Veterans Day Reception

Marcus has become friends with a Navy public affairs officer here in the city. He occasionally invites us out to receptions and other functions - we like to joke that this is the only time we ever get to go out. On Monday night, as a part of Veterans Week, we were invited to visit LPD-21 -- the USS New York, which was visiting the city. She's an amphibious transport dock - a type of ship designed primarily to transport and deploy marines and equipment. 

The New York is special in that it bears many tons of steel from the fallen World Trade center as a part of its construction.

We didn't take this picture - but this is what she looks like in daylight.

This is where you enter - she's smartly designed in that you can walk right on, entering one of the bays where vehicles and other equipment would be stored while underway.

This is the ramp down from the flight deck to the vehicle storage deck. Below that is a well deck (we didn't get a picture) where hovercraft and other landing craft can enter and exit the ship while she remains a fair distance from the shore.

The hanger bay where the reception addresses and entertainment took place. 

The Navy brought in a fantastic jazz and pops band for the evening.

Marcus took this cool photo sphere of the Intrepid, which is permanently docked one peer over.

A CH-53 Sea Stallion on display on the flight deck.

Chase would have loved the helicopter...Marcus did too.

Proof that Erica was there.

The food at these is always good. Especially the meatballs.

And the Cake Boss cake.

Entertainment from the USO is also always a great time.

This is us and CDR Corey Barker, Marcus' PAO friend, along with his colleague LT COL Elizabeth Ortiz, who is the Air Force PAO in NYC.

It was a great way to remember those who have served, and a very fun evening.

Mets Game

Marcus' PAO buddy Corey gave us tickets to attend the Mets Game the afternoon following the reception.  Instead of bringing Chase along, who we envisioned running around and being crazy, we sent him to play at a friend's house and invited some of our friends, Brian & Jessica Westover.  Let's be honest, Chase enjoyed this option way more, and we actually got to watch some of the game.  Well, I did.  Marcus enjoyed finding food.  One of his favorite restaurants has a stand in the stadium, so the second he knew we were going, I am sure he had already began to plan his lunch purchase.

The game does a lot to celebrate fleet week with a fly over by the Super Hornets, the Secretary of the Navy throwing the first pitch, the USO Show Troupe singing...  And since we got the tickets from Corey, we were in the section dedicated for all the military people and families.  Memorial Day Weekend, Baseball, Military Uniforms, yep, a very American afternoon.  It was a fun way to celebrate Memorial Day for sure.

We sat in center field -- which was actually really fun.
Plus it was sunny with a breeze, so sitting outside was comfortable.

The guy standing was very entertaining... super generous but definitely drunk.

Enjoying baseball

Oh, and the Mets actually won!  We've never seen them win before :)

Fleet Week Reception

Marcus was invited to attend a reception in honor of Fleet Week.  It was aboard the USS San Antonio out at the pier, near where the Intrepid is.  We were both really excited about going, though I'll admit we were nervous since we didn't know what to expect.

Marcus took this when we first got to the ship:

There was a V-22 Osprey on the ship, and Marcus really enjoyed checking that out.

They had a bunch of refreshments out on the deck of the ship

Check out this amazing cake

And there was a program where the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, was the keynote speaker.  The program was focused on the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, and there were several veterans present who received special awards/pins for their service.

It was really neat to have been invited since the group wasn't very big.  There were a lot of veterans and families, USO people, and active duty Navy officers... and us.  Well, that's what it felt like.

The USO Show Troupe was there -- they sang during the program.
I tried to get a picture of them after the program, but they quickly changed.  Bummer.  It was like real Captain America :)

And there was a Navy quintet playing after the program

It really was beautiful to be on the deck of the USS San Antonio with the city lights in the background.

And I had to get a "Selfie with a Sailor"

Marcus' friend Commander Corey Barker was more than happy to oblige :)

We also were able to check out a little more of the ship as we wandered out at the end of the evening.

It was a really special way to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend.  Glad we were able to attend!

Navy Fleet Week

Well, this is long overdue I'm afraid. I (Marcus) was given the opportunity to do some volunteering at Fleet Week New York back in May. I took a personal day and then went back a bit more on a weekend - well worth it, and a huge thanks to CDR. Corey Barker of the United States Navy for letting me participate!

Things have been crazy since then - so I haven't been able to get a blog post up. Thought it was about time.

The main activity of the week was going out on the USCG Cutter Campbell on the morning of May 21. Campbell is a medium endurance vessel with a law enforcement / security / patrol / rescue mission. She and the crew are stationed in Maine, and go out for two month stints.

She came in to Pier 92 in Manhattan to pick me and a good number of other civilians up for a little "cruise" out past Brooklyn and Staten Island to meet three USN ships, the Arleigh Burke class destroyers Cole and McFaul, and the dock landing ship Oak Hill.

They were off in the distance at first and had been holding about four miles out since the night before.

As they came in, we formed a "parade of ships."

FDNY joined the fun.

My job was to assist a CNN film crew as they interviewed sailors, and Medal of Honor recipient Kyle White, who we were honored to have onboard.

As we passed Fort Hamilton at the tip of Brooklyn, and the World Trade center, the crew silently and resolutely rendered honors.

Later that weekend, I toured the USS Oak Hill. She is a massive troop and equipment transport ship. I was able to check out her considerable cargo areas, and go aboard a V-22 Osprey, the Marines' fixed-wing / helicopter hybrid.

This is at the very rear of the Oak Hill, where her well deck opens. For those not familiar, this allows landing craft (in this case, she had a hovercraft aboard); you can see the fan-like engines in the edge of the frame. These craft are used to ferry marines and equipment to shore.

My tour of the V-22 concluded with, ironically, one happening to fly by on its way to an aircraft demonstration.

It was a really fun week / weekend, and a really neat opportunity to get to help out a bit and experience a lot of very interesting activities, ships, aircraft and people!