The Few..The Proud...

Being Memorial Day I thought that I would talk about my husband's service in the United States Marine Corps. Aaron joined the Marines in central Florida right after he graduated from high school. His uncle David was a recruiter so Aaron was able to receive his first MOS (military occupational specialty) which was 6337--F18 Aircraft Electrician. June 28, 1999 Aaron left Florida for Parris Island, South Carolina to participate in the most grueling boot camps of all military branches. 13 weeks of running, climbing, drill, shooting, and all manner of shenanigans and Aaron graduated as a PFC (Private First Class). He went home on Boot leave for 10 days but Aaron received Recruiter's assistance duty for an additional 30 days for recruiting his cousin Ryan. After Aaron's leave he was sent to Camp Lejune North Carolina for Marine Combat Training for a month. In November of 1999, Aaron headed south to Pensacola Florida to participate in A-school, which was an aircraft electrician school. He was in school for about 8 months and reported to his first duty station on Fourth of July weekend 2000 which was MCAS Miramar in San Diego, California. While at Miramar Aaron was assigned to VMFA(AW)-242 (The Bats). He met yours truly in January and left on his first deployment to Iwakuni Japan in March of 2001. He spent those 6 months traveling to Clark Air Force Base in Angeles city- Phillipines, Okinowa- Japan, Kota Kinabalu-Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, Hat Yai-Thailand, Singapore, and Guam. His squadron was scheduled to come home September 11, 2001 but was postponed due to terrorist attacks that day. Luckily, they were able to come home a week later and we were married that October. His next deployment started in August 2002 and he went lead crew on a C130 for about thirty hours to Iwakuni Japan. He spent the next year traveling to Guam, Iwakuni-Japan, Osan-South Korea, Kadena-Japan, Yechon-South Korea (right by the DMZ), Khorat-Thailand, Darwin-Australia, Singapore, Kuantan-Malaysia, Paddaya-Thailand, Phillipines, Wake Island, Iwo Jima-Japan, and Hawaii. He came home late September 2003 and spent some quality time in San Diego. We became pregnant with Roxann in March of 2004 so Aaron extended his service for an additional 6 months. He went to Yuma Arizona for about a month and transferred squadrons as a Sargent to the VMFA 314 (Black Knights)(The same squadron on "Independence Day"). Roxann was born at Balboa Naval Medical Center on November 1st, 2004 and Aaron was honorably discharged December 2004.

We are so proud of our Daddy's service to this country and I know that he is extremely proud of his fellow Marines who are currently active and the veterans that served to protect this nation.