The Coalition of the Swilling

Happy Birthday!!!!

Although the Army puke beat you to the punch. Heheh.

Happy birthday! Every Marine I see today will be bought a drink.

Yeah. Well, I can't afford to make that offer, Bing.

Oh yes you could, Cullen, 'cause he'll see ONE ~ the guy who lives across the street from him. Bingley's Scottish, through and through.

(Actually, you beat me to posting, El Puke-o, but the draft was ready to go at 8 LAST night, so pffft and HAH!)

Happy Birthday!

And a salute to my neighbor, C.J., who spent his youth smoking pot behind my house and now is serving with the Corp in Okinawa where he has been transformed into a fine young man worthy of all your daughters.

(And who, thanks to the USMC, spent his 21st birthday in Bangkok, the stories of which made my husband melt into a puddle of jealousy. But we won't talk about that.) :)

My dad was one of Puller's marines. Fought with him at the frozen Chosin. He would have loved that stamp. Semper Fi, Marines.

THS, I'm saying I couldn't afford to do it here. AND, my draft was ready to go around 6:30 last night ... so PFFFT!

(BASTARD!!!)

Oh, very good, Cullen, very good.

AAAND, we just had our cake cutting here in the field right in front of my building. Good stuff.

CHOWHALL CAKE??!! Oh my Gawd, I LOVE that stuff! Ambrosia, baby. I was PISSED at the ball Saturday night 'cause I didn't GET any! Oh man, Major Dad had a cranky THS on his hands, I can tell you. Especially since I didn't have dessert at the restaurant because I was gonna have chowhall birthday cake ~ which, even on a squid base, they do almost as well as a Marine Corps chowhall ~ but OH NO. NO CAKE. It was postage stamp size for about 1000 people and the flight students were on line for it almost before the ceremonies were over. Vulturous youths.

GOD, I was pissed.

By the by Lisa, Kcruella and I could raise the hairs on the back of your neck with our Phillipine det stories. Good old Olongapao, the Sh*t River and "But she's different! She's a school teacher from Manilla!" Sure she is, son. Ah, those days, those balmy days in the PI are gone now...

There's still Balikatan.

As for cake, we had two different balls here (heh heh, I said balls): An enlisted ball Friday night and an officer's ball Saturday. Both had huge cakes. And we had a monster one today for the official ceremony. Good looking stuff. I'm skipping the lunch at the local mess hall, but I'm sure I'll hear all about it.

Rob, that is incredible! Your Dad is somethin' else then, I tell you. Dang ~ to be one of Chesty's guys? Holy schamoly. I think Major Dad's read every book and seen every special ~ he's absolutely voracious when it comes to learning about the Marines in Korean War. If your Dad is still with us, please share our best Happy Birthday with him!

He's not, ths. He passed two years ago. He always went to the nearby birthday celebration, though. Always a Marine.

I'm sorry to hear that, Rob, and our biggest hugs to you. We will raise a glass to him tonight, for sure. Same for us with Major Dad's dearest Dad, who was on Iwo Jima. It's a wonderful thing, to be always a Marine. Always.

Happy Birthday to all my fellow Marines and thanks to everyone else! Oh, and Lisa all the stories that young Marine told you and your husband are true and probably more. I thought I had seen everything there was to see till my helicopter broke down in Bangkok (how convenient) and had to spend a day and night there. I've seen everything now...

Maj. Dad ... COBRA GOLD!!! Oh man. That was an experience.

Happy birthday, Marines! I love you guys.

Well, thank YOU, RebeccaH! Lovely to see you at our party {:^) !!

Congrats on the double tap from Michelle Malkin guys!

Happy 230th to you and the Corps, Sister!

beerbrains...swilling...marines...am I sensing a correlation?

(Only because you're unusually sensitive to all things alchoholic. And YOU came up with the 'Swilling', not me.)

Happy Birthday!

Cullen, yeah Cobra Gold, Pattaya Beach, Udapao, if they all only knew...THS does though, sorta, Olongapao vet that she is.