Marine who served in Afghanistan happy to be home to celebrate new year with wife and family

HUNTSVILLE, Al.
Last year on New Year's Eve, watching a ball drop to celebrate the arrival of 2011 was the last thing on the mind of Marine Cpl. Alex "A.J." Selvidge of Huntsville.

Alex "A.J." Selvidge & wife Samantha

Stationed in Afghanistan last winter with the Second Battalion of the Ninth Marines, Selvidge was en route to helping out some fellow troops whose truck had been blown up during an attack on New Year's Eve. As a Motor Transport Operator, Selvidge was responsible for helping in the recovery efforts.
He had no idea Huntsville's first Terramé New Year's Eve Ball Drop was being celebrated in his honor.
"No one even told me about it until after I got home," said Selvidge who was discharged after four years of service Sept. 3, 2011.
Last night, Selvidge and his wife of 18 months, Samantha, both 25, celebrated New Year's Eve together for the first time since they met just before he enlisted in 2007. The previous years either she was working as an assistant manager at the Rave Theater where they met, or he was deployed overseas.
"It was tough, but I love him and it was worth waiting," said Samantha, a shift manager at Wendy's on South Parkway across from Parkway Place Mall.
Together for the first time, they were to watch the ball, designed by A.J.'s dad, Bill Selvidge, drop at the stroke of midnight last night at John Hunt Park.
"It's very exciting to finally be together on New Year's," said Samantha who faithfully hand-wrote wrote her husband 210 letters - one for each day of his deployment. He often got them in bundles because mail call only came a couple of times a month.
The Selvidges - A. J., Samantha and Bill - were all busy New Year's Eve afternoon making sure the ball Bill, an engineer, designed would work properly. They lifted the 30-foot tall pole with the ball made of water pipe into the air. It was covered in LED Christmas lights, making it and the sign Bill also designed, Happy New Year 2012, energy efficient.
"Between the ball and the sign, we probably won't use 50 watts of power," Bill said.
That is appropriate because the ball drop is part of the Terrame New Year's Eve event with proceeds going to benefit Operation Green Team, which brings attention to conserving energy throughout the area.
Samantha was A.J.'s boss at the Rave, but after he turned in his notice and enlisted in the Marines, she asked him for a date - of course, to the movies.
"They (the movies) were free and the popcorn and drinks were free," she said with a laugh.
The couple had planned on being married July 10, 2010, but quickly had to move it up to June 30 when A. J. learned he was being deployed July 10.
"We just took all the invitations and scratched out the date and wrote, 'Oooops' and put in June 30," Samantha said.