Viking Newsletter December 2010

8/8/2019 Viking Newsletter December 2010

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Happy Holidays, Vikings!

Finally! By the time you read this, we should be very nearly

at the halfway point for this deployment. I can tell you from

my previous deployments that this is a tough time for

Marines and their families. The halfway point marks thebeginning of the downhill slide, but it still means that we

have a long time to go. Deployments during the holidays are

especially hard. Marines miss home and all the trappings

that go along with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, etc. Families miss

their Marines and experience their holidays with a big vacancy in their hearts.

The only thing that I know that can make this period go by a little easier

is communication. I know I love hearing my familys voice and seeing their

faces on Skype and their updates on the web. You can measurably brighten a

Marines day with a phone call or a card or package. In fact, we just received a

batch of packages from the Family Readiness Team that definitely served tobrighten some moods and spruce up the squadron decorations! Although the

SgtMaj isnt so sure about the mini-Christmas trees on some Marines desks.

Thanks so much to those who participated.

The squadron has been working hard. You may have even heard the

complaints of some of your Marines. As difficult as it has been, the work is

paying off. The aircraft are doing fantastic, and the measurements of our

squadrons combat capabilities are off the charts because of all of the great

flying. Your Marines are part of an amazing team. With our partners here in

Marine Aircraft Group 12, we are standing watch and ready to charge if the

nation needs us. It has been an exciting three months. I expect the next threewont be much different.

Semper Fidelis and Happy Holidays!

LtCol Goodwin

Commanding OfficerLtCol Dan Goodwin

Executive OfficerMaj Chad Sund

Sergeant Major

SgtMaj Scott Boyer

Family Readiness OfficerMrs. Stephanie Early

Deployed Address:

Rank Last, First MI

VMFA 225

UIC 41027

FPO AP 96609-1027

VIKINGS

RULE!!

A word from the

Commanding Officer

TTHHEEVVIIKKIINNGGVVOOIICCEEVMFA(AW)-225FAMILY READINESS NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2010


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Happy Holidays, Vikings!

Another year is almost over and the deployment has come

to the point when all family members start to get excited.

Yes, it is the half-way point! In your discussions with your

Marine or Sailor, you may express that time is not moving

along fast enough. They may respond and tell you that t

is moving along faster than they anticipated. Each

Marines perception is all relative to how busy he or she is

and the work hours, flight hours and maintenance accomplished. I am very

proud of the Marines who on a daily basis continue to set the pace for the rest

of MAG 12 and the other squadrons on the base.

ime

For the families who have never experienced a holiday deployment this may be

a very difficult time of year. I know that if you have young children, they willask so many great questions. My favorite one is does Santa know where my

daddy is? The Marines and Sailors may have missed out on all of their family

traditions during Thanksgiving, but most of the Division Chiefs had some type

of shop get together to help the Marines keep their minds off of missing their

loved ones. As I make my way around the work spaces and barracks, I find

holiday cheer. Some more than others, but I think deep down we all love this

time of year.

Communication during this time of year is the key to surviving the holidays

without your loved ones. Packages filled with goodies are arriving from various

organizations and are being passed out to all. I want to thank you for yourcontinued support for all Marines and Sailors in the Squadron and may all of

you have a very Merry Holiday Season.

The performance of the Marines and Sailors has been extraordinary. This

squadron continues to make mission and improve combat readiness. I am

proud to be the Sergeant Major of the finest men and women who are serving

in the Corps. I expect the upcoming months to be filled with training and travel

and to go by as quickly as the first half of the deployment.

Happy Holidays,

SgtMaj Boyer

Mark your

Calendars for

these Upcoming

Viking Family

Events:

Return & Reunion

Brief

February 3, 2011

Important

Phone Numbers

Family Readiness

Stephanie Early

wk: 858-577-6537cell: 858-864-4778

[email protected]

MAG-11

Group Duty Officer

858-577-1775 or

858-577-1666

MAG-12

Group Duty Officer

Japan

011-81-827-79-4029 or

011-81-827-79-4620

ChaplainRabbi Kreisler

[email protected]

wk: 858-577-4443

cell: 858-967-7425

www.facebook.com/vmfa225

A word from the

Sergeant Major
http://www.facebook.com/vmfa225http://www.facebook.com/vmfa225http://www.facebook.com/vmfa225http://www.facebook.com/vmfa225


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Warmest Holiday Greetings,

HALF WAY THERE! Congratulate yourselves on the

incredible fortitude you have shown over these past months of

the deployment! Now that the lights at the end of the

deployment tunnel are growing brighter, start taking time

to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the changes

ahead. Just as you begin to organize your home; you should

also start to organize your thoughts and expectations for

when your loved one returns home. Save the date for our Return and Reunion

Brief on February 3rd

, where we will give you the tools you need to prepare for

the homecoming.

