UNCLE SAM GOT ME. . . . AGAIN

You may have wondered what happened to old Bob anyway. Well, there are several reasons why you have not heard from me lately. One is that I have NOT had any dependable Internet connection sense I left Apple Valley in the first part of January. The second reason is that I went back into the Marine Corps.

Although it was just for one day. But what a day that was. At 0800 I found myself along with 22 other non-recruits on a bus headed into the Marine Base located in Twentynine Palms.

THIS IS THE WORLD'S LARGES LIVE FIRE TRAINING BASE.

Our first exercise was to learn how to exit an armored personnel carrier when it has tipped over and the doors are all jammed. We loaded into these simulators and buckled up.

When ready, we were given an 'E' ticket ride for a several moments. Then stopped in a 90 degree position to the ground and a voice came over the intercom, "How would you get out? Who should unbuckle first?", etc.

We were being monitored by a series of cameras that were inside the vehicle. After we pondered those questions for a bit and nobody unbuckled themselves and landed on the person(s) seated below them, they rotated us back to the upright position and let us out. We were told that Marines go through this same exercise only they do get out and are wearing a combat pack while doing it.

On my next post I will show you my experience with using a real 50-cal. machine gun on a real Humvee.

UNTIL  THEN