101st Screaming Eagle and Ugly Eddy

The Battalion That Fired 

The First Shot Of Desert Storm!

(No matter how long time has passed  

nor that my hubby is a retired aviator, 

we will always be part of the 101st!)

(the Screaming Eagle-101st Airborne Crest on an Army coin)

The 101st Aviation Battalion along with

-  the 101st Airborne Division-

The Screaming EAGLE...

(Stained glass that I made while we lived on Fort Campbell, KY).

(This order was for a promotion gift).

1-101 Avn Battalion History (taken from Comanchero.org)

The 1^st Battalion, 101^st Aviation Regiment is a direct descendant of Company A, 101^st Aviation Battalion. Constituted on 15 November 1962 in the Regular Army, it became an element of the 101^st Airborne Division. 

The unit was officially activated 3 December 1962 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. These dates correspond to the period when the 101^st Aviation Company was reorganized and redesignated as a battalion.

(This order was for a farewell gift).

 

<><><>

By the summer of 1987, the battalion had moved out of old Hangar 11 and into a brand new hangar at Sabre Army Heliport. The groundwork was being laid for the upcoming Apache Fielding Program.

"Ugly Eddy" is the mascot figurehead for 1-101st AVN...on another Army coin.

The motto "EXPECT NO MERCY" was coined one day during this difficult transitional period in 1987, as LTC Thomas W. Garrett had his commanders and staff assembled in order to formulate a plan to accomplish the enormous amount of work to be completed prior to the Apache fielding. As the meeting adjourned, one of the company commanders turned to another and said, "EXPECT NO MERCY." The Motto stuck.

<><><>

In June 1989, LTC Richard A. Cody assumed command and injected his innovative attack tactics and maintenance management concepts into the battalion.

( This drawing order was requested from one of the military units for General Cody's change of Command).

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was the first conventional unit to deploy in support of the American War on Terrorism...

<><><>

So many changes after 9/11/2001.  

These family photos were taken for our 2001 family Christmas cards. The years following, Mr. B would be busy with the 101st, for various short assignments and Christmas 2003, he was already deployed to Iraq.

December 2001

  ~Girly~Twirly, Heartbreaker, Girly~Whirly~

~This was also the day of my birthday, taken by Opryland Hotel~

I am  joining in this week's  Alphabe-Thursday's "E" with Jenny!

<><><>

Here are a few new orders that I've completed and shipped out.

From Hallie:

"Hi,

I would like to order an 8x10 size print. I know you've had a few orders for Toriis lately and this will be one more. I've seen some of your recent work and love it...."

Thank you, Hallie for contacting me to do this one as a gift for your husband! Thank him also for his military service.

Request for this image of the Green Bay Packer's coach Vince Lombardi:

"I was given your card by.....and I loved your piece you did for her! I would like to get something done for my boyfriend's...birthday. He really loves all WI sports, especially the Packers... Thanks!"

Audra, Thank you for thinking of this for a birthday gift!

This request from Jayme:

"Hi there, I would like to give one of your personalized sketches to my husband for his birthday...

Also, here's my idea. My husband is a HUGE basketball fan. I thought it would be cute to do a basketball using the word "ba-ball" or "baball" whichever would work best for you.  This is the best way I can spell how my 1.5 yr old says basketball.  My son is infatuated with basketball and my husband LOVES this more than anything." 

Email from Jayme, after she received her art:

"Thank you again...I will be giving it to my husband tomorrow and will take a picture after that and send it to you.

Again, thank you. I'm extremely pleased how your sketch turned out and will definitely order from you in the future.

Also, thanks again for what you did with creating another sketch AND shippint it out to me 2nd Day Air. i apologize that this happened, but appreciate your professionalizm in how you handled it.

You have been fantastic to order from!

Have a great spring/summer and again, look forward to ordering from you again."

Thank you, Jayme for your order and your patience when the shipment was "lost" by the carrier.  I'm glad that the first piece was eventually tracked down.

 <><><>

Last but not least...here are the two winners of the American flag giveaways. Flag will be drawn using the name of their choice.

Thank you to all those that linked on to the Mil Spouse Weekly Roundup! Winner selected from those that linked up: G.I. Joe's Wife. 

And a thank you to all those that came to visit and left a sweet comment.  Winner from those that left a comment: Troop Petrie:

that print is adorable. I would love to win it. I am glad you are hosting this morning. I love finding new blogs.

Like I have done previously, (since I wish everyone was a winner!) I am extending 10% off any drawing order to those that linked on or that commented on that May 6th post. Just contact me by email, if you have any questions.

