weeks... yikes. Things will definitely be changing with those kinds of hours. SOI is on Camp Geiger, near New River, so the commute is doable for Ryan especially since most days he will be there by 0430. There will be more overnight duty, up to three times a week possible. All of that seems pretty intimidating since we were thinking of maybe starting a family. Eventually. You know, definitely in the next three years! So 86 hour work weeks with possible three nights away from home with me pregnant then with a newborn? Oh, yikes.

But what choice do we have? If he submits a package for something else, it could easily be denied. All someone needs to see are 2 NJPs (from six years, two ranks and two deployments ago) and that could be it. This is a big opportunity that unfortunately we cannot turn down.

Once again, we wait.

The career planner has the second completed package ready to go. Hopefully we will hear something affirmative soon.

And yes, my husband is calling the planner every day to make sure it is getting sent in.

Now, we wait. Cross your fingers friends!

Homecoming!

Oh what a glorious word!!!

Of course I was slightly stressed that day. Nerves and the like! I went to work and my coworkers were incredibly gracious to acknowledge my distracted self was pretty useless and didn't have me do anything too strenuous ;)

After work I ran to the dry cleaner to drop off my husband's things that sat on the closet floor for months. In my defense he told me not to worry about them right away! I then ran to the bank, the ABC store for baileys and then home. I quickly walked the Dup, changed the sheets on the bed and vacuumed. My friend Donna stopped by to help me snap out of my insanity and then I realized my no heat curls fell out! Usually those dang things last two days with no issue! So I quickly showered, gashed my leg trying to shave, recurled my hair and did my make up just to get an email they were running ahead of schedule! Crap!

I go to throw on my glorious eShakti dress I'd been saving for the occasion and it ripped!! I was texting pictures to everyone trying to find a back up option but left the house late only to crawl to base in thick thick fog!!

Of course I make it and then we hear the guys are delayed. Sigh. My luck! But my amazing photographer Kaylah from Lauré Love Photography was there waiting for me and definitely helped me stop panicking. 

They had a great set up with tents (that we hung our signs on since the fence gets cleared once a week) a bouncy castle, a movie for the kids and snacks and drinks. 

After a few hours we heard the busses were on base en route to the armory. It was damp and my hair was uncurling and my poster was limp but my butterflies in my stomach became bumblebees. 

Then the bus was there. Kaylah wisely had me stand back and still and let Ryan find me. And suddenly he was there. I ran to him and jumped on him and had the best hug of my life. Nothing else mattered. Kaylah posted some sneak peeks of our pictures so here they are!!

If we get more pictures I'll definitely be sharing here! Thank you Kaylah for waiting around with me and taking such awesome pictures for us!

 

The Dup was so excited to see him too! If I can get the video here I will. Ryan and I were up all night talking and sharing wine and caffeine. I passed out on the couch with him around 5:30am watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. At 8:30am he woke me up with homemade French toast. All weekend was napping, catching up, and going out to eat. Also seeing Catching Fire. I'm so glad to have him home. To have someone to walk the Dup with, cook with, and watch football with at Ale House! Plus we upgraded to iPhone 5cs and I'm loving how much faster it is!!! 

We've had our moments but it's been terrific. I'm so happy he is home again.