Well, it's been a LONG time since I've been on AH or even the BBS. Long story short, money got harder and harder to come by, while I subsequently had a harder and harder time not spending what little I had, lol. Well, I've finished my first year in ROTC and went away on my summer cruise, or CORTRAMID (Career Orientation Training for Midshipmen). Basically, we spend a week living in the major career fields to evaluate what we want to select as our pipeline. We started with Aviation, then Marine Corps, Surface, and subs are next week. Life has been... interesting. School has been fine as has ROTC. The females in my life have been... problematic to say the least. Anyway, I thought I would check in with the board and post a few pictures of the adventure so far!
Navy SEAL O-Course
Preparing to fly
In formation at Marine Week. We wore the flak and kevlar everywhere we went.
Looking through a FLIR
Swarming an LAV
Our convoy of AAVs moving down the beach
Preparing to hit the water on an AAV
Our convoy of AAVs moving through Camp Pendleton
Shooting an M203 Grenade Launcher
After popping smoke...
On the flight deck of the USS Pelelieu, LHA-5
Staring dramatically as Harriers land in the background.
They were running harrier ops day and night
Not to sound up-tight or arrogant, but I always had to smile, when I went through a hatch with this label...
Pistol quals with an M9. I like that every shot was timed, and you started from the holster, so speed was as important as accuracy. I was fast and deadly (Note the two shell casings in the air)
Loading .50 strings before we did some shooting. We KILLED that ocean!!!
Looking out at the harriers at night through NVGs
Our ride back to shore, an LCU, headed for the well deck to pick us up
So that's been my summer so far. Next week we go underway on a Boomer. That's all I can really say about that, lol. Then saturday my summer officially starts and I fly home to Hawaii! Hope you all have been doing well!