24 January 2009

Adventure: January

Because a family member is in the Navy, I was invited to attend the commissioning of the USS Green Bay. We went down to the Naval Shipyard,
From Picture of the Day

and went through all the metal detectors to take our seat and watch all the traditional acts like breaking the bottle on the side of the ship. It was quite an impressive ship, which would transport the Marines' Amphibious assault vehicles, among other things. (...I'm not an expert, that's just what I remember-feel free to correct me...) The current crew is 363 (28 officers, 323 enlisted, and 3 marines). Look at the size of it:

From Picture of the Day

I had a very fun day. My favorite part was after all ceremony they gave the signal to board the ship, and all the Naval men went running up to man the ship and stood saluting. It was pretty cool to see. I'm glad I got to go--Thanks HoChing family!

From Picture of the Day

Just as a side note: I loved how the picture below came out, (I mean, the quality could obviously be better, but, ya...) I wasn't intending to get the man's hands in the picture, but catching him applauding as the men stood on deck was a nice bonus because I don't think we see where the rest of us fit into the defense of our great nation. We see images of the people serving to protect our freedoms, and we hear of the people around us either supportive or complaining, but to put the two of them together was really powerful for me. Those hands represent each of us, and what we will never really be able to express/pay back.
From Picture of the Day

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