Day Four: Semper Fi

Our friend Rich has been in the Marines for four years now, and is winding down his time at Camp Lejeune after serving in Afghanistan. It's nice to have him back in the States and out of harm's way, and he's been doing office-type work in the Camp's Radio Battalion recently. E had to leave for work several hours before Amanda and I woke up, but we were able to head over to Lejeune with Jacquie to get a tour of the place and meet Rich for lunch at the officer's club, which was an experience all its own.

First, I have to remark on how huge the base was. Jacquie said she thought it was something like 60 square miles, and even if it wasn't that big, it was BIG. We arrived on the back end of the base near an artillery range, and got our first taste of what base life is like, as we were saluted by the solider on guard at the entrance, even though Rich was nowhere in sight. Apparently officers have a blue decal they put on their cars, and it's protocol to salute the officer's car, regardless of whether he's in it. It happened to us 3 or 4 times through the day, and Jacquie mentioed it's even happened to her in the parking lot of the Camp Commisary. It feels odd, but it's kind of neat nonetheless.

After we'd driven past several “Tank Crossing” signs to meet up with Rich at Radio Battallion, he gave us the dime tour around the Camp, showing us barracks, motor pools, armories, the NCIS branch, and the 2-star command post for Lejeune. After that we went to the officer's club for lunch, where I spent more time than I ever had before staring at people's collars. Given the Marines' summer uniforms it was sometimes difficult to make out insginia, but my final count was two Colonels, two Liuetenant Colonels, and more majors and captains than I could count. Amanda apparently saw a General by the salad bar, but I was too busy getting my Mr. Pibb to notice.

We dropped Rich back off at his office after lunch (he's in a series of temporary windowless trailers that he mentioned have become more or less permanent at this point. He really couldn't tell us anything more about what he does), and headed back to their house on Emerald Isle to relax and read a bit. Like I said, we had time to put our feet up and read for a couple of hours, which is something that's going to be hard to come by later on this vacation. We waited for Rich to get home and went to their community's private pool for a swim, where we were able to see a couple of Marine Ospreys in maneuvers above us before dinner. Part of their home search was having a favorite Mexican restaurant close by, and after a nice meal (just FYI, cowtongue burritos are actually quite tasty!) we came back to call it a night. After such a restful sty catching up with old friends, it's another day of heading south tomorrow, since we have to make it to Charleston in time for the last ferry to Fort Sumter at 4:00. But a nice little break from the road, more tomorrow!

-M