Deployment Day. I Look Like the Unabomber.

This morning, Chris (and, therefore, I) had to be at Base at 6:00a. It was cold out! And the sunrise was really pretty. You'll have to take my word for it -- my camera was still sleeping.

After Chris went to the armory to be issued his weapons and then staged his gear to be loaded onto a truck, we waited until around 10:00a, when the buses arrived -- not to drive the Marines to Afghanistan, but to an airstrip (flying is faster). 

Some of Chris's gear. Each Marine was issued weapons this morning, including this rifle (an M16, I think?), a pistol and a knife. They also got night vision goggles, and probably some other things that I don't know about.

It was sort of difficult seeing the wives, children, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, siblings and friends of all of these men having to say goodbye. And it was not the easiest thing for me to say goodbye either. I understand that I don't understand what it is like to be part of a military family. But it really does appear to take a lot of strength.

The wife of one Marine I was talking to said, "Whenever the buses come, my stomach just drops". But then she also said that, when the deployment is over and the buses come back, she does this:

This is obviously not her (we weren't at the beach). It's just that I didn't take a picture of her doing it and I want you to understand.

What follows is a series of attempts to take a good photograph of me and Chris:

I was confused at first, too. But (clearly) he's doing "The Twist" back there.

Yay.