AmericanMarine

Welp, we made it back and in one piece, the brother and I. These are just photos that the oh-so-kind mother happened to snap, more are on the way.

Buses coming in:


Of course, he's the first one off:


Band playing:


Band again:


Lotta ****:

AmericanMarine

More ****:


Chillin in the barracks:


We decided to hit Los Angeles as soon as we could:


Hollywood Blvd:


Capital Records:

Officer of Engineers

Welcome Home, Marine. And Thank You.

__________________
Chimo

AmericanMarine

Mr. Armstrong:


Bigass house:


Then, we went to Vegas:


NY, NY [Vegas]:


This thing is gigantic:

AmericanMarine

MGM:


Gigantic Lion again:


NY, NY:


Coming back to base:


Still have no idea wtf these things do [Electricity?]:

AmericanMarine

They're everywhere:


Coming up on the smallass town of 29 Palms:


Can begin to see the base:


Bigger than the town:


On base:


We found water:


Barracks:

AmericanMarine

Why thank you, kind Sir. :-)

TopHatter

Welcome back!

Great pictures

__________________
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams

Lunatock

Glad to see them home safe.

..can't resist asking, but was your brother glad to be out of Iraq and in the (marginal?) safety and (slightly) less (or more?) harsh environment of L.A.?

Bluesman

Made me smile. Thanks for that, and so very much more.

I have 22 more days in the Air Force, only one of those in uniform.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

Bluesman

Hey, I hope I don't regret asking this, but...

How'd your unit make out? Everybody get back okay?

AmericanMarine

Well, unfortunately, we were the unit in Fallujah that hit those two 'IEDs' at the promotion ceremony. It was 2nd Plt, my brother's. I am in 1st Plt. Lost 10 guys [In one incident], several were close friends with us. One guy had a kid, a fiancee, and another one on the way. Nonetheless, she made it out to welcome us home, and I'll be damned if that wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done; Look her in the eye and pretend I thought her smile wasn't hiding any number of emotions. We took her to lunch and traded stories, good stories of her fiancee. It was weapons plt. that had to go in and remove the bodies, which we had a friend in at the time, so we salvaged what we could to bring home [Not to sound disgusting. A respect thing]. We gave her his USMC ring, and a locket he wore everyday with her picture in it. He was a great guy, not to downplay any others.

Craig Watson, a Lcpl from Michigan, was a great friend. He, unfortunately, was the one said to have stepped on the plate. There are actually several articles online about him. Great kid as well. Had a girlfriend he was marrying when he returned. We're still trying to catch a hold of her to see how she's holding up.

29 Palms definitely took some hits this round. The unit that replaced us (3/5), had a guy killed within 2 hours of being in the country.

Nonetheless, I don't recall anyone regretting going. We all did what we had to do, and knew what we were risking for it. And as bad as it sounds, Iraq is really not the horror story it's made out to be. I'm sure you know that, though.

Luna - When we left, we flew into Germany first from Kuwait. We were promised food and drinks inside, so when we went in, all we found were bathrooms.. Not even a water fountain.. So, on the flight into Maryland, we were all pretty itchy and *****y. But, upon flight into Maryland, we unloaded our ****, and hit the bar. CO holds up his credit card and says 'First rounds on me'. And continued down the ranks until we had emptied two bars, and won a $3,500 bar tab, picked up by the airport in the end. By the time we got to Hollywood, we were too relaxed to even think about Iraq. :-P

Bluesman

I'm sorry, brother. Welcome home, and good job.

That's not just loose talk, either: I mean every word of it. Read it again, with that in mind.

Semper Fi, Marines.

Lunatock

**** happens if you got the MSN as a nearly inescapable source of info.

I take it you were on a road trip? Can't say driving cross country across the 'States would be a bad thing after returning home from Iraq. In fact if you were still in uniform or had a different giveaway..then you'd probably have met enough well wishers offering to buy drinks & what not, to be weary of them and would just want to get home.

Jay

Welcome home man!! and thank you!

__________________
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!