Tonight was the welcome home ball for John's battalion, 2/327 "No Slack". The first hour and a half was mingling with friends. It was so neat for me to get to meet the guys that John served with. I got to hear how much other guys who deployed with John respected him and enjoyed their time in Iraq with him. Of course, I know how fab he is, but hearing others tell me makes me so proud I can't hardly stand it. We had a really nice time for sure! After the mingling, we went in for dinner and a program. They posted the colors...is it just me or are you supposed to put your hand over your heart while the flag is brought in and keep it there through the singing of the National Anthem? I did but I didn't see any of the other women doing that. The soldiers were all at attention, it was neat to see.
After the posting of the colors they had a few toasts and named all the soldiers who had been killed during this deployment. They had a table set up for those soldiers in memorial and it was really touching to hear their names and hear the significance of each part of the table, the wine glass inverted but not filled, the red roses and the yellow ribbon, the salt for the tears of their families, the slice of lemon for the bitterness of their sacrifice. And then the moment of silence. They dimmed the lights and a room full of soldiers and wives/girlfriends was absolutely silent. It was very moving.
SGM Chris Fields came down to the "Grog" and as the 1st SGT's from each company came to the podium and described a different battle in history, beginning with WWI and 2/327's involvement, they added a different drink...the first, to signify the blood from WWI was a port wine. I can't remember all of the drinks but there was a rice wine from Vietnam, Chai from Iraq, Gatorade because they never quit, Near Beer for one I can't remember. Each man who poured the bottle in had to drink some from the bottle. One had to add "sand" from the Iraqi desert (brown sugar, really). When he put some in his mouth, the collective groan was priceless! It was so funny to hear the room in an uproar as each company's representative drank from the bottle they added to the grog. The SGM tasted it and wanted to add something so he pulled up an army boot and poured something in, he said, "I had a couple of blisters, just a couple." He then filled his giant mug and drank and drank until it was empty. The room exploded with "HOOAH!" and applause. It was really tobasco sauce! Then they had the youngest soldier from each table come to the center table and dip a pitcher from the grog to bring back to the table. This was the best, John and a SGT Graeser (sp?) (who had earlier identified themselves as the senior citizens of the battalion) both looked at SFC Reynolds and he got this sort of sick look on his face as he realized that he was the young guy. He went up and filled the pitcher and brought it back to the table and poured some in each of the 3 soldier's glasses at our table. There was then a final toast to the battalion and they all drank this crazy concoction. These moments of tradition, pomp and circumstance, and symbolism are so inspiring to me. I love it!
Anyway, I have a couple of pictures here from tonight. Just a couple from the house before we left and one from the opening reception so you can see how John and I looked. Then one that shows the final toast with the guys about to drink the "grog". I wouldn't trade these moments for anything!
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