The National Museum of the Marine Corps unveiled a new promotional video for docents to take out to show veterans groups, school groups and other organizations. I asked if this was something that I could upload to my blog and I was told that I could!
Wooo hooo!
I am so excited to share the following promo video produced for the National Museum of the Marine Corps! Besides the docents and staff at the museum, you are are part of the first outside group to see this.
If you haven't come for a visit, hope you can make it soon!
What is the Globe and Laurel? It is a restaurant owned by retired Marine Rick Spooner and his wife. Originally, it was located in historic Quantico Town but burned down. Its last location was on Rt. 1 in Triangle, Virginia, just north of the main gate to Quantico Marine Corps base. The Globe and Laurel is a museum in its own right to the Marine Corps and to law enforcement agencies. Why law enforcement? That is because the FBI academy is also located at Quantico and with many FBI agents and other law enforcement officers being former Marine Corps or military, they felt comfortable at the establishment surrounded by military paraphernalia.
The walls of the Globe and Laurel were covered with framed shadow boxes containing swords, military insignia and law enforcement patches as well as photographs.
And then, the Virginia Department of Transportation decided to widen Rt. 1. The Globe and Laurel would have to make way for additional traffic lanes.
Spooner relocated to the site of the former "Philly's" restaurant, south of the Marine base's south entrance. After a great deal of renovation (they pretty much gutted the place), The Globe and Laurel has re-opened. I missed the grand opening on Tuesday, an invitation had been extended to docents who have worked the most hours at the museum (clearly I'm working too much and volunteering too much). I wasn't able to attend the grand re-opening because I was working (that darn day job - - I need to win the lottery already!).
The photo above shows the new location.
The new location is twice the size of the former location, with much more parking available. For those who had ever been to the old Philly's (I had gone last year with docents after our awards dinner), it looks completely different. Its a nice sit-down restaurant with the small town feel. There is definitely more wall space for more Marine Corps and Military paraphernalia.
Here I am with several of my fellow museum docents. By the way, the mug the guy in front of me is holding is not a Globe and Laurel mug, its his own. Yes, you can bring your own mug, and you can leave it hanging on a hook over the bar, should you intend to be a regular.
And the important stuff - - how is the food? The dinner menu selection is limited, and that is o.k. Why have a bunch of o.k. choices when you can do a few great choices. I had the prime rib. It was done just right! The crab cakes got good reviews as did the onion soup. The lunch menu includes burgers, the dinner menu does not.
It was so nice to have a day off yesterday and it is so calming to come home to a clean house (well almost - - still have to tackle the dining room table). Today, I even got to come home at 6 p.m. Haven't done that in a long time. I almost didn't know what to do with myself.
I played with the cats for a bit. They are totally into playing with this piece of plastic strap that had bound a package I received a few months ago. Stryker carries it around with him but likes it much more when I make this "Invisible snake" move for him. All three love it. Ranger turns into a little kitten, ears forward, facial hair all fluffed up.
We had a meeting today to talk strategy on testing and where we were. Its going to be a busy summer. My manager spoke with me a couple days ago after everyone else had left. She wanted to know if I'd be o.k. with one of the newly hired analysts taking on the leadership role of the functional team. I guess she felt that since I was the more senior that I might be offended by the choice. I looked right at her and said, "I have no desire to be in management, I like being a worker bee. I hate meetings and all the paper work you guys have to do. So, I'm totally fine with it." I almost gave her a Dan Daily quote that he supposedly said when offered an officer's commission - - "Why would I want to be an average officer when I can be an outstanding NCO." I don't think she would have understood (first) what an NCO was and (second) the difference between and NCO and an officer.
Well, the guy that is helping me test is who they want me to groom to take on the lead role with this piece of software once we implement. Its a relief really, but its hard to let go. For the past 9 months, I've been nurturing this and suffering through the growing pains of figuring out how it works. Its my baby. And right now, the scariest realization for me, I am the only one who really has ALL the functional knowledge about why it works the way it works. I've got to pass the torch. I need to let go and let him test it all out so I can work on the training material - - and actually go out and teach users next month. OMGoodness next month! Ahhhhh!
Once the software deploys, he and I will be the experts the rest of the team will come to when users have problems. So we'll be really busy in the fall too. After things calm down, I will be moving to a new task on my current project. That is how I like things.
However, having the day off and getting to come home at a 'normal' hour, it really hit home how I let my job take over my life. Brad and I met for lunch a couple weeks ago. I had just received my 10-year anniversary pearls so I wore them proudly. He asked me if I was were I wanted to be.
"No, not really," was my reply.
He wanted to know if I hadn't been promoted or given growth opportunities.
