This week has been a good week! We are into the New Year, and that's a big psychological milestone on our calendar to come back home. The advance party will be leaving in 2 short months, with the main body not far behind.

This week started with the basketball team hanging on in the final seconds of the league championship semi-final game for a big win, which moved them into the finals for the championship. With a lot of solid play by all of our Marines on the team, they pulled off a big win against a strong MALS-16 team, the same team that beat them earlier in the season by 20 points. In an earlier email I reported the loss to MALS, and predicted that our guys would get them back later in the season. Well, they kept me honest, and did just that! Corporal Stripling from MALS-42 det. B was on the MALS-16 team, and had to take the tough loss, but it was a good game, right down to the last seconds. Congratulations to all of our Marines for a fine season; their team work was a joy to watch. I have attached a team picture from the championship game below.

We had a formation on New Years day, and promoted the following Marines:

Staff Sergeant Alabre
Sergeant Mendez
Sergeant Frank
Corporal Farren
Corporal Norman
Corporal Barsanti (meritoriously)
Corporal Lagunas (meritoriously)

Staff Sergeant Harris also received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his sustained superior performance as the Airframes Staff Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge. Congratulations to all of these Marines; their promotions/award were all well-deserved!

We had a department head meeting today with the squadron leadership, and all of the discussions revolved around coordination on turnover of billeting spaces, aircraft, etc., and how/when we were going to be leaving Al Asad. It seems no one minds doing the planning for going home! The fact that we are planning now makes our departure seem even closer; our big goal now is to keep everyone's head in the game over here, and not get too distracted with leaving town, but staying focused on our mission. We still have a job to do, and our Marines and sailors have done phenomenal things so far, and I'm sure will continue to perform in an outstanding manner up until the day we leave.

We also discussed our leave plans for when we return to Norfolk. If you haven't already done so, you may want to start talking about your leave/vacation plans with your Marine/sailor for when he/she returns home. My intent is to have a 96 (4 days off) as soon as possible after our return to Norfolk, with two 2-week leave periods during the month of April. Taking leave is not mandatory, nor will it have to be taken in 2 week increments, or during the month of April, but the earlier you make plans, the easier it will be to deconflict everyone's leave so that we can continue to conduct operations at home, while allowing our folks the flexibility to take some time off when they desire.

Well, that's all for this week. I hope you all made it through the holidays without too much stress, and got to enjoy the season as it was meant to be celebrated! Have a great week, and I'll talk to you all next week.