Blue and Gold Ceremony-Baltimore 2/10/19

We arrived at the church the ceremony was being held at 2pm. They offered us a pretty big room for us to kit up and safety secure our bins. Guests to the ceremony started arriving 15 minutes before the ceremony started and we positioned ourselves by the entrance to greet arriving guests. Right before their flag ceremony we marched into the main hall. We stayed up front for the remainder of the ceremony. They had a SW themed back drop and we did a lot of photo oops with the guest and the cub scouts. Around 5pm we returned to the changing area and changed back into our street clothes. We were provided with a Certificate of Appreciation from the cub scouts and informed they donated $150 to DIPG in our honor. It was a great troop and had great conversations with the POC’s.

Troopers:

Ryan Dassing – TI
Rob Heck – TD
Tom Wyatt – TD
Pat Vertone – BH
Robert Harlan – TK
Charlie Mann – ID
Sebastian Danese – TI
Jesse Pollock – DZ
Brett Canfield – SL
Jeremy Bender – TD

Squires:
Bryan White

GA:
Oliver
Bobby
Gabby
Jake
Alexander

Trooping Time 2 hours
Money Raised :. $150 toward DIPG
pictures sent to Garrison Flickr account

Highlandtown Elementary Space Unit – Baltimore 2/19/19

We arrived around 1200, got checked into the school. We had a nice sized staging area where we got suited up. Unfortunately Matthew had a Chewbacca malfunction with his foot and had to take his kit off and decided to squire us and take care of the Q and A. We met with the students around 1230, where they were presented with several awards for their achievements, came and up and talked to us, did the meet and greet, handshakes and high fives. They discussed space and asked us plenty of questions. Once all the questions were answered we took group photos with the kids and teachers.

At around 2pm, the troopers headed back to the staging area to de-kit and head out.

– Total Number of hours worked: 1.5
– Money Raised (if doing BAT/Auction/etc): $0
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OLG Troopers:
– Kyle Harkins – TD
– Dylan Zierle – TD
– Pat Vetrone – TK

Children’s Inn/ NIH – Bethesda 2/27/19

Most of our transports arrived an hour or so before the event start. Imperial security at the gate was cautious, yet extremely helpful. Their job is to protect those young recruit’s inside the facility at all costs. We brought along boxes of Imperial toys and training materials for the Younglings. Security Forces quickly inspected our cargo and directed us to the secondary entrance to the facility. It appears that the main entrance had been blocked due to construction. I could only attribute this to the age of the facility, as there is no way that this installation could ever be compromised. It seems the higher ups had finally learned their lessons from the Scarif incident.

Upon entering, we were met by our contact who then directed us to our staging area. The area was just like any other Imperial facility; clean, with every bit of attention paid to the smallest of details. The smell of plasti-steel and carbon scoring filled the air as our Troopers began to prepare for the arrival of a dignitary sent by the Emperor himself. We sat and wondered with one of the other officers present; “Who could the Emperor possibly be sending to ensure the success of this mission”? Just then, we all heard something very familiar, yet terrifying to say the least. The faint sound of mechanical breathing began to get louder and louder. You could hear a pin drop at that point. Just then, every trooper snapped to attention as Lord Vader had entered the room. But then something pleasant happened that took us all by surprise. The Dark Lord of the Sith was extremely happy to see us, and even more so to be there. There will be no force chokes, and we were extremely grateful.

As we continued to prepare to meet the younglings, we were met by a Jawa from Tatooine who then tried to sell us an AstroMech droid. This particular R2 unit was quite chatty. The Jawa rambled on about some issue on Tatooine regarding her Sandcrawler and how she had barely escaped with her life and just this astromech. None of us were buying it. We’ve all heard this story before. We were just glad to have the help of this droid for this mission, as well as the Jawa to fix it should it become unruly.

At this point, our contact came to retrieve us as the Younglings were waiting upstairs. They had no idea that we were coming, which is how the Emperor prefers it. We were lead to the Imperial Lifts to take us to the level 2. At that point, I had noticed that the cargo that we brought for the Younglings was placed on a table inside of their common room. We walked in to cheers and gasps of excitement. Many of the children lined up to take pictures with us, as our troopers and a very familiar looking scoundrel handed out the cargo of Imperial toys and training materials that we brought for them. After more photos and high fives, Lord Vader had deemed our mission a success and instructed us to return to our staging area to regroup.

While removing my armor, I felt particularly good about this mission. These are times when you look back on all the rough stuff that you faced in the Imperial Academy. When you went in not knowing what to expect, yet the thought of donning that armor is what got you through all of it. You then look out amongst all of the young faces and see what you actually did it for. It wasn’t for the pride of wearing that armor. It was for them. It was always for them.

TS71507 signing off.

– Total Number of hours worked : 1.5
– Money Raised (if doing BAT/Auction/etc) $0
– Photos will be submitted.

Troopers: (List troopers in alphabetical order)

Caela Mandigo – IG
Corey DiPietro- TB
Jay Lizek – ID
Jason Pangborn – R2
Jesse Pollock – TS (Event Lead)
Kate Walsh- DZ
Rob Cross – SL
William Ralph – TK