I told him I've been given a lot of opportunities and have grown a lot and make a lot of money. But in some respects, I feel like I am still in the same place I was 10 years ago. By this I meant, many of the people I had started out with 10 years ago are now married with children. A lot of the women, who were my friends are not stay at home moms or are just working part-time. I'm still doing the career grind. For me, a family is much more important than a career but that just hasn't been in the cards for me.
"It'll happen for you," he said.
Does a man have any clue how that makes a woman they have broken up with feel when they say that?
"No, the reality of it is, it may not," I replied. SOB, here I was proudly showing off my pearls and now I was struggling to hold back tears.
I know that God's plan is to prosper me and not harm me. My singleness is best for me at this moment, because if it weren't, God would have made it so I wasn't single. I just wonder what awaits me in the next 10 years.
Don't know if anyone outside the Washington, DC area heard about the wild thunderstorms and tornadoes we got yesterday. It was pretty cool and scary all at the same time.
It all started rolling in around 3:00 p.m. When I went to microwave my lunch I noticed in the sky light that the sky was getting dark. When I emerged from the kitchen, the secretary exclaimed "Oh My!" I looked out the window to see the trees thrashing around violently as the sound of pounding rain drops hitting the sky light. (yes, I was eating lunch at 3 p.m. - - I had stuff I had to take care of so eating and going to the bathroom were put on hold for most of the day). I walked back to my desk with my lunch, we sit in a windowless area, and told everyone that a really bad storm was rolling in. As if on queue, the lights began to flicker.
By the way, why do women always scream when the lights flicker on and off?
I can tell you, I've never experienced the flickering lights. Its only something I've seen watching horror movies. Someone did comment that it was reminding them of the Exorcist.
Everyone was quickly trying to save thing on the computers and then POP! We were engulfed in complete darkness. Where the heck were the emergency lights?
It was so dark outside that light from the sky light and from the window by the conference room wasn't penetrating over our cubicle walls. I think the last time I had experienced that kind of darkness was when I toured some cave and they turned the lights out. I carefully grabbed my lunch and headed toward the conference room hallway where the window was.
HOLY COW!
The rain was coming down so hard and the wind was so strong, I couldn't even see the trees in the courtyard. It was like someone was dosing the windows with a fire hose. The lightening was AMAZING! I have never seen lightening like that during the day.
The office chief scurried past me and the five men who had joined me at the window to watch nature's show.
"Get away from the windows!" she warned, "You may get struck by lightening."
Well, the storm eventually blew over but the power didn't come back on. We sat around near the windows and played finger football (remember that game you used to play in elementary school with paper folded into a triangle?) The tech guys sat by the window overlooking the parking garage and timed how long it took a car to get out of the garage and onto the street (half an hour). We were just sitting around basically because we'd rather be sitting with people than in our cars waiting in horrible long lines of traffic. I left at 5:15, two hours later, I was finally home.
I had power at home.
This morning, while getting ready for work, my boss called to tell me our office still didn't have power so we weren't to come in. That really stinks, sort of, because I had a lot of stuff that needed to get done. But you know what, nothing I can do. So I used the time to get the things around my house in order. I did all of my laundry and ironed all of my clothes. It took me four hours to complete all of my ironing! I guess that is what I get for letting a months worth of clothes pile up.
Then I rescued a baby bird (fledgling - - half down half feathers and not able to fly yet) that had fallen from its tree. Let me just tell you how stressful that was. Poor little guy. I scooped him up in a shoe box and climbed my neighbor's tree as high as I could go, opened the box and it hopped out and onto a branch. I watched to make sure the adult birds came to it and they did, so hopefully it makes it.
I was then Suzy Homemaker and went grocery shopping and made fruit salad and regular salads to take to work with me and have through the weekend. Must eat healthy!
Luckily, I won't have to work this weekend as there was a planned power outage so they could install cooling systems for a server room. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to enjoy the 90 degree weather up at the pool!
Oh and I have one heck of a caffeine withdrawal headache this evening. So, I am off to take Tylenol and go to bed.
Don't know if anyone outside the Washington, DC area heard about the wild thunderstorms and tornadoes we got yesterday. It was pretty cool and scary all at the same time.
It all started rolling in around 3:00 p.m. When I went to microwave my lunch I noticed in the sky light that the sky was getting dark. When I emerged from the kitchen, the secretary exclaimed "Oh My!" I looked out the window to see the trees thrashing around violently as the sound of pounding rain drops hitting the sky light. (yes, I was eating lunch at 3 p.m. - - I had stuff I had to take care of so eating and going to the bathroom were put on hold for most of the day). I walked back to my desk with my lunch, we sit in a windowless area, and told everyone that a really bad storm was rolling in. As if on queue, the lights began to flicker.
By the way, why do women always scream when the lights flicker on and off?
