Major Man

Recently the NATO troops (American, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Italian, and Spanish) of Camp Arena gathered for a celebration ceremony.

Our (American) national anthem played on the loud speakers.

Nice words were spoken about the guest of honor.

... who happened to be me
I am now Major Belnap- Hooah
(receiving my new Major symbol/patch)

Then the guys filtered through to congratulate me, taking the whole "congratulatory pat" a little too literally.

dodging the chest pump

This soldier is our dentist and is the only other LDS guy on base.
We've held church services every Sunday together since we got here.

Some of my Spanish comrades

Some of my Italian comrades

It was a nice ceremony. I appreciated the support of everyone here.
Business as usual continues in the military, even when on deployment overseas.
Jen and I are grateful for this because a step up the ladder of rank means a step up the ladder of pay$