Deployment Ceremony

Thursday was the 2nd Stryker Brigate Combat Team deployment ceremony on Sills Field and of course, I was there.

There were rows and rows of soldiers, over 3000 in all.

Over 3000 soldiers stood in formation on the field as Col. Frost, the Brigade Commander, announced their accomplishments during previous deployments and gave the brigade their new mission. He then called for the Brigade and Batallion flags to be "cased", which is just a fancy ceremony where they are wrapped and prepared for the plane ride to Iraq. In the end, all 3000 soldiers soluted in unison as the Army song played. It wasn't at all like I expected but it was awesome to see so many soldiers ready to fight for their country. Good luck boys! Hooah!

Pre-Deployment Fun #1

Chris has been on leave now for about a week and a half. That means time to sleep in, lounge around, go on random adventures and stay up super late. One day we decided to just drive around the island and see what we could find. Our first stop:

This pretty beach!

This beach has everything: jungley type trees, moss covered mountains, calm blue waters and soft, warm sand.

After walking along it for a while, we discovered it had something else as well. Baby jellyfish!

Of course that didn't stop Chris! He made us stay even longer so we could see how many jellies we could find. Grand total before I made us leave: 3.

This is the next beach we came to. You can't tell from the picture but this mountain is way bigger than the one at the first beach.

Plus it had this awesome walk out that was covered in crabs! I made Chris go out first to chase them all away. He's such a nice husband :].

P.S. I'll post more pictures and adventures soon!