Getting Ready

Same title as the first post on the blog. We've sent most of our gear ahead of us to our redeployment base near the capital. The picture shows the sea bags for a couple dozen Navy folks ready to RIP out (Replacement In Place). We're completing paperwork, cleaning our weapons, saying good bye. We will have a "Hail and Farewell" to greet the new Navy team and God speed the "old" team. We have not had a formal awards ceremony since not all have been approved by the Navy. We all get several additional ribbons like the NATO ribbon, Afghan Campaign ribbon, and the Overseas ribbon. We will likely have ceremonies for individual awards back at our commands. More posts to come as we move along the redeployment path.
Also shown is a war trophy, an SUV taken when a Taliban leader was captured about 80 miles south of here. I drove it over to the hospital to see a serious patient after hours about 4 days ago; it's right hand drive, but no problem.