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June 2005 Hello Great '98! Let me first say that I'm excited about how much we're putting into Shipmate these days. Please keep the updates coming! We have three updates for this issue, first from Ken Schwalbe, who married Cortney Estelle Bowen on Sept 5, 2004 in Malibu, California. Ken writes: I met Cortney through the late Matt Shubzda at Shubzda's wedding in June 2002. Cortney and Matt grew up together and at the time I met her, Cortney was living in New York City. Fourteen months (and thousands of frequent flyer miles) later I convinced her to move to California. Seven months later I came home from deployment for a 2-week training class and asked her to marry me. We had a beautiful beach wedding at sunset. Several of my fellow'98ers were in attendance. Bill Danjczek was a groomsman. Also in attendance were John Ruzicka, Tom Visser, LT Heather Crowley (formerly Burwell), LT Anthony Ramirez '96, and CDR John Edwards '85. LT Brian Lindoerfer '95 was in the sword arch along with 9 others from my command, NMCB-5. The reception was at Duke's Malibu Restaurant where we all enjoyed ourselves eating, drinking and dancing well into the night. Two days after the big day, we went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for our honeymoon. We want to thank all of you who traveled so far to be with us on our special day. Cortney & I will be stationed with NMCB-5 in Port Hueneme until Dec. 2005. In April 2005, 1 will be leaving for a 6-month deployment to Hawaii. We will be heading to graduate school at the University of Texas in January 2006 for my next tour where I will be working on my Masters in Wakeboarding ... I mean Engineering Management. We hope to see you all soon! Go Navy, Beat Army! We also have another update from Pablo Bruer in Afganistan: Friends and Family, Aloha from Afghanistan. I say "Aloha" because we're in the midst of a heat wave! The snow on the ground is gone and it's a balmy 55 degrees today. Like Forest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get." First and foremost a bit of news that falls under "mixed blessings." I've been extended for an additional 60 days. I guess that means they like me here. It's unusual for Navy folk to be extended in Afghanistan more than 179 days so I know there was some heavy negotiations. Truth-be-told, I'd be happy to go home but at the same time I'm honored that despite the fact that a relief had been named, the command here stated that the mission couldn't be done without me. For those of you that are upset by my delayed return, please remember a few points: I'm not in Iraq. I'm not sleeping in the field. I'm not carrying everything I own on my back. A lot of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines are. I'm doing what I was trained to do. I volunteered for the Service and for this mission. This is my choice. We're doing good things here. Finally, it's only 60 days. I managed to make it out to another community relations project. I've attached a picture of some of the donations we've been getting being sorted prior to us leaving. Due to security considerations, we weren't authorized to take pictures during the visit. It's just as well. We did some good and made some friends. What more could you ask for? Before I go, I wanted to congratulate my friend Mike Woodgerd on his publication! You can find Mike's book on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006R94L8/relacionarsec-20/104-8332174-6668704 Several of you have asked if I needed anything from home. Honestly, I'd be ashamed to ask for anything seeing as how even here, we live so much better than the average Afghan. Send an email when you can, share some pictures and the next time you see a service member tell them "thanks." That's all I have for now but I'll keep all of you updated. Fair winds, Pablo Corey Shackleton brings some interesting news from the Marine side of the house: Life has been busy since returning from a deployment with the 26th MEU in October of 2003. Dan Traywick moved from Beaufort to Jacksonville while I was on deployment, so it's been great to be able to hang out with him again. He's married with an adorable little son now, and they've bought a house in Snead's Ferry. Right after their son was born, Dave Townley and Tony Sclafani came down to visit and stayed with me in Jacksonville. I'm still with HMM-264 from MCAS New River. Although we were home for about 17 months before deploying again (the longest of any unit in the USMC, time went by quickly as always. I went up to Annapolis for a couple of football games (Duke and Delaware) and ran into Jose Perez, and I also got in touch with Alan Sabol but I never got a chance to meet up with him. I also went up there to check up on one of our former crewchiefs, Midn 4/C Zachary Ericson '08. He left our squadron as an Sgt halfway through our last deployment to go to NAPS and now he's at Canoe-U doing very well. I spent almost 4 months this past year in Yuma, AZ - first supporting WTI 2-04 while Brett "Salty" Allison was going through the WTI course. Six months later I was back in Yuma with Sam "Shaggy" Clark going through WTI 1-05. Then in December it was back to Yuma for Desert Talon. After spending some time with my family in Manassas, I deployed to Al Asad Air Base in the Al Anbar province of Iraq with the squadron's advanced party in January. In addition to Brett and Sam, Mike "Ponch" Acosta came with us on advanced party. While on advanced party we ran into Aaron "Palms" Rose '97, Jeff "Copa" Cabana '96, and Dustin "Dozer" Obermeyer '01, who were here with HMM-365, the unit our squadron was relieving. We flew an ungodly amount of hours while we were on advanced party, mostly at night. We also flew support for the Iraqi elections, moving election workers all around Iraq in the wee hours of the morning. Aaron Rose and I flew together for 8 hours that night, over 7 1/2 of which was on goggles. It also has been a mini reunion here, running into some people that I haven't seen in years. I've run into Carrie Howe, Jen Marino, Ty Westinghouse '97, Mike Murphy, and Greg Pawson. Bob Weingart is down in Al Taqaddum flying Cobras, but we've only gotten a chance to talk on the phone or via email. The most interesting reunion was running into Demarr Thomas, who left the Academy firstie year. He was here with the 507th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) as a UH-60 pilot. After leaving the Naval Academy, he took a year off and enlisted in the Army becoming a ranger. Then he applied for the Warrant Officer Flight Program and was accepted. He had just finished training when he deployed to Al Asad. He's departed Al Asad, as the 507th has been replaced with the 571st. If anyone wants to get in touch with him, his email address is: demarr.thomas@us.army.mil. He said he'd be interested in talking to some of his former classmates. He also told me that his company commander is a West Point grad, so he makes sure to root for Navy despite all the flak he receives. I also keep in touch with Chad Speer (who left after youngster year); he's an air traffic controller for Kansas City Center making the big bucks. When I get back from Iraq, I should be looking at orders to a B Billet (finally). I still don't know where I'm going, but it could range from flight school in Pensacola to being a MAWTS-1 instructor in Yuma. We shall see we the Marine Corps takes me. I'm hoping that I'll be able to sell our CO on letting me lead a section of Phrogs up to Annapolis to fly over a football game when we get back. We shall see how that turns out. - Cory "Stinky" Shackelton That's it for now... Semper Fi, CB