Photographs from around the world

Many of you many know of my brother, Justin, from me talking about him.  I'm very proud of him and his serving in the Navy.

The ship he is current assigned to, the USS Ingraham, was in American Somoa last October shortly after the tsumani had hit.  They were there to provide relief support, and my brother was able to use his photography skills.  Four of his photographs were selected to be used in the Navy's Surface Warfare print edition and can also be viewed in the PDF version as well.  One of those photographs was used for the headlining Winter 2010 feature online as well.

He originally wanted to go in and use his degree in journalism to be a Photographers Mate (PH), but was denied as they found he has some blue/green color blindness, and this MOS doesn't allow for that. He's been doing photography for years, and this never hindered him. However, as he did so well on his ASVAP tests, they really wanted him, and he's been blessed during his time of service. The photo above and to the right of him is dated, as he's had his 3rd promotion since joining the Navy and is now an E-6 (IT1).

I don't talk about the other things he does, as I don't know the details. But you can guess at what he does due to his MOS as an IT (formerly CTO, before the Navy merged them into the IT rating). I know what he does is important for the ships and bases he's been deployed at (San Diego, S. Korea, the USS Sterett, Vietnam, and now the USS Ingraham), and I'm very happy to able to call him my brother.  It is very cool to see the things that he does that I can talk about, like his photography.

I just wanted to give a shout out to my brother and thank him for his many years of service in the Navy, and say that I'm so very proud of him! I pray for him and my cousins who are in harms way, doing their duty. I've family serving right now in many parts of the world, from deployment in the Pacific near Japan, to on the ground in Afghanistan, to the Persian Gulf region. I'm proud of them, and father-in-law, my uncles and grandfather who served before. Thanks Cousin Steve, Cousin LePaul, Uncle Steve, Uncle Terry, Uncle Jack, Uncle Henry, Papa Martin, and Grandpa Ralph!