I can tell you, I've never experienced the flickering lights. Its only something I've seen watching horror movies. Someone did comment that it was reminding them of the Exorcist.
Everyone was quickly trying to save thing on the computers and then POP! We were engulfed in complete darkness. Where the heck were the emergency lights?
It was so dark outside that light from the sky light and from the window by the conference room wasn't penetrating over our cubicle walls. I think the last time I had experienced that kind of darkness was when I toured some cave and they turned the lights out. I carefully grabbed my lunch and headed toward the conference room hallway where the window was.
HOLY COW!
The rain was coming down so hard and the wind was so strong, I couldn't even see the trees in the courtyard. It was like someone was dosing the windows with a fire hose. The lightening was AMAZING! I have never seen lightening like that during the day.
The office chief scurried past me and the five men who had joined me at the window to watch nature's show.
"Get away from the windows!" she warned, "You may get struck by lightening."
Well, the storm eventually blew over but the power didn't come back on. We sat around near the windows and played finger football (remember that game you used to play in elementary school with paper folded into a triangle?) The tech guys sat by the window overlooking the parking garage and timed how long it took a car to get out of the garage and onto the street (half an hour). We were just sitting around basically because we'd rather be sitting with people than in our cars waiting in horrible long lines of traffic. I left at 5:15, two hours later, I was finally home.
I had power at home.
This morning, while getting ready for work, my boss called to tell me our office still didn't have power so we weren't to come in. That really stinks, sort of, because I had a lot of stuff that needed to get done. But you know what, nothing I can do. So I used the time to get the things around my house in order. I did all of my laundry and ironed all of my clothes. It took me four hours to complete all of my ironing! I guess that is what I get for letting a months worth of clothes pile up.
Then I rescued a baby bird (fledgling - - half down half feathers and not able to fly yet) that had fallen from its tree. Let me just tell you how stressful that was. Poor little guy. I scooped him up in a shoe box and climbed my neighbor's tree as high as I could go, opened the box and it hopped out and onto a branch. I watched to make sure the adult birds came to it and they did, so hopefully it makes it.
I was then Suzy Homemaker and went grocery shopping and made fruit salad and regular salads to take to work with me and have through the weekend. Must eat healthy!
Luckily, I won't have to work this weekend as there was a planned power outage so they could install cooling systems for a server room. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to enjoy the 90 degree weather up at the pool!
Oh and I have one heck of a caffeine withdrawal headache this evening. So, I am off to take Tylenol and go to bed.
I don't usually post things straight from the AP, but this one, thought I should.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:32 a.m. ET JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Jack Lucas, who at 14 lied his way into military service during World War II and became the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, died Thursday in a Hattiesburg, Miss., hospital. He was 80.
Lucas had been battling cancer. Ponda Lee at Moore Funeral Service said the funeral home was told he died before dawn.
Jacklyln ''Jack'' Lucas was just six days past his 17th birthday in February 1945 when his heroism at Iwo Jima earned him the nation's highest military honor. He used his body to shield three fellow squad members from two grenades, and was nearly killed when one exploded. ''A couple of grenades rolled into the trench,'' Lucas said in an Associated Press interview shortly before he received the medal from President Truman in October 1945. ''I hollered to my pals to get out and did a Superman dive at the grenades. I wasn't a Superman after I got hit. I let out one helluva scream when that thing went off.''
He was left with more than 250 pieces of shrapnel in his body and in every major organ and endured 26 surgeries in the months after Iwo Jima.
He was the youngest serviceman to win the Medal of Honor in any conflict other than the Civil War.
''By his inspiring action and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice, he not only protected his comrades from certain injury or possible death but also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue the advance,'' the Medal of Honor citation said.
In the AP interview, written as a first-person account under his name, he recalled the months he spent in a hospital.
''Soon as I rest up, I imagine I'll run for president,'' the story concluded. ''Ain't I the hero, though?''
Big for his age and eager to serve, Lucas forged his mother's signature on an enlistment waiver and joined the Marines at 14. Military censors discovered his age through a letter to his 15-year-old girlfriend.
''They had him driving a truck in Hawaii because his age was discovered and they threatened to send him home,'' said D.K. Drum, who wrote Lucas' story in the 2006 book ''Indestructible.'' ''He said if they sent him home, he would just join the Army.''
Lucas eventually stowed away aboard a Navy ship headed for combat in the Pacific Ocean. He turned himself in to avoid being listed as a deserter and volunteered to fight, and the officers on board allowed him to reach his goal of fighting the Japanese.
''They did not know his age. He didn't give it up and they didn't ask,'' Drum said.
