Here now is the third Cool Reenlistment Photos article I’ve been able to birth to the news world in recent weeks, a feat of journalism made possible by our faithful readers.
Reenlisting on a missile tube? Bruh, we got it. Standing in a damn bomb crater? Yessir. Five other unusual locations? We have those as well.
Please keep the unusual/fun reenlistment pics coming. Send them to geoffz@militarytimes.com and include names of those in the pics, why you or your buddy decided on that location and anything else you’d want people to know.
Onward!
First up, we have this beaut from a reader known as Mike Fiasco, a retired Seabee who found himself deployed to a late-90s warzone and made the most of it.
“I reenlisted in a bomb crater from a U.S. 500 pounder dropped during the air campaign in Kosovo 1999,” he wrote us.
Them woodland cammies the Seabees used to rock were real nice.
We get back underway for our next heady reenlistment photo, sent to us by Fire Controlman 2nd Class Brent Hoover.
Hoover and his buddy, FC2 Hodgson, were reenlisted atop the guided-missile cruiser Normandy’s Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile tubes while deployed to the Gulf of Oman in February 2019.
“Five months into a nine-and-a-half month deployment and we are in the (combat missile) division,” Hoover wrote.
Let’s stay at sea for this dandy of a reenlistment photo sent our way by Robert Dressler. He says he was on the guided-missile destroyer Spruance in 2016 when a sailor opted to reenlist via helo and sent us this pic from the Spruance’s Facebook page.
“I don’t know the official name of the phone set, we just call it ‘red phone,’” Dressler said. “If you look closely you can see the re-enlistee in the helo with her right hand up next to the open door.”
Heading into the wardroom, Lt. j.g. Jessica Leiby, a civil engineer corps officer, sent us this photo of her October 2019 promotion ceremony under da sea.
It took place near Fish Eye Park in Guam, and Lt. Abboss Rezaie oversaw the promotion.
“The whole wardroom dove, snorkeled or went into the underwater observation tower to watch,” Leiby said. “We had about 40-plus people there.”
We’ve gotten our fair share of underwater reenlistment and promotion photos and asked Leiby how that works, what with the talking and the water.
“Abboss would take out her regulator then say part of the oath, put the reg back, then I would take my reg out and repeat, and do it until Abboss was done saying the oath,” Leiby recalled. “You can’t hear each other but it’s still fun to go through it!”
Our reenlistment pics are masters of all domains, so let’s get airborne for this shot from Hospitalman 1st Class (AW) Alvin LeonRamos, who reenlisted as a 2nd class in 2013 aboard a MH-53 Pave Low above Pohang, South Korea.
Helo aircrews are cool.
When Dave Gordon’s reenlistment date for the Naval Reserve was nearing in 2003, he opted to reenlist aboard an old Soviet submarine.
The old sub had been docked in Seattle as a tourist attraction back then, and on Veteran’s Day, Gordon recalled reenlisting on top of a boat that once belonged to America’s vanquished Cold War adversary.
“Gotta love this country,” Gordon wrote. “Where else can an American Navy officer administer the oath of allegiance to an American sailor, but on board a Russian submarine in Elliot Bay, Seattle—AND on Veteran’s Day!”
Our last pic features Army Spc. Devin Marsh getting reenlisted by 1st Lt. Andrew Harmon in a beach cave at an undisclosed location.
“I’m so proud of this Soldier and I’m glad he is sticking around for a while longer,” Harmon wrote on social media. “Yes, I used a prompt card. No, I’m not that short. The water was just deeper there.”
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
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