SERVICE TO YOUR COUNTRY
Few things change your life and make you grow up as much as doing a bit of military time. I'll probably come under a hail of fire for this but I think mandatory service to your country is an essential part of the total development of the youthful citizen.
Our kids today have a free ride compared to other countries in the world. In some cities just graduating high school might be a challenge since in some areas 74% don't. That's pathetic. That’s also a part of the recipe for racial disparity, haves and have not’s, class warfare, criminal activity and that’s why we are losing our edge in the global competition.
Service to our nation would avert many of the social problems the kids learn as they get the wrong kind of peer influence from the street. Nothing is as warm and friendly as a Drill Sergeant teaching table etiquette and proper military bearing to kids who just graduated the streets. I used to compare a slap on the head to a FORD starter solenoid. I had one and when the thing hung up, you hit it with a stick. The car started.
I have had one CMS tell me that men are made from boys when the first close shot whizzes over their heads. I covered many military events. The military is steeped in tradition which means these events are generally very repetitious. The photographer is the official recorder for all time of the pomp, and ceremony. As a photographer you would think the repetition makes it easy. Not true every year it seems the lighting and powerpoint stuff gets darker and heavier.
Happy 231st Birthday to the Army!
Tampa, Florida (10 JUNE 06) 1800 Hrs: The 2008 Army Birthday Ball celebrates 233 years of proud service to the nation. The ARMY BALL was once again at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida. Tampa is the home of the Central and Special Operations Commands at MacDill Air Force Base. Full dress uniform and black tie was the uniform of the evening.
The STREAMER CEREMONY, COLORS, SALUTES
The 175 streamers attached to the Army Flagstaff denote campaigns fought by the Army throughout our nation's history.
Each streamer (2 3/4 inches wide and 4 feet long) is embroidered with the designation of a campaign and the year(s) in which it occurred. The colors derive from the campaign ribbon authorized for service in that particular war. The concept of the campaign streamers came to prominence in the Civil War when Army organizations embroidered the names of the battles on their organizational colors.
The evening starts with the presentation of the Colors. It is usually followed by the traditional toasts to the Commander in Chief, the ARMY, the sister Services, Coalition Partners, the Community, the Mission, Missing and Fallen Comrades, and to the ladies. Almost 1000 attendees from the Army, other branches, and other coalition services celebrated the event.
This year 100 very special guests in attendance were from the Regional Medical Facility. They were the wounded, brave men and women of our services who received standing ovations during the evening. Their fare was provided by generous donations of businesses through the AUSA.
The saber cake cutting ceremony was followed by the the first pieces presented to the oldest and youngest soldier present at the event. New color streamers representing the recent armed engagements of the Army were added to the staff.
POMP AND CEREMONY
Entertainment was provided by the 82nd Airborne All-American Chorus with their brilliant renditions of both popular and military based songs.
They had the crowds attention with their Acappella group and solo versions. They were excellent.
The evening concluded with the colors leaving the hall, followed by music and dancing.
THE 237th ARMY BIRTHDAY BALL 2012, this year will be at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Downtown Tampa, the ninth of June.
Happy 229th Birthday Marine Corps!
Tampa Florida (06 NOV 04) The 2004 
Marine Corps Birthday Party honors the Corps as it celebrates 229 years of proud service to this nation. The party was held at the Marriott Waterside, adjacent to the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.
Tampa is the home of the Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Special Operations Command (SOCCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base.
Over 750 attended this full military dress, black tie affair. The ranking officers in attendance then included: General Peter Pace, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, next in line and became the Chairman, since retired, General Bryan "Doug" Brown, Head of SOCOM, since retired, Major General John G. Castellaw, Chief of Staff, CENTCOM.
The participants and guests both active and retired were from the Central Command, Special Operations Command, the Marine Raiders Association, the Florida Marine Mustangs, Coalition partners and invited Civilian supporters.
Left: Guest of Honor General Peter Pace Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Right: Major General John G. Castellaw Chief of Staff, CENTCOM
Though spirits were high, there were many times during the evening that brought reflection upon the honored history of the Corps. This evening was especially important as a reminder of the current situation as Marines deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom face the largest task to date in that theatre...the City of Fallujah.
It goes without saying that Tampa Bay loves the Military, and deserves the recognition it gets for its support of the troops, their families and allied personnel. Dinner and dancing followed the ceremony.
The Cake Cutting is a traditional Marine Ceremony. When and where this tradition began remains unknown. It also varies slightly depending on the dignitaries present at the ball. First pieces of cake have been presented to newlyweds, the Secretary of the Navy, governors, and others, but generally speaking, the first pieces of cake go to the oldest and youngest Marines at the ball.
The CAKE CEREMONY
In Tampa the first piece of cake was offered to the guest of honor, in this case General Peter Pace, the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, then the oldest Marine present, followed by the youngest Marine present.
Another piece is solemnly presented to a designate setting at an empty table to represent attendance by fallen comrades.
At present, celebrations of the Marine Corps Birthday on 10 November differ at posts and stations throughout the Corps. All commemorations include the reading of Marine Corps Order No. 47, and the Commandant's message to those assembled.
Most commands sponsor a Birthday Ball of some sort, complete with pageant and cake ceremony as prescribed in the Marine Corps Manual. Like the Corps itself, the Birthday Ball developed from simple origins to become the polished, professional function that all Marines commemorate on 10 November around the world.
OLDEST AND YOUNGEST MARINE ATTENDING
The oldest Marine present at the ceremony is Sergeant Dean M. Lesnett, currently residing in Largo Florida. Sgt. Lesnett served during the second world war, was wounded three times and returned to the Marine Corps as a reservist.
The youngest (and what an honor to be part of this great traditional ceremony) is Lance Corporal Benjamin Scott Pantzis who was was born 27 June 1985 in Sarasota, Florida.
He entered the Corps: 8 Sep 2003 and is currently assigned 5th Special Security Command Team (SSCT), 2nd Marine Division. Wife's sidenote: The Marine Corps has probably the nicest dress uniforms of any of the branches. And the ceremonies certainly bring the color and style to bear. That's what it's all about, the bearing of the troops from a one striper to the soon to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace.
AUTHOR and PHOTOGRAPHER: Al Jacobson, photographs and writes in the Tampa Bay area on a myriad of subjects. He is from NY and occasionally speaks English, preferring Brooklyn based meta-phonetic syllabication (aka Street English). His high school English teacher, once commented to his parents, "He should try learning a foreign language like English... in a foreign country". He retorted, "Shakespeare doth not a genius make, for he spake in terms reminiscent of a flake". She threw him out of the class. He's been scribbling ever since.
PHOTOGRAPHER NOTES - Bring a backup flash! Especially on one occasion when the green kid from the Command brought her D70 and hers failed, she forgot a backup flash I gave her mine. Expect bad lighting, low levels of light mostly warm bulbs with projectors showing all sorts of visual graphics on the walls. Even the floors get the projector treatment (see the top photo) and according to St. Murphy-Lawes the projector will always be aimed right at you exactly where you are standing. Unless you got a D3 and expect high ISO, flash is essential and you must observe a lot of courtesy and walking around to get the angles.
This shot is actually a layered (2) and spliced to keep tones and noise within reason. I needed close and far in the same shot. Another shot I had to use the RAW combined with gradients to save. The D2H with small files doesn't help either since you are restricted because of distance. Any closer and I would of been "tapped on the back" by the guys who had large pistols tucked in their cummerbunds, the security detail. The football travels with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs