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Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona. (December 6, 2023): The true magic of the season can be seen in the eyes of a child when they first meet Santa and Mrs. Clause in the flesh. In this photo by Corporal Gideon Schippers, a little boy, capably restrained by his sister, greets Santa for the first time at the Marine Corps Community Services center. Community Services hosts this annual event for families of active-duty troops to kick off the holiday season.
The Yuma Station is a large family with over 5,000 military personnel, 3,500 family members, 2,200 civilians, and a large veteran population. Yuma is the home to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 which is responsible for the training of all the Corp’s tactical aviation units. The Station conducts a Weapons and Tactics Instructor course for pilots flying the F-35B Lightning II fighters.
The Marine Corps goes out of its way to make the holidays special for its unique patriotic community.
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Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. (December 6, 2023): Sailors and Marines always enjoy a friendly competition, this time involving cake decorating. In this photo by MC1 Justin Kemble, Interior Communications Electrician 2nd Class Paola Diaz, left, and Retail Specialist Seaman Nadya Lowder, right, decorate a gingerbread house on the mess deck aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. The thousand plus crew and the roughly 2,200 embarking troops of the Wasp are in Norfolk for Amphibious Squadron/Marine Expeditionary Unit Integration training. The program teaches Sailors and Marines, many of whom have never deployed aboard ships, how to load and offload personnel and equipment while adjusting to life at sea.
Embarking onto multiple ships and deploying these assets from ship to shore is an extremely complicated task involving intense planning and coordination. The Wasp is specifically designed to accommodate the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) for fast troop movement over the beach. She also carries the stealthy Harrier II Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing jets for close air support for the assault force. She can also accommodate the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, the tiltrotor MV-22 Osprey, the F-35B Lightning II multi-role fighter, conventional landing craft, and amphibious vehicles.
The talented crew of the Wasp have many responsibilities, but it is nice sometimes to take a gingerbread break, especially during the holidays.
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Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan. (December 10, 2023): When serving thousands of miles from home at this sprawling Navy base, families look forward to Christmas in the Park, a 75-year tradition bringing Sailors and their families together with the local Sasebo community. In this photo by MC2 Quinton A. Lee, Japanese and American families gather at CFAS Nimitz Park to enjoy a night of music, refreshments, and camaraderie. The base is home to 6,000 active-duty personnel, their dependents, and civilian contractors.
One of the most difficult challenges facing military families is how to adjust to different cultures, languages, customs, and surroundings. On the other hand, the chance to meet new people and travel to exotic places is one of the greatest benefits of serving. There are currently over 80,000 American personnel stationed at various bases around Japan which presents a significant chance to share cultures and develop ties that last a lifetime. The Sailors and their families at Sasebo will bring home fond memories of celebrating Christmas with their Japanese hosts.
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America Sends Holiday Cheer From The Skies
Koror Island, Republic of Palau. (December 11, 2023): For the people of this tiny island, giant warplanes overhead mean only one thing, a shower of American generosity falling from the skies. In this photo by Yasuo Osakabe, U.S. Air Force Captain Miranda Bapty flies over Palau during Operation Christmas Drop, the Department of Defense’s longest running humanitarian and disaster relief mission. Every year, the 36th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron flies its C-130J Super Hercules aircraft over Palau to deliver bundles containing donated non-perishable food, fishing supplies, schoolbooks, and toys for the islands' children.
Operation Christmas Drop began in 1952 after U.S. B-29 Superfortress crews saw islanders waving at them from the island of Kapingamarangi, 3,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. In the spirit of Christmas, the aircrew dropped a bundle of supplies attached to a parachute to the islanders below, giving the operation its name. Today, air drop operations include more than 50 islands throughout the Pacific spanning distances nearly as wide as the United States.
A week before the drop, volunteer Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and civilians assist in sorting the donations while parachute riggers built dozens of boxes to hold the materials securely for the air drops. During the actual flights, air crews were linked to the villages via ham radio as they flew overhead to drop their bundles at specified drop zones. These humanitarian operations have the added benefit of giving air crew invaluable real-world training and experience in conducting airdrops. This year, these crews provided critical supplies to 56 Micronesian islands impacting about 20,000 people.
Flying forces from the U.S. Air Force, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the Republic of Korea Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Air Force, and ground operations forces from the Philippine Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force worked together to conduct these low altitude air drops. The 374th Airlift Wing from Yokota Air Base, Japan led the operation with assistance from the 515th Air Mobility Operations Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
For the pilots and crews performing these humanitarian missions, this is just another way to deliver presents at Christmas.
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Merry Christmas!
America, December 19, 2023 - That's a beautiful smile! It's getting near Christmas Day, and it's important to say that as the troops deploy they know good Americans here at home have got their backs. And with a smile like this you know it's true when we say that a care package makes a soldier smile. They know that somebody back here knows about them, and cares about them! All thanks to the people and companies that support them through SOT.
~Your SOT Team
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West Java, Indonesia. (December 11, 2023): In this photo by Sergeant Shaina Jupiter, U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 7th Marines and Indonesian Marines with 4th Marine Infantry Brigade conduct joint patrols during Keris Marine Exercise 2023, a bilateral event to promote interoperability between forces.
Officially named the Korps Marinir, Indonesia’s Marines joined 150 U.S. troops to conduct joint fires, work with crew-served weapons, and practice using small unmanned aerial vehicles. The Marines also staged a series of community engagement events and exchanged subject matter experts on regional security matters with their hosts. Indonesia's Armed Forces include an Army with approximately 400,000 troops, a shallow water Navy, and a capable Air Force.
Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy and the fourth most populous nation with over 279 million people. Located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Indonesia has been an important U.S. partner since 1949. The world’s largest archipelago nation, Indonesia consists of 17,000 islands spread over 735,000 square miles. Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia , Papua New Guinea and East Timor and also has maritime borders with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Palau, and Australia. The most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesia is home to one-third of the world’s rainforests with a striking diversity of wildlife found nowhere else on earth.
The 7th Marine Regiment is based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California and falls under the under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Joint training exercises like these increase understanding and improve coordination with this critical U.S. ally in keeping the Indo-Pacific free and secure.