Born in Plymouth, N.C., on Feb. 14, 1928, Edwards was a 13-year-old cadet captain in a military academy when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
''I would not settle for watching from the sidelines when the United States was in such desperate need of support from its citizens,'' Lucas said in ''Indestructible.'' ''Everyone was needed to do his part and I could not do mine by remaining in North Carolina.''
After the war, Lucas earned a business degree from High Point University in North Carolina and raised, processed and sold beef in the Washington, D.C., area. In the 1960s, he joined the Army and became a paratrooper, Drum said, to conquer his fear of heights. On a training jump, both of his parachutes failed.
''He was the last one out of the airplane and the first one on the ground,'' Drum said. He was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in April and spent his last days in the hospital with family and friends, including his wife, Ruby, standing vigil.
Saturday, the Osprey Memorial Foundation held its dedication and reception at the museum. Their monument is pictured above.
The Osprey Memorial is dedicated to those who lost their lives while testing this hybrid air craft for the Marine Corps. Those names engraved on the monument include the two crews lost in 2008.
My thoughts observing all their friends and supporters gather at the museum for the dedication ceremony, which was moved indoors due to inclement weather, ran bitter sweet.
Earlier in the day, I met the parents and aunt and uncle of Keith Kelly, who was the crew chief on the Osprey that was lost in April of 2000. He was just 22 years old. His mom and aunt were wearing pins with a picture of Keith in the middle. I noticed the pins, couldn't quite make out what they said, but asked if they were there for the memorial dedication. They were and I asked them who their familiy member was and they told me.
I got excited. Yes, I got excited because I knew they were coming and I was just excited to meet family members associated with the names on the monument. I cheerfully said, "Gosh, its so good to meet you, I hope you enjoy your visit and I'm so glad you are here..." and instantly it hit me and I said, "I'm just sorry about the circumstances."
There was emotion being swallowed back by the family. His father asked me if I knew where the memorial was. I sure did. Again, that excited to tell a guest were something is lit me up - - and then I got sad again as I described where it was.
"Its in the back of the museum, " my brain was screaming at me, they don't want to know its all the way in the back, who wants to know their child's monument is 'in the back' where no one can see it. However, the other half of my brain yelled back, 'but that is where it is'. I described in detail where it was and how to get to it. I hadn't quite figured out why it was where it was.
I did learn, during the dedication ceremony that its current location is temporary. It all makes sense now. As they complete the switch back trails, construction on the road and chapel, they will be able to move it to its permanent location along the trail.
I also got the chance to meet Anne Murphy, the mother of Major Michael Murphy, one of the pilots on the second aircraft that crashed in December 2000. Mrs. Murphy is the president of the Osprey Memorial Foundation. She and her husband Bud, have led the drive to raise funds for the memorial. When the memorial was installed, I sent the Osprey Memorial Foundation photos of it. I wasn't sure if they knew it was up or not - - however, I'm sure the museum notifies organizations as soon as they are about ready to put their stones up. What a kind lady, she sent me a thank you note and asked me to tell her about myself and how I got involved in the museum - - I think I was good and kept the response short and sweet.
She has since sent me a few e-mails with links to news articles in their local paper about the monument and about the memorial's dedication. It was so nice to meet her. She gave me a big hug and told me it was nice to meet me and that I looked like a sweet girl. Then she had to run to get pictures taken with family and friends.
I hope they aren't feeling a big "let down" today, now that everything is over. All that work and planning for this moment and its done.
One thing that tugged at my heart as I photographed the family members seated in the crowd was how much life changes in 10 years. Widows have re-married, little boys and girls who would never see their dads again are now young men and women. I wondered what their thoughts were as they sat there and listened to other Marines speak of their parents. Were they angry? Did they want to be there? Life has moved on.
Below are photos and video from the early evening event.
Above, the family members and special guests listen to remarks.
I like the photo above because it shows the history of Marine Corps aviation, the JN-4G up front was the first modern air craft the Marine Corps owned and is what WW1 pilots trained in; the first Harrier AV-8B the Marine Corps owned; the HRS-1 Chickasaw, the first helicopter used by Marines to carry troops into battle during the Korean war.
Below, the weather improved, so they were able to do the Osprey fly-over. These are all the guests taking position to watch.
The first fly-over, you can hear them before you can see them. The name of their squadron "Thunder Chickens" is sure fitting. This is in helicopter mode.
The second fly over is done in fixed wing mode.
And finally, I will leave you with Heartland performing their song "The Few The Proud With Wings", a tribute song they wrote specifically for the fallen Osprey Marines.
This is the place where I share the things going on in my life such as travel, family events, interesting people I meet and things going on at the National Museum of the Marine Corps (where I volunteer). Writing and photography are ways that I process new things or events. Yes, there may be an occasional work vent or political/current event rant. That said, the views and opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of any organization I may be affiliated with.