*******

EDITED ADDED NOTE: Kelly came up with an amazing auction of a variety of products donated by a variety of sponsors: I am honored to be a one of the sponsors for this event.
Join Kelly at BETWEEN the LINES in supporting Relay For Life!  Let's help the world Celebrate More Birthdays!  The Online  Auction will run from May 20th - May 26th.  All proceeds will go directly to the Relay For Life site and products will be shipped from our sponsors.  I HOPE to see you there!


Thank you for stopping by! Come back any time :o) ...I hope you do :o)

D is for Date...

We had a wonderful visit this past weekend! 

....so blessed to be able to drive up to see and spend time with our kids.

We were able to spend time with Girly~Twirly and her hubby and his parents...

spend time with Girly~Whirly and see her boyfriend graduate from dental school, meet his family...

...celebrate Girly~Twirly's hubby's (Awesome) upcoming birthday...

...celebrate Heartbreaker's birthday with the whole family...

...havea  birthday breakfast with Heartbreaker and his girlfriend before we had to drive back 11 hours!

...celebrate Mother's day...

I took lots of photos, but will have to share those on a future post! 

I am busy with drawing orders, so will do a repost of sorts today.  

Taking parts of an old post and editing parts here:

I am  joining in this week's  Alphabe-Thursday's "D" with Jenny!

D is for DATE...

Mr. B called me up after being "shy" when he saw me at the commissary, the day after we met.  (Alamogordo, New Mexico)

He really is "Mr. Social man", so I thought that was so not "cool" when he basically passed me by as I was bagging groceries. 

Later, he tells me that he went to to pick up a couple of groceries knowing that I was working, but when he came by my line, he got cold feet. (Too cute!)  Thankfully, he got up the nerve and gave me a call.

Here's a picture of me "back in the day"...by my house phone...that I was "patiently" waiting to ring. (this photo was not actually taken on THE night that he had called me, but it is the phone and when I found this photo, I thought how neat that you can see the phone I was talking about...haha, that magical phone).

            

...so, our first date was to go to the theater on base.  

My title to this post is "First Date...Remembered?" 

because, all that we both remember was:  

1. He walked to my house from his barracks...

2. He met my parents and brother... 

3. We walked to the theater...

4. We sat in the theater (I do not even remember what movie was playing! I was too focused on Mr. B!  Since he has an awesome memory, I asked Mr. B tonight, if he was sure that he absolutely could not remember the movie...he couldn't... so that must mean that he was too focused on me. :o)

5.  After the movie, we walked back to my house.  

(When we first started dating, Mr. B did not own any "wheels", so we walked.  Living on a base or any military installation is pretty convenient. They are like little towns, with a grocery store, shopping store, fast food places, theater, bowling, gym, swimming pools, etc...) 

And like I mentioned, my dad was pretty strict... there were not too many places that I had permission to go.  We got to be pretty good bowlers :o)

***so as far as first dates go...not too much was remembered, except the "excited-to-be-near-him", butterfly-in-the-belly, "can't-believe-he-asked-me-out" feelings.  It definitely was the beginning to an amazing journey :o)*** 

~~~~~~~~~ 

Here are a few photos taken when we were dating:

Mr. B and my little brother. (I have no clue why they are pinching each other's cheeks!) haha

at my house, before my high school prom

close up of the "official" school prom photo

a classic 1981 prom pic!

Mr. B did  eventually buy a Scout from one of my dad's friends, so we didnt have to walk to every date ;o) 

It was a gas guzzler! 

I found this photo of Mr. B (in his tshirt and white corderoy shorts) washing his old Scout.

And here is a picture of Mr. B riding one of his friend's Harleys.  

><><><><

Here are some most recent orders.

Thank you Vicki (Change in a Bottle) for your order! It was fun to do the arrowhead and I love the quote that you sent me to add to the bottom.

Vicki emailed me when it arrived:

"YES! it was here when I came home today and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! ...

 ...I'll post on the blog about it and on FB too. Can't wait to get it framed and to dad on fathers day, he'll love it too:)"

This was taken from images that were on the wedding invitation/announcement. I just took the separate image of the one bird and drew it to the other images.

This was the wedding logo designed by the bride and groom that was on all their wedding invitations/website, etc...

Erika, Thank you again for ordering another military thank you gift from your unit's wives.

...I have more, but will post those next time.

Thanks for stopping... & I will be sure to return  your lovely visits... And I will be  posting the names of the two winners of the giveaway of the flags from last week. That giveaway ends this Friday, so will post the winners in my next week's post on May 18th. Please come back and check .