Weekend Warriors

One of the greatest things about the military is that you can meet a bunch of perfect strangers on a Monday, and by Friday night you are hanging out with those strangers as though you have known each other for a decade. That bond will always be there. No matter where I go or do after this--I will always have a kinship with any service member that no other sector of our society will ever experience. This rings true even with my father, who is now having reunions with his Army buddies from when he was in. Speaking of which; Mr. O'Connell, thank you so much for the sentiment. I agree with you whole heartedly about the payback we need to get over there. There are some 2600 of our fellow countrymen that vanished at the bottom of a hole in Manhattan that strongly disagree with our pulling out of the middle east until the job is done. So please, Mr. O'Connell, continue to read and attempt to comment. Should work for anonymous comments.

So back to the reason for this post. Four people whom I had never met in my life before Monday last week and I embarked on what is going to be an every weekend event Friday night. Four now friends and I decided that every weekend we are going to get the heck off post and experience the local culture and do the whole tourist thing. We started off small, heading to Baltimore for dinner Friday. We ended up in the Baltimore Harbor downtown area lost and hungry. After conversing with some local boat police, we headed to a restaurant named Phillips for some Chesapeake style crab cakes that were the best crab I have ever eaten. It was to die for. We then walked around for a couple of hours just taking in a new city. All in all, at night, the downtown Baltimore area isn't too bad. Unfortunately, we were kind of rushed leaving, so I forgot my camera. I will get pictures on our next outing there. Sunday we agreed to go to D.C. and check out some of the Smithsonian, and the Capitol building. I did bring my camera, and here are some highlights. We hit the Museum of Natural History, and the Air and Space Museum. We then strolled to the Capitol in some freezing cold wind and endured. It was truly awe inspiring, and it is great, especially as a soldier, to see the center of the democratic universe. Once again, renewing my faith in why we fight (as if it needed renewing). So here are pictures.

T-rex at the Smithsonian. It really wasn't as big as I thought it would be.

King of the jungle.

Sergeants Julia (L) and Katrina in front of the primate exhibit. Two cool people, and professional Non-Commissioned officers.

America is the greatest country on Earth. I don't even need to leave to see one of the Easter Island statues.

The X-1. Chuck Yeager's ship that was the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound.

Me taking a picture of myself and Sergeant Jerry in front of the infrared camera.

Me in front of the Capitol at the Grant monument.

The United States Capitol

Monument to the "fallen Officers, Seamen, and Marines of the United States Navy who fell in defence of the union and liberty of the country 1861-1865"

The Weekend Warriors: L-R, The Sergeants three, myself, and a tag a long private.

Washington Monument from the back side of the Capitol.

The Grant Monument at the Capitol.