The departing commander assembles his troops for presentation to the incoming commander in a military ceremony. The ceremony serves to inform the assembled Soldiers and Officers that they must respond to the leadership of the new Commander.
The history of the CoC can be tracked back to the year 406 B.C. when Lysander took command of the Armies of Sparta. In the United States, there have been three Ceremonies that have influenced CoC ceremonies today. The first two involved George Washington - One when he assumed command of the Continental Army beneath "Washington Elm" in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 3 July 1775 - The other when Washington gave his personal farewell to his Officers on 4 December 1783 at Faunces Tavern in New York. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Washington passed between the ranks of Guard of Honor to the wharf from which he departed.
A final event that influenced the CoC Ceremony occurred on 10 November 1862, when Major General George McClellan relinquished command of the Army of the Potomac to Major General Ambrose Burnside. These Ceremonies set the precedent for the modern day CoC Ceremony, which involves the traditional passing of the unit colors.
~Taken from the program from Robert’s Ceremony
After the ceremony, we had a nice reception catered and after it was over, I went home to make sure everything was packed and Robert had to wrap up some things at work. Also, Mia's birthday was the next day so I went ahead and gave her some goodies before we left and then within a couple of hours and we were on our way to Osan to spend the night with some friends so that we could be at the airport the next morning. From Osan we flew to Japan and then on to Seattle. When we arrived, we realized that we had miscalculated our time of arrival and our flight out to Midland was not until the next day so we got a hotel and were able to get some rest before moving on. We were able to enjoy a nice dinner in downtown Seattle. The next morning on our flight to Midland, I was able to get some great shots of Mount Rainier.
We spent about 6 days in Midland and it was wonderful getting to see lots of family and friends. In addition, we were able to get our fill of all the restaurants that we have craving here recently. From Midland, we drove to San Angelo to see my aunt, uncle, and grandparents for a few hours and then continued on to Dallas where Robert and I had to divide and conquer so that we were both able to see our friends there for the evening. The next morning we headed on up to Lawton for a super quick lunch and on to Tulsa. It was great getting to spend time with my parents and then visited with a couple of different friends while we were there too! While we were in Tulsa Robert learned how to shoot a bow and arrow and we had a great time at the range with my dad and sis! We also celebrated Thanksgiving while we were there. It was nice and relaxing. While we were there we, also were able to enjoy eating our wedding cake! Even after being frozen for 16 months it was still pretty good!
From Tulsa, we drove to Lubbock for a quick visit with friends and ended the day back in Midland. We had one more day there before we had to fly out the next day. Again, we ended up in Seattle with about 9 hours before our flight to Korea. Luckily, we were able to check our bags with the USO and head out to explore more of Seattle. When we were flying into Japan I was able to get some great pictures of the top of Mount Fuji, which might I add that in the summer of 2005 I hiked to the top of! This time of year, it is covered with snow and it was so awesome to see it from the plane.
When we finally made it was home Mia was so excited to see us, which my friend Tori took care of her while we were gone. It was a wonderful trip yet we are very thankful to be home in our home. Before we left, I was able to get our tree put together and then yesterday we fluffed and decorated our tree and it is beautiful!
Another bit of exciting news! While we were in Midland, I received an e-mail about the Registrar position being open at the elementary school that I sub at, so I submitted all of my paperwork needed to apply. They scheduled me for an interview on this past Thursday and that afternoon I had an e-mail congratulating me on being selected for the position and I start TOMORROW!! I am very excited! I will still be teaching fitness classes in the evening a couple of times a week. So due to the lack of time today I have consolidated pictures into several collages. It was great to see who we could while we were home and we are sorry we could not see everyone (trust me we wanted to). I hope everyone has a great week and I will keep you all update on how my first week of work goes!
1) I love how you started your blog thought and stopped it to include a wine tasting. 2) SO happy ya'll had a great trip that included sight seeing and friends/family and 3) are you Mia isn't part fox? *Big Hugs*
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