Today we started off in the classroom, which was nice because it was raining. I got to try out my issued rain parks, which isn't too bad apart from being camouflaged.
The first lesson of the day was basic map reading. They had definitions for things like hills, ridges, saddles, depressions, etc. I had a good definition for depression, but I wasn't called on to answer.
Depression: Army training in the middle of a Navy career.
We then went to lunch: beef stew over rice. Not the best, but it hasn't killed me yet. Then we headed back to the classroom for some convoy operations stuff. We ironed out the duties, and our convoy will be humvee, ILAV, humvee, ILAV, humvee. I will be the gunner in the last humvee, covering the rear. An ILAV seems to be a really well armored troop transport vehicle. It seats 8 in the back, plus a driver and passenger up front. Still not as many as my helicopter can seat though...
But we walked around outside, as a convoy without vehicles, for practice. Tomorrow we get blanks, so it should be somewhat interesting. I suppose we shall see.
We had our transportation brief this evening as well. Reality is starting to set in, which is scary. We're going to be leaving here on Saturday night. We'll fly out of Columbia airport, have a layover in Norfolk while we pick up people, a short layover in Germany, and then we'll arrive in Kuwait. It feels a little surreal and as if it should be someone else's reality. In Kuwait we sleep in a big barn-like structure with lots of cots. No lockers, so all our bags will have to sit there on the floor next to us. And the toilet buildings don't even have power. Kind of weird, if you ask me, because there is a McDonald's and many other chain restaurants. I think I know where I'll be going to the bathroom! The showers are in a separate building, but that is supposedly powered so there will be air conditioning. It looks like we'll have anywhere between 3-5 days in Kuwait before we depart for our various locations. So we'll see. It's starting to feel real, which I don't like.
The first lesson of the day was basic map reading. They had definitions for things like hills, ridges, saddles, depressions, etc. I had a good definition for depression, but I wasn't called on to answer.
Depression: Army training in the middle of a Navy career.
We then went to lunch: beef stew over rice. Not the best, but it hasn't killed me yet. Then we headed back to the classroom for some convoy operations stuff. We ironed out the duties, and our convoy will be humvee, ILAV, humvee, ILAV, humvee. I will be the gunner in the last humvee, covering the rear. An ILAV seems to be a really well armored troop transport vehicle. It seats 8 in the back, plus a driver and passenger up front. Still not as many as my helicopter can seat though...
But we walked around outside, as a convoy without vehicles, for practice. Tomorrow we get blanks, so it should be somewhat interesting. I suppose we shall see.
We had our transportation brief this evening as well. Reality is starting to set in, which is scary. We're going to be leaving here on Saturday night. We'll fly out of Columbia airport, have a layover in Norfolk while we pick up people, a short layover in Germany, and then we'll arrive in Kuwait. It feels a little surreal and as if it should be someone else's reality. In Kuwait we sleep in a big barn-like structure with lots of cots. No lockers, so all our bags will have to sit there on the floor next to us. And the toilet buildings don't even have power. Kind of weird, if you ask me, because there is a McDonald's and many other chain restaurants. I think I know where I'll be going to the bathroom! The showers are in a separate building, but that is supposedly powered so there will be air conditioning. It looks like we'll have anywhere between 3-5 days in Kuwait before we depart for our various locations. So we'll see. It's starting to feel real, which I don't like.
Smuggling out an amphibian?!
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