cortramid 2005 cont'd
I just got out of iowa. I wanted to finish the rest of my last post but i got sidetracked by things going on in san diego. by the way, its the greatest f'in place in the world. the entire month i was there it was sunny and 72 degrees. Submarine week was a lot of fun. Subs are a lot roomier than you might imagine, except for your rack. i felt like i was in a coffin that was on a gimble. Anyway, we got to run around the submarine checking out all the areas of it. we slept in between the thermonuclear missiles. all i could think about was the fact that the large metallic tube i was in had the power to destroy an entire continent. a little freaky. the food was fantastic. sweet and sour shrimp, egg rolls, lo mein, ice cream, pizza, etc. basically, i got fat that week. when not on the sub we were on land doing certain simulators. the wet trainer was the most fun as basically they put you in the bottom of a swimming pool that had a lot of pipes. when we started, water hit you from every direction and you had to use clamps and other materials to plug up the holes in the pipes. then they shut off the lights... which made it even more fun. except for the blast of water in the pills. that hurt... a lot. a few more bullshit training areas and we were done. then my favorite week, aviation. we didn't fly the first two days. first day was water survival training where you put on a flight suit and all your gear to see if you can still swim with it on. that was a lot of fun actually, and treading water with all the gear + helmet + boots is really tough. next day was more briefs. the following day we got our flight in T-34s, which are old, but fun aircraft. Single engine prop. we got about 5 minutes of stick time. inside the 30 mintues of the flight we did cuban eights, barrell rolls, aileron rolls, split-s's, wingovers and more. most fun i've had in a long time. next day we had SH-60B hops. we went down to imperial beach for our flights. I got to fly first in my group. its a lot harder than it looks. i don't mean to brag, but i got a real good compliment, and its my way of defending my geekiness when it comes to computer games. i was hovering the helicopter when he switched off the 'magic', or flight assistance computers which help the pilot keep the helo more stable. I actually kept it in a hover. when we got back on the ground the crew chief told me i did better than some of the more experienced pilots do. yes i know, i was just hovering, and yes, he could have been blowing smoke up my ass, but it made me very happy for the day.
the beach was every weekend. i managed to peg a girl in the face with a football. she wasn't that hot, but she had braces so i felt bad. did a lot of swimming/beating the shit out of cottingham. if you go to san diego, DON"T GO TO OCEAN BEACH. very bad. very very very bad.
all in all, i know i want to be an aviator for sure now, and COTRAMID West 2005 was freaking amazing. if you have questions, i would love to talk about it.
oh, and i'm home tommorrow.
the beach was every weekend. i managed to peg a girl in the face with a football. she wasn't that hot, but she had braces so i felt bad. did a lot of swimming/beating the shit out of cottingham. if you go to san diego, DON"T GO TO OCEAN BEACH. very bad. very very very bad.
all in all, i know i want to be an aviator for sure now, and COTRAMID West 2005 was freaking amazing. if you have questions, i would love to talk about it.
oh, and i'm home tommorrow.