The Strangest Thing Happened...

Back in December of 2008, I submitted one of the Marines in the Company that I command for Marine of the Year for III Marine Expeditionary Force. Well, competing against the other seasoned Marines from different units, he was selected as the Marine of the Year (by a three-star General). As a result of his selection, he was one of the honorees at this year's USO banquet for outstanding members of our local community. There were honorees from all services and also from the Japanese military

Well, the Marine that was selected invited his platoon sergeant, me (his Commanding Officer), and his Company First Sergeant (also my Company First Sergeant). We all got dressed up in our Dress Blue Alpha uniform (with medals) for the ceremony. It was a really nice experience. There was a coctail hour at the beginning, then introductions and comments from the guest speaker, followed by the awards presentations, dinner, then there was some Japanese musical entertainment and the party band from the III Marine Expeditionary Force Banquet.

Well, throughout the evening there was also a raffle drawing. As it were, I had purchased six tickets for $5 in the hopes of winning something. It paid off! Andreana and I are now the proud owners of an antique (approximately 110 years old) 3-drawer desk from Jiangsu, China valued at approximately $1,200 USD. I couldn't believe it. And, to top it off, I drove our van to the ceremony. So, I had plenty of room to get it home that night.