Touring My Trophy Case

I reorganized my trophy case, going from two rows to three. In the process, I added a few things that had previously been either in our library or in our china cabinet, and I removed a few things that either weren't true trophies or that were redundant with other stuff that was already in there.

Here's where we landed. I tried to leave a little room at the top for future Swim Across the Sound trophies.

I'm now dying to explain this. If you're interested, the explanation is past the jump.

I got this shelf for my wife as a wedding present. We saw it on a date in Hoboken shortly after we got engaged. She really liked it, so I went back and bought it for her. She then re-gifted it to me a few years ago when we reorganized our library.

Top of the shelf, left to right:

 -- Jade lion bookends from a trip to Beijing towards the end of my year in Korea.
 -- Race finisher's medals hang alongside my pass to this past year's Army Spring Game.
 -- My Stetson from 4-7 Cav, Munson, Republic of Korea (ROK)
 -- "Go Army" pom poms that my wife got for a game one year.
 -- A gargoyle from Mont-Saint-Michel, France.
 -- Podium medals from various races in and around Connecticut.

Inside top row, left to right:

 -- My senior picture from West Point plus a press clipping.
 -- Finishers trophies from the Swim Across the Sound.
 -- A welded tank from 4-46 AR, Ft. Stewart, GA.
 -- A "Go Army" dream-catcher that my wife gave me for Chrismas last year.
 -- A 2ID unit patch.
 -- My ring box from West Point.
 -- The brass off my tar bucket, also from West Point.
 -- The flag from my father's funeral. He's at Arlington Cemetery in the same section as the 9/11 Memorial.
 -- Army Swimming's "Skippy" Buncher Award, 1992. Given to the best plebe swimmer.
 -- A bunch of pocket knives sit behind the Buncher Award. These include my grandfather's old pocket knife, the knife that my grandparents gave me when I graduated from high school, and a knife that my wife got for me at the Grand Canyon.
 -- Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award, 1995.
 -- Podium trophies from the Swim Across the Sound.
 -- A West Point thimble.
 -- Engraved flasks that friends gave me for serving in their wedding parties.
 -- The Swim Across the Sound's "Dream of Life" Award, 2022. This is the Swim's highest award.

Second row, left to right:

 -- A Proletariat Comics button, made for our exhibit at the first NY Comic Con
 -- Me saluting my father during Plebe Parent Week, 1992.
 -- A plate from the ROK celebrating peace, 1995-1996. They gave this to my dad.
 -- Press clipping from the Swim Across the Sound, 2017.
 -- Brain corral from a beach on Water Island, St. Thomas, USVI.
 -- Graduation photo from West Point, June 3, 1995.
 -- Incense burning figure from Germany. A gift from my dad from his travels back when I was a kid.
 -- My father as the Commander of the Marine Detachment, U.S.S. Nimitz.
 -- 500th Night beer stein.
 -- Picture of me standing on the Great Wall of China.
 -- Senior picture from the Carrolwood Swim Team, 1990.
 -- The flag from my mother's funeral. She was a literal card-carrying member of the Daughter's of the American Revolution.
 -- More brain corral from St. Thomas.
 -- My great-grandfather and two buddies during World War 1. He drove an ambulance.
 -- A tea set from the ROK given shortly after the Crab Island Incident, 1999.
 -- A subdued 3ID unit patch.
 -- A "hand-knitted Go Army" mule from my daughter Hannah, Christmas 2023.
 -- A beer stein from Company E-1. I ordered it a few years ago to support a company fundraiser.

Third row, left to right:

 -- A memorial ticket to the Army-Air Force game during the COVID year. Army won that game and the CIC that year in front of an empty stadium.
 -- A Waterford crystal clock from my friend Chris given at my first wedding. It's my favorite thing from that marriage and pretty much the only thing I've saved from it.
 -- My spurs from 4-7 Cav.
 -- A picture of my father competing in his second marathon.
 -- A Marine Corps beer stein from Dad's time on the Nimitz.
 -- A picture of me and Chris in Dress Greens in Tennessee shortly after graduation, 1995.
 -- Challenge coins, mostly from Korea. Alas, my coins from the 3rd ID are lost to history.
 -- A Spartan Brigade wine glass, 1997.
 -- Another Class of 1995 beer stein.
 -- A coffee mug that I made for my grandmother a very long time ago. She used it throughout her life.
 -- A titanium necklace sports necklace. My wife gave it to me.
 -- Signed receiving gloves from my buddy Terry's son Tex, a recruited Tight End to Army Football.
 -- My merit badge sash and neckerchief from Boy Scouts. My dad kept these. They remind me of him because he served as our Scoutmaster back in the day.
 -- A Patriot League blanket given to the Army Swim Team in lieu of a trophy when we won the League Championship. We won all four years, but this is the only trophy that I still have.

Outside right, leaning against the case itself:

My old kickboard from the Vista Swim Team, 1987-1989. The team signed it when we left California and gave it to me at my last practice. 

Outside left, on the wall adjacent to the case:

The Army Fight Song on a wall hanging. My friends Matt and Amber gave these to everyone that came  to hang out with them at Breck earlier this past year. That was an amazing trip.

**EDIT**

My wife came in and immediately moved the stuff sitting on the bottom row, freeing up the entirety of the shelf. This allowed me to spread some stuff out, bring the kickboard inside, and to add:

 -- The binoculars that my father carried in Vietnam (bottom row, right).
 -- A Royal Australian Air Force drink coaster that some friends of my folks gave them at the Armed Forces Staff College (think CGSC) way back in 1983 (third row, middle right). Chris and I visited these same friends when we went to Australia on Graduation Leave in 1995.
 -- A picture of me that my wife took right before the Litchfield Hills Triathlon in maybe 2013 or 2014 (third row, center). It's all smiles in the picture, but that bike course ends with a hard two-mile climb. The run then starts with a sharp two mile decent, followed by a brutal four-mile climb back to the finish.

I've since added my cadet saber and my father's Marine Corps officer's saber to the left side of this display and the paddle from my dad's time as 1st Recon Battalion Commander to the right side.

Now I'm done.