Warrior Day at TBS
June 14, 2002
The day started by me meeting Tom in his room at the barracks then going over to Reasoner Hall for the welcome. There were, conservatively, 300 people there (marines, spouses, parents, siblings, friends, etc.). After the welcome, we split into two groups. Our group stayed in place for the night vision goggle demonstration. We split up into about 12 small groups and each got a chance to use the goggles ("8 bravos" I think they are called) and walk around with them. They were very cool. They really work like you see them on TV or in the movies! They also had a "2 alphas" which were basically laser pointers which would be used for sighting a gun. The cool thing about that is that you can't see them with the naked eye, but with the goggles, the dot is very clear.
After that, it was a walk to the obstacle course (and those at the obstacle course came back for the goggle thing). I was a total wuss and didn't do any of the obstacles. They seriously looked like too much for me to handle, and I did not want to even come close to embarrasing myself in front of 100 people. I told Tom we could go back by ourselves and I would try some of them. The first one was crawling about 30 yards under wire, getting lower and lower--very muddy since it was raining. Then it was this jumping thing where you had to jump about 4 or 5 feet and land on this little post, and then continue hopping across the posts. That seemed like a definite ankle-breaker, what with all the rain and mud and sand, so I just watched. Then it was a rope climb up a 15' ramp and a jump down the other side. No thank you--another ankle-breaker. There were other obstacles like that, and some looked intriguing, but I just didn't feel like making an ass out of myself. Maybe if I was athletic to any degree...
After that was lunch--MREs. I had picked mine out earlier (Chili Macaroni) and it wasn't too bad. Tom heated it up and while I waited for it, I had PB on a piece of dense wheat bread stuff. Dessert was pound cake. There was more stuff that we didn't get to eat. Oh, and did I mention it's RAINING all this time? Then it was off across the field (carrying what we hadn't had time time to finish eating) to a martial arts demonstration and then we got to check out miscellaneous military stuff (guns and vehicles and radios and humvees and tanks) and then it was off to go shoot some guns!
We took a bus to the range and were assigned flak jackets and helmets. We each got to fire about 20 rounds of ammo on an M-18. It was cool. It was a little nerve wracking handling the gun and making sure you did everything right (although there were safety officers right by each one of us) but we all had earplugs in so you couldn't hear especially well and it was hard remembering all the detailed instructions they gave us. But it went well. After we were all done, we had a "police call" (I think it was called) which meant we all had to go back to our stations and pick up all the ammo casings. Then our two groups joined up and we saw a machine gun demonstration, along with the types of ground cover they use (cans of smoke). Then we also got the chance to fire the machine gun--well, the grenade launcher part of the machine gun. I was tired by that point and had a huge headache and didn't feel like putting on the WAY smelly helmet and flak jacket again, so I passed. We also passed on riding in the assault amphibian vehicle because of my headache (earplugs can only do so much) and Tom's warning of the horrible diesel smell. So, then it was a bus ride back to the base and that was the end of my day.
So, overall it was an interesting day. I'm glad it was rainy and cool instead of sunny and hot (thankfully, since the past week had been in the high 90s with 90% humidity). I was surprised by how many people were there, but apparently this is a BIG thing. Bigger than I ever anticipated. I thought I wanted to try some of the obstacles, but not in wet and muddy conditions, so I will go back with Tom (the only downside being that there won't be a medic there!).
