De-Mobilization Ceremony

Well, we finally made it, just in time for Les to participate in his Unit's De-Mobilization ceremony. We weren't sure if he would return in time, but he did. This ceremony was so important to him. This symbolized his 12 months in Iraq coming to an end. It added closure to him and to his men. It was a nice, yet brief ceremony. I was able to get many pictures of Les and his men. After the ceremony, Les and I followed the convoy of soldiers driving up to Lebanon for more welcome home celebrations. We were escorted for the 100 mile drive by police officers, fire trucks, veterans on bikes. I was surprised to see how the community of Oregon got together to welcome home their troops. Every town we went through, had their residents out on the streets holding up signs and American Flags screaming cheers of "Welcome Home!", "Thank you", and "American Hereos". My heart was so touched by the ourpouring of love and support. I couldn't help but cry everytime someone yelled "Thank you" I had such a feeling of pride everytime someone wanted to come up and shake Les's hand and tell him "Thank you". I am so proud of him.

Les views his new house

On our way down to Redmond, we stopped in Portland to see Les's house. Les was all smiles once we pulled up to the house. It was pouring outside, so I chose st sit in the car while we waited for his parents to come with the key. Les jumped out of the car to get a better look at the house. He walked all around the property in amazement. He couldn't believe that this was his house. He kept asking me...."Is this my house?" I reassured him with "Yes, it is." We had only about 20 mins to look around the house, cause we needed to be in Redmond, OR that night. The next morning Les had his De-Mobilization ceremony.

The house

Ok, long time no post. Well it's been a busy couple of weeks for us. The week I was in Portland was so hectic. Les and I ran around everywhere. Let me start from the beginning. I arrived in PDX on Thursday Nov 10th. It was about 8:00 pm and Les's parents, JoAnne and Big Les, arrived at the airport to pick me up. We immediately went to see Les's new house. The moment I walked in, I knew Les would be very pleased. I only had 15 mins to walk around the place. I was leaving that night to drive up to Ft. Lewis to see Les. I didn't get up to Ft. Lewis until midnight. When I arrived at the base, they didn't let me in, even though I had a base sticker on the car. I had to go to the visitors center and wait for Les to meet me there. The last time I saw Les was June 11th. It had been 5 months since we had seen eachother. The reunion was wonderful. It was so comforting to see him again and I'm sure he felt the same. Our stay in Ft. Lewis was brief, about 2 days. Les had more debriefings to attend to and while he was busy with those, I did what any normal young woman like myself would do....I went shopping....Oh Yeah! It felt so good to go shopping with someone else's money....lol. I went shopping for the house. I went to IKEA and picked out a few items for the house. Later that night I brought Les to the store and had him decide whether he liked the items or not. I could tell, cause this was really my first experience shopping with Les, that he's not the best shopping partner out there. He felt overwhelmed at IKEA (well who doesn't). He said that it was too big and that there were too many things to choose from. I love the variety IKEA has to offer. I'm not saying that IKEA is the best store out there. I don't believe the quality of their products is all that great, but the prices are reasonable. After a couple of days, Les and I headed down to Redmond, OR where his demobilization ceremony took place. We had a brief stop in Porltand, so that Les could see his house. This is a picture of us at IKEA.