chumble spuzz

2 women share 1st kiss at US Navy ship’s return

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, left, kisses her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach on Wednesday, Dec. 22. It’s a tradition at Navy homecomings that one sailor is chosen by raffle to be first off the ship to kiss a loved one. Wednesday, for the first time, the reunited couple was same-sex.

(photo by Brian Clark / Courtesy of The Virginian-Pilot via msnbc.com)

Awesome moment between a mom and her daughter. I love this picture.

Fond farewell

Amber Simpkins and her daughter Elezia Simpkins rub noses during a farewell ceremony in Gulfport, Miss., on Sept. 18. Approximately 140 Mississippi Army National Guard soldiers are mobilizing for one year to Kuwait to support the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Detachments of the 1108th will serve in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa.

(photo by Tim Isbell / The Sun Herald / AP via The Week in Pictures - msnbc.com)

A really beautiful moment full of joy and love.

Military dad gives his son a surprise visit

Canton, Ill., High School graduate Wayne Decker, a specialist with the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, lifts his one-year old son Ethan after he surprised his children on a return to Peoria, Ill. on June 29, after a deployment in Iraq.

(photo by Ron Johnson / Peoria Journal Star via AP via PhotoBlog)

Guitar playing in southern Afghanistan

Private First Class Benjamin Brickman, from Albany, New York, of the First Battalion Eighth Marines, Alpha Company, is reflected in a cracked and discarded vehicle wing mirror as he practices on a guitar at an outpost in Kunjak, southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Feb. 16 (Finbarr O’reilly / Reuters).

(via Photoblog)

Little boy gets his father for Christmas

Jack Marguis, 5, leaps into the arms of his father, Tech. Sgt. Zachary Marquis, as he is surprised by his father’s appearance, Dec, 22, 2010. Jack had just asked Santa to bring his father home for Christmas. Jennifer Marguis, daughter Abigail and Santa watch the reunion in Maryville, Tenn (Tom Sherlin / The Daily Times via AP).

(via Photoblog)

Ammunition at the ready

A machine gunner from the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Bravo Company wears a bandolier of bullets around his neck at his base in Talibjan after a patrol in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Nov. 9 (Finbarr O’Reilly / Reuters).

(via The Week in Pictures: Nov. 4 - 11- msnbc.com)

Candidate supports troops, but flier shows Germans

A North Carolina legislator has apologized after a campaign flier that was meant to cast him as military-friendly featured a photo portraying advancing German World War II soldiers.

The direct-mail political consulting firm that produced the promotional piece designed to boost N.C. Rep. Tim Spear, D-Washington, said it was solely responsible for the mistake. He is running against Republican Bob Steinberg.

The flier destined for about 10,000 homes in Spear’s district was headlined: “In North Carolina, One Legislator is Covering Our Soldiers’ Backs.” It described Spear’s support for military-friendly legislation, including bills that made it harder to foreclose the homes of active-duty service members.

The art department at Washington, D.C.-based MSHC Partners found a photo that visually captured the Spear’s message, but no one noticed that it showed the backs of four advancing World War II re-enactors dressed in German army uniforms, senior account executive Mike Brown said Wednesday.

(via The Rocky Mount Telegram)

Welcome home, Dad

Staff Sgt. Guido Constant, of Norwalk, is hugged by his daughter Lunise, and son Kendrick at the Army aviation support facility in Windsor Locks, Conn., Aug. 25, 2010. About 110 soldiers of the 250th Engineer Co., Connecticut National Guard who were deployed to Iraq last winter have returned home (Jessica Hill / AP). 

Robert Hood says: Sometimes you see a picture and it makes you smile and cry at the same time.

(via Photoblog)