Have gone to fight the Indians Red Force,
Will be back when the war training exercise is over.
Well, it looks as if I will be missing The Game again. My OSO called me the other day saying "So, you ready for the FTX?" My response: "What FTX?" Heh... He didn't like that one (Side note: FTX stands for Field Training Exercise).
So, I'm off next weekend (April 2nd-4th) to go run around in the woods at Camp Blanding, FL (near Jacksonville). Don't ask me why we're driving 8 hours (on a bus) instead of going to Ft. Benning (where, conveniently, the Army has the Ranger training school) which is only 2 hours away. Or even better, why we're taking a bus instead of being choppered down there in about 3 or 4 hours. I have no frickin idea.
There are some pros though: I get to take an Intro to Land Nav. course, run a few obstacle courses, bust off a few hundred rounds of M-16A2 Ammo, take an Intro to the SULE I (Small Unit Leadership Evaluation), take an "Integrity Class" and a Night Land Nav. Class (can't you just see 40 or 50 USMC Officer Candidates wandering around the swamp at night?). Overall pretty fun stuff. Unfortunately, in an effort to make the experience "as real as possible", my OSO is also flying down DIs from Quantico. I get to do the whole "GET OFF THE BUS YOU SLIMY PIECE OF MAGGOT VOMIT!! MOVE IT!!" and so forth and so on. So while the activities will be fun, I'm not looking forward to the DIs. Right now we're scheduled for 6.5 to 7 hours of sleep a night (yeah right).
I guess I'm looking forward to this...(g) I have both a sense of excitement as well as one of reluctance (mostly because of the DIs). I figure I'll come back with some interesting photos. Still sucks to be missing the game though.
So, I'm off next weekend (April 2nd-4th) to go run around in the woods at Camp Blanding, FL (near Jacksonville). Don't ask me why we're driving 8 hours (on a bus) instead of going to Ft. Benning (where, conveniently, the Army has the Ranger training school) which is only 2 hours away. Or even better, why we're taking a bus instead of being choppered down there in about 3 or 4 hours. I have no frickin idea.
There are some pros though: I get to take an Intro to Land Nav. course, run a few obstacle courses, bust off a few hundred rounds of M-16A2 Ammo, take an Intro to the SULE I (Small Unit Leadership Evaluation), take an "Integrity Class" and a Night Land Nav. Class (can't you just see 40 or 50 USMC Officer Candidates wandering around the swamp at night?). Overall pretty fun stuff. Unfortunately, in an effort to make the experience "as real as possible", my OSO is also flying down DIs from Quantico. I get to do the whole "GET OFF THE BUS YOU SLIMY PIECE OF MAGGOT VOMIT!! MOVE IT!!" and so forth and so on. So while the activities will be fun, I'm not looking forward to the DIs. Right now we're scheduled for 6.5 to 7 hours of sleep a night (yeah right).
I guess I'm looking forward to this...(g) I have both a sense of excitement as well as one of reluctance (mostly because of the DIs). I figure I'll come back with some interesting photos. Still sucks to be missing the game though.
