emerald isle triathlon

two weekends ago alissa competed in her second full (first outdoor) triathlon. for those of you who are unfamiliar with triathlons, it consists of three different sports: swim, bike and run. the first leg, the swim, was a 1/2 mile semicircle ocean swim, followed by a 19.3 km (12 mile) road bike, and ended with a 5 km (3.1 mile) road run. it was super cold that morning (yes, 50 degrees in north carolina merits the winter coats we saw some competitors wearing beforehand) with a slight nw breeze, but the water conditions couldn't have been better - a warm 73 degree ocean temp paired with a surprisingly calm current made for great swim conditions, though 95% of the swimmers still wore wetsuits (wimps!).


alissa setting up her transition area

transition area. it seems like little gear to switch in to, but the time lapse is challenging

body marking: lucky #61; 25 years old

selfie in front of the ocean beforehand, circa 7am

mass start of the ocean swim leg; wave #2

transitioning from swim to bike (facial expression reflects time lapse anxiety)

our other cheerers, renee and becky (and liz as photographer)!

awesome shot of liss pumping the guns near the end of the bike, passing the guy in blue

frontal view of transition area as she starts the final running leg

liss post-triathlon! she finished strongly, coming in just ONE MINUTE behind third place while though finishing second in the bike leg in her age group overall. she said it was the most exhilarating race she had ever done; this is her new favorite event and plans to race in more in the future with the hopes that mike will join her ;)

what exactly is it that you do here?

DISCLAIMER: as mike nears his upcoming deployment, we ask that for his safety and the safety of all troops serving that all family and friends refrain from posting information specific to his deployment (dates, times, locations, etc) anywhere on the internet.

as mike approaches his third year of service in the usmc and first combat deployment, we assume many friends and family have questions about his roles and responsibilities in the corps. we'll start from the beginning. mike's primary military occupational specialty is a logistics officer (also known as an 0402). what exactly does that mean? for mike, it means that over the course of a career in the marine corps, there are literally dozens of jobs he could do. the official usmc description of a logistics officer reads:

"logistics officers plan, coordinate, execute and/or supervise the execution of all logistics functions and the six functional areas of combat service support (css): supply, maintenance, transportation, general engineering, health services, and services... they perform duties of embarkation officer, maintenance management officer, motor transport officer, landing support officers, and are responsible for administrative and tactical unit movement of personnel, supplies, and equipment by all modes of transportation."

The Oshkosh MTVR is the USMC's primary logistics vehicle and can haul

seven tons of cargo off-road.

sounds diverse, doesn' t it? it is. no young logistics officer can possibly learn everything they need to know in school, so when they hit the "fleet" they must learn from the enlisted specialists that work for them. for example, one of mike's first direct reports was a motor transport maintenance chief with 18 years of experience. the marines that fall under logistics officers include (but are not limited to) truck drivers, truck mechanics, maintenance admin clerks, embarkation specialists (who supervise loading and schedule movement of supplies, personnel, and cargo), ammunition technicians, armorers (weapons maintenance technicians), cooks (yes they still have cooks in the military!), and landing support specialists (known as "red patchers " because of the distinctive marks they wear on their uniform) who support the maintenance and control of transportation throughput systems: the port, terminal, beachhead or the LZ.

A CH-53 with external load. Red patchers will be found on the receiving end.

as you can see from the jobs above, the primary focus for a logistics officer is transportation, followed closely by maintenance. the supply (think procurement, not distribution) and engineering areas of combat service support actually have their own officers (supply officer "3002" and combat engineer officer "1302"). those functions relate closely to logistics, however. health services in the usmc are provided by the navy.

it is often said that the logistics officer's base of knowledge must be an inch deep and a mile wide, as it is their job to see the big picture of combat service support for the main effort of the marine corps, the infantryman on the ground.

now that we've given you a general description of the logistics field, we'll focus on mike's job specifically. mike is currently with 2d battalion, 8th marine regiment, known simply as "2/8". 2/8 is a light infantry battalion composed of around 1000 marines and sailors. in the infantry, the battalion level is the smallest level of command with combat service support specialists.

an infantry battalion rates four logistics officers, one captain and three lieutenants. they include the s-4 (battalion logistics officer, normally a captain but often a senior lieutenant), the s-4a (assistant logistics officer), motor transport officer (who commands the battalion's motor-t platoon, you call we haul!), and maintenance management officer. additionally, the battalion has a supply officer that operates independently, but for all intents and purposes is considered part of the "shop".

after spending his first eight months as the motor-t officer, mike recently moved into the s-4a position. in his current billet he oversees embarkation and transportation scheduling, ammunition, the armory, and performs a plethora of other duties to support the battalion's training and operations. a large part of his job is coordinating support from external support units because at Camp Lejeune the infantry battalion has very little support equipment "organic" to itself.

The up-armored John Deere TRAM is one of the more versatile pieces of equipment in the USMC.

in combat, mike will perform many of the same duties, albeit in a more austere environment. his primary focus will be ensuring that the battalion's dispersed forward positions are being supported across the functions of css.

we hope this post has answered any questions you might have on what mike does for a living!

mullet festival

mullet festival in charming, quaint downtown swansboro (the fish, not the hairstyle. i know, disappointing, right?):


this is the "zumbrota, minnesota" of north carolina

LOVE the olde worlde feel. love it.

we dangled our feet in the water with the view of local fishing and shrimping boats

snapped a pic of a cute bench we could have been sitting on

mike testing out mullet. word to the wise: very bony but apparently tastes like swordfish, according to mike

on a hunt for our own mullet, or at least a glimpse

behold! a mullet?

nope, just a jellyfish. no biggie.

pumpkins! finally, something to keep us sane. if we can neither have autumn leaves nor crisp weather in october, then we can at least have pumpkins, right? i spy a cute little warty one near front and center.

happy birthday to mr. mike!

mike turned 26 back in mid-september (the day after his mother-in-law's, cheers to you too, jeanne!) but we just now are able to celebrate due to him being gone over his actual birthday for intense usmc training up in west virginia and virginia. we were initially planning to have a joint birthday celebration with alissa's birthday sometime in early november since that is a pretty good midway point, but alissa surprised him earlier on!


woah, EASY there, candles! they're ablaze!! all 26 of them! he managed to blow them out, all but two...one for his wife and one for shirley bird :)

surprise layer cake: carrot, his fav!

what better time to celebrate than over baseball playoffs? minnesota represent, go TWINS!

tropical storm nicole put to fun use

despite tropical storm nicole pouring three months' worth of rain on us in just over four days, shirley somehow found some fun in the sheets of water gushing off our roof. take a look!

shirley's half way point

my my, how time has flown by! it seems just the other month we got shirley yet now she's already turning nine months old tomorrow! her growing finally seems to have tapered off a bit but she has since rocketed her way through three collars (going on her fourth...she's on the last peg of the third one after only two weeks of wearing it and that was the biggest collar available in the store...), three leashes, two different types of correction collars (going on three - we just ordered a shocker collar - yeah shirley, you heard us correctly...time to listen up and stop that stubbornness), two kennels (from large to extra large), and has doubled the amount she eats per month. we first brought shirls home as a little 18 lb. tot back in april being shorter than our knees but now she weighs in at 70 lbs. and her back is level with the kitchen table...but she still has a good nine more months left until she reaches full size...SHIRLEY = $$$!

shirley bird's breed paired with her humorous personality has generated the funniest quirks such as sitting on our laps, sitting on the side of the bathtubs, and sitting on the chaise

stringbean!

22"+ neck circumference