November Rewind: Part 1: Birthday Ball

Wow! Yet again, so much time has passed since my last post, and so many exciting things have happened. I'm going to do a few separate posts, documenting the past three weekends we had.

My last post was about CJ and the Rifle Range.  CJ ended up getting Double Expert, which is the best you can get! I am so proud of him, while he thinks he could have done better. There is a range of scores that is designated as expert, so CJ, of course, is only satisfied with a perfect score. My man is so motivated...

The weekend in between rifle range weeks, was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.  Whether you're stationed at Quantico, overseas in Okanawa, or deployed in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps' birthday is always celebrated.  Naturally, depending on the situation, size, etc. of where you are, the celebration part will vary.  The ball for TBS students and staff, is the largest one, hosting over 3,000 people.  (If you haven't noticed, I like to compare things here to Aggie life. So, it's sort of like Muster being world wide, with the largest, most formal program being at aTm.) It was so fun to get dressed up, meet a  lot more of CJ's platoon, and experience some of the traditions and pride that makes the Marine Corps so unique from all the other branches. (Hmm...pride, traditions...another similarity to aTm)

Here are a few pictures from the night...

My man is ridiculously good looking in his dress blues!

Some of the sixth platoon platoon wives and new friends

(a Hawaiian, an Aggie!, an Alabama girl, and me)

One of CJ's new buddies

We had a wonderful evening. The ball was in Richmond (about an hour away) so we carpooled down with one of our favorite couples. The evening started with a cocktail hour, followed by the traditional ceremony which includes the Marine Corps anthems, flag processional, key note speaker, message from the commandant, and cutting of the birthday cake. Here is one tradition...The first slice of cake goes to the honored, guest speaker (ours was a General), then to the oldest Marine attending the ball, then to the youngest.  This is to symbolize the passing down of wisdom from one generation of Marines to the next. I cannot remember how old the oldest was, but I do remember the youngest was born in 1995!

After the dinner, there was a dance.  Only about 15-20% of the attendees were from CJ's company (who were in the middle of two of the hardest weeks of TBS), and it was pretty obvious who those were....the guys who were too tired to dance and most of the first ones leaving! Exhaustion aside, it was a lovely, memorable night. I can't wait to attend many more!