THE VIKING VOICE

VMFA(AW) - 225 FAMILY READINESS NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2010

Commanding Officer A word from the

LtCol Dan Goodwin
Commanding Officer
Executive Officer
Maj Chad Sund
Happy Holidays, Vikings!
Sergeant Major
SgtMaj Scott Boyer
Finally! By the time you read this, we should be very nearly
Family Readiness Officer at the halfway point for this deployment. I can tell you from
Mrs. Stephanie Early my previous deployments that this is a tough time for
Marines and their families. The halfway point marks the
beginning of the downhill slide, but it still means that we
have a long time to go. Deployments during the holidays are
especially hard. Marines miss home and all the trappings
that go along with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, etc. Families miss
their Marines and experience their holidays with a big vacancy in their hearts.

The only thing that I know that can make this period go by a little easier
is communication. I know I love hearing my family’s voice and seeing their
faces on Skype and their updates on the web. You can measurably brighten a
Marine’s day with a phone call or a card or package. In fact, we just received a
batch of packages from the Family Readiness Team that definitely served to
brighten some moods and spruce up the squadron decorations! Although the
SgtMaj isn’t so sure about the mini-Christmas trees on some Marines’ desks….
Thanks so much to those who participated.

Deployed Address: The squadron has been working hard. You may have even heard the
Rank Last, First MI complaints of some of your Marines. As difficult as it has been, the work is
VMFA 225
paying off. The aircraft are doing fantastic, and the measurements of our
UIC 41027
FPO AP 96609-1027
squadron’s combat capabilities are off the charts because of all of the great
flying. Your Marines are part of an amazing team. With our partners here in
Marine Aircraft Group 12, we are standing watch and ready to charge if the
nation needs us. It has been an exciting three months. I expect the next three
won’t be much different.

Semper Fidelis and Happy Holidays!

LtCol Goodwin

VIKINGS
RULE!!
 A word from the

Mark your
Sergeant Major
Calendars for
these Upcoming Happy Holidays, Vikings!
Viking Family Another year is almost over and the deployment has come
Events: to the point when all family members start to get excited.
Yes, it is the half-way point! In your discussions with your
Return & Reunion Marine or Sailor, you may express that time is not moving
Brief along fast enough. They may respond and tell you that time
February 3, 2011 is moving along faster than they anticipated. Each
Marine’s perception is all relative to how busy he or she is
Important and the work hours, flight hours and maintenance accomplished. I am very
Phone Numbers proud of the Marines who on a daily basis continue to set the pace for the rest
of MAG 12 and the other squadrons on the base.
Family Readiness
Stephanie Early For the families who have never experienced a holiday deployment this may be
wk: 858-577-6537 a very difficult time of year. I know that if you have young children, they will
cell: 858-864-4778
stephanie.early@usmc.mil
ask so many great questions. My favorite one is “does Santa know where my
daddy is”? The Marines and Sailors may have missed out on all of their family
MAG-11 traditions during Thanksgiving, but most of the Division Chiefs had some type
Group Duty Officer of shop get together to help the Marines keep their minds off of missing their
858-577-1775 or loved ones. As I make my way around the work spaces and barracks, I find
858-577-1666
holiday cheer. Some more than others, but I think deep down we all love this
MAG-12 time of year.
Group Duty Officer
Japan Communication during this time of year is the key to surviving the holidays
011-81-827-79-4029 or without your loved ones. Packages filled with goodies are arriving from various
011-81-827-79-4620
organizations and are being passed out to all. I want to thank you for your
Chaplain continued support for all Marines and Sailors in the Squadron and may all of
Rabbi Kreisler you have a very Merry Holiday Season.
neal.kreisler@usmc.mil
wk: 858-577-4443 The performance of the Marines and Sailors has been extraordinary. This
cell: 858-967-7425
squadron continues to make mission and improve combat readiness. I am
proud to be the Sergeant Major of the finest men and women who are serving
in the Corps. I expect the upcoming months to be filled with training and travel
and to go by as quickly as the first half of the deployment.

Happy Holidays,
SgtMaj Boyer
www.facebook.com/vmfa225
Some of the goodies
our spouses made at
our Spa Night!
A word from the
Family Readiness Officer
Warmest Holiday Greetings,

HALF WAY THERE! Congratulate yourselves on the

incredible fortitude you have shown over these past months of
the deployment! Now that the lights at the end of the
deployment “tunnel” are growing brighter, start taking time
to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the changes
ahead. Just as you begin to organize your home; you should
also start to organize your thoughts and expectations for
when your loved one returns home. Save the date for our Return and Reunion
Brief on February 3rd, where we will give you the tools you need to prepare for
the homecoming.

