Annual Training: Days 2 & 3
Yesterday had some crappy weather, but I made up for it with reckless driving. We had drivers training, and those of us who already had HUMMV licenses (myself included) were training those who did not. The training site that they chose was the lane where I've been pulling OPFOR, and, for those of you playing at home, that meant 5 miles of treacherous, hilly, curvy, roadblocked, heavily-wooded goodness. It was a hell of a lot of fun. In fact, since we had so much spare time, it didn't take very long for one instructor to look at another and say "I bet I can do it faster than you." I like watching WRC, but it's a HELL of a lot scarier when you're actually doing it. At one point we were chasing each other (with me in the lead), and I ran up over this bump off the road to dodge a downed tree. When I went around I jerked too hard, and put the HUMMV sideways, almost spilling it. It was really scary, and I'm not too ashamed to say that I lost my nerve for the rest of the course. Thankfully, it happened almost near the end.
Today, we played around in the combat sims, which was a ton of fun. We started with the Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer (VCOT) which looked a little something like this:
I'm sorry I can't upload my own pictures of what's happening. The computers here don't have media card readers, and I can't hook up with the laptop, because I won't give it to the IT dept for 48hrs. Snoopy fucks. Anyhow, the VCOT is a virutal reality setup that simulates driving through an Iraqi town. We had 9 people across four virtual HUMMV's. Four drivers, four gunners, and a convoy commander. We had real SINGARS radios to communicate, the head vehicle had a three flat-panel, panoramic display, all the drivers had force feedback wheels and pedals, and all of the gunners had goggles and machine guns with head and weapon tracking. It was pretty fucking cool. The missions were short, but there were plenty of non-combatants as well as combatants with guntrucks, machine guns, and RPG's to make things confusing. After lunch, we went to the Engagement Simulation Trainer or EST2000. This is a wall-sized projection screen with five airpowered weapons. I say "air powered", but there arent any projectiles. The weapons look and feel entirely real, and the air gives recoil and makes the weapon function properly. Also...very fucking cool. It's like an $800,000 version of Virtua Cop. I've played with it before in Logansport, but it never really gets old for me. The old fucker who was running the control station handed the duty off to some hapless E-4, who I overpowered and promptly began fucking with the settings. I got kinda yelled at by the old guy when he came back in and discovered that I had given everyone (including the grenade launcher) infinite ammo.
I finished up the day by borrowing a set of golf clubs, and heading off to the driving range with seven of my friends and acquaintances. It was a blast considering I've never held a proper golf club in my life. All-in-all, this has been a great time, and I wish you all were here. As a matter of fact, most of you probably CAN be here next year! Would I lie to you?
Today, we played around in the combat sims, which was a ton of fun. We started with the Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer (VCOT) which looked a little something like this:
I'm sorry I can't upload my own pictures of what's happening. The computers here don't have media card readers, and I can't hook up with the laptop, because I won't give it to the IT dept for 48hrs. Snoopy fucks. Anyhow, the VCOT is a virutal reality setup that simulates driving through an Iraqi town. We had 9 people across four virtual HUMMV's. Four drivers, four gunners, and a convoy commander. We had real SINGARS radios to communicate, the head vehicle had a three flat-panel, panoramic display, all the drivers had force feedback wheels and pedals, and all of the gunners had goggles and machine guns with head and weapon tracking. It was pretty fucking cool. The missions were short, but there were plenty of non-combatants as well as combatants with guntrucks, machine guns, and RPG's to make things confusing. After lunch, we went to the Engagement Simulation Trainer or EST2000. This is a wall-sized projection screen with five airpowered weapons. I say "air powered", but there arent any projectiles. The weapons look and feel entirely real, and the air gives recoil and makes the weapon function properly. Also...very fucking cool. It's like an $800,000 version of Virtua Cop. I've played with it before in Logansport, but it never really gets old for me. The old fucker who was running the control station handed the duty off to some hapless E-4, who I overpowered and promptly began fucking with the settings. I got kinda yelled at by the old guy when he came back in and discovered that I had given everyone (including the grenade launcher) infinite ammo.
I finished up the day by borrowing a set of golf clubs, and heading off to the driving range with seven of my friends and acquaintances. It was a blast considering I've never held a proper golf club in my life. All-in-all, this has been a great time, and I wish you all were here. As a matter of fact, most of you probably CAN be here next year! Would I lie to you?