This month many of our spouses enjoyed our Spa Night, sponsored by San

Diego Spine & Rehab. It was a relaxing evening of massages and other goodies.

Thank you to all of our fabulous spouses who baked the delicious and beautiful

goodies for our cookie exchange. Everyone went home with a 1 hour massage

certificate, cookies galore, and other holiday items donated by a local brownie

troop and Dollar Tree Stores.

We also celebrated the season with our squadron Christmas Party. It was a

huge collaborative effort with some of our sister squadrons and many families

came out to enjoy all of the festivities. We hope everyone had a fantastic time!

Check out the pictures on page 5.

As a reminder, this is the LAST newsletter that will be delivered to families via

snail mail. Following this edition all newsletters will be made in an electronic

format only and will be available via e-mail and our squadron website. If you

have not already done so please contact me and provide me with an e-mail

address if you wish to receive further correspondence from our squadron.

Lastly, to keep the Marine Corps at the highest state of readiness, Headquarters

Marine Corps has released the DSTRESS Line, an anonymous and

confidential, 24/7, counseling and referral service for Marines, FMF Sailors,

and the loved ones of Marines and FMF Sailors. If youre a spouse, parent,sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandparent, child, or friend of one of our Marines

or Sailors this line is for you! For more details, check out the flier on page 8.

I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and look forward to everything the New

Year brings.

Semper Family,

Stephanie Early

Some of the goodies

our spouses made at

our Spa Night!A word from the

Family Readiness Officer


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Konichiwa Viking Family and friends, Im Corporal

Joadys Cabrera from Maintenance Administration. I have

been part of the Viking family since May 2008 as an

Aircraft Maintenance Administration Specialist. I like to

think of my department as the middle child: we have our

Fighter Pilots who train on our aircraft, our Marines that

maintain them, and Maintenance Admin in the middle

which links flight operations with maintenance.

Maintenance Admin has a wide range of tasks and missions to complete. Our

shop is where we maintain the 36 logbooks for the 12 aircraft in the squadrons

custody. In our logbook records we account for everything from scheduled

preflight and post flight inspections, periodic maintenance inspections to

aircraft component removal and replacement. We track the flight hour usage of

our 24 engines to include their 41 individual components to ensure they are safe

for flight. We draft and release naval messages to plan and estimate depot level

repair and rework of our jets. In here we complete the flight-maintenance

circle. We account for all the hard work our Marines put into our airplanes,

everything from an engine bay inspection to a 200-hour phase inspection. Our

department ensures the proper documentation of it all. If we dont, it is as if the

work never happened and could endanger people and airplanes. That is why

we take our desk job extremely seriously as with any and all missions.

While deployed as a Viking for my second deployment to Japan, I am getting an

opportunity to set up, operate, and perform minor maintenance on Naval

Aviation Logistics Command Management Information System (NALCOMIS)

which is the other side of the Maintenance Admin division. I will be perfecting

my skills with maintenance documentation validation and approval, as well as

creating and analyzing charts and statistical information to aid the mission

readiness of our unit and the performance of its assigned tasks.

At this point I have officially reached the half way mark in this deployment at

least on my calendar! Come January I will find myself returning to the winter

of Iwakuni from beautiful Okinawa, Japan and begin my preparations to come

home. Thank you so much for all the Skype sessions and the Facebook

messages; it truly helps create a much smaller gap, though we are worlds apart.

Stay positive and warm in California. Well be joining you at home soon!

Some of the goodies

our ladies went home

with at Spa Night

A day in the life of a Maintenance Admin Marine

Cpl Cabrera


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Thank you to all ofour families who sent

in messages and

pictures for our

banner! It was

mailed out to our

Marine & Sailors in

Japan and will be

hung in our

squadron throughout

the holiday season.

From the Homefront

Christmas Party

From the Homefront

Holiday Banner

Santas Helpers

Snow in San Diego

Visiting Santa

Rudolph the F-18

Bubble Wrap ZoneVisit us on Facebook to see all of our Christmas

Party Pictures! www.facebook.com/vmfa225


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January 30, 20100900-1600

Jessica JamesL.I.N.K.S. Program Trainer

(858) [email protected]

Viking Newsletter December 2010

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Transcript of Viking Newsletter December 2010