This month many of our spouses enjoyed our Spa Night, sponsored by San
Diego Spine & Rehab. It was a relaxing evening of massages and other goodies.
Thank you to all of our fabulous spouses who baked the delicious and beautiful
goodies for our cookie exchange. Everyone went home with a 1 hour massage
certificate, cookies galore, and other holiday items donated by a local brownie
troop and Dollar Tree Stores.

We also celebrated the season with our squadron Christmas Party. It was a
huge collaborative effort with some of our sister squadrons and many families
came out to enjoy all of the festivities. We hope everyone had a fantastic time!
Check out the pictures on page 5.

As a reminder, this is the LAST newsletter that will be delivered to families via
snail mail. Following this edition all newsletters will be made in an electronic
format only and will be available via e-mail and our squadron website. If you
have not already done so please contact me and provide me with an e-mail
address if you wish to receive further correspondence from our squadron.

Lastly, to keep the Marine Corps at the highest state of readiness, Headquarters
Marine Corps has released the “DSTRESS Line,” an anonymous and
confidential, 24/7, counseling and referral service for Marines, FMF Sailors,
and the loved ones of Marines and FMF Sailors. If you’re a spouse, parent,
sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandparent, child, or friend of one of our Marines
or Sailors this line is for you! For more details, check out the flier on page 8.

I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and look forward to everything the New
Year brings.

Semper Family,
Stephanie Early
 Some of the goodies A day in the life of a Maintenance Admin Marine
our ladies went home Cpl Cabrera
with at Spa Night

Konichiwa Viking Family and friends, I’m Corporal

Joadys Cabrera from Maintenance Administration. I have
been part of the Viking family since May 2008 as an
Aircraft Maintenance Administration Specialist. I like to
think of my department as the middle child: we have our
Fighter Pilots who train on our aircraft, our Marines that
maintain them, and Maintenance Admin in the middle
which links flight operations with maintenance.

Maintenance Admin has a wide range of tasks and missions to complete. Our
shop is where we maintain the 36 logbooks for the 12 aircraft in the squadron’s
custody. In our logbook records we account for everything from scheduled
preflight and post flight inspections, periodic maintenance inspections to
aircraft component removal and replacement. We track the flight hour usage of
our 24 engines to include their 41 individual components to ensure they are safe
for flight. We draft and release naval messages to plan and estimate depot level
repair and rework of our jets. In here we complete the ‘flight-maintenance’
circle. We account for all the hard work our Marines put into our airplanes,
everything from an engine bay inspection to a 200-hour phase inspection. Our
department ensures the proper documentation of it all. If we don’t, it is as if the
work never happened and could endanger people and airplanes. That is why
we take our “desk job” extremely seriously as with any and all missions.

While deployed as a Viking for my second deployment to Japan, I am getting an

opportunity to set up, operate, and perform minor maintenance on Naval
Aviation Logistics Command Management Information System (NALCOMIS)
which is the other side of the Maintenance Admin division. I will be perfecting
my skills with maintenance documentation validation and approval, as well as
creating and analyzing charts and statistical information to aid the mission
readiness of our unit and the performance of its assigned tasks.

At this point I have officially reached the half way mark in this deployment… at
least on my calendar! Come January I will find myself returning to the winter
of Iwakuni from beautiful Okinawa, Japan and begin my preparations to come
home. Thank you so much for all the Skype sessions and the Facebook
messages; it truly helps create a much smaller gap, though we are worlds apart.
Stay positive and warm in California. We’ll be joining you at home soon!
 From the Homefront
Holiday Banner

Thank you to all of

our families who sent
in messages and
pictures for our
banner! It was
mailed out to our
Marine & Sailors in
Japan and will be
hung in our
squadron throughout
the holiday season.

From the Homefront

Christmas Party

Santa’s Helpers

Snow in San Diego

Rudolph the F-18

Visiting Santa

Visit us on Facebook to see all of our Christmas Bubble Wrap Zone

Party Pictures! www.facebook.com/vmfa225
 January 30, 2010
0900-1600

Jessica James
L.I.N.K.S. Program Trainer
(858) 577-4810
jessica.james@usmc.mil