Hot and humid yet again today and body armor to kick it up a notch. For the morning, though, we spent it AGAIN in the classroom getting a 4hr lecture on the Laws of War and rules of the Geneva Convention. Basically, it was about being captured by the enemy. Three cups of coffee were required, though, to get me through that. My requisite espresso that I used to brew back in Kansas are greatly, greatly missed. Those used to kick my days off and these watered down cups of coffee just aren't cuttin' it...and my headaches are daily because of it. Ugh... Anyway, that was the morning and our drill sergeants were kind enough to give us MRE's again when we could have easily gone to the galley. They totally worked us over on that one. This time, I had chili macaroni. I won't lie...I hated it. Ever since that "meal," I haven't felt right. Inside that packet was also some mixed fruit and the hard cracker with blackberry jam. Honestly, I wish I would've not had lunch.
Afterwards, we headed into the heat to do some dry runs of evolutions happening later this week. One is a "stress shoot." Picture this: we'll be rolling along in a Humvee and stop quickly as if under fire by the enemy and quickly run to cover then put rounds downrange at the enemy while running from barrier to barrier to barrier at different firing positions..standing, crouching, kneeling, and the prone (on belly) position. All while shooting live rounds. The idea is to force stress and raise the heart-rate to see how we react. Actually, I'm looking forward to this one. Should be even more fun in full battle armor. :-) We'll also do a "reflexive shooting" evolution on the same day. I'll wait until we do that do describe it. After that, we headed back indoors again to the electronic shooting range. Remember from last week? Well, this time we did two different things...one was with the 9mm and it was in low-light conditions...extremely low light and we shot silhouettes. The next one was much more fun. It simulated us being in a Humvee driving on the road in Oz and coming up insurgents in the road and we get into a firefight. Our job is to take out the bad guys and spare the good guys. We did awesome and I made one fatal shot on the first try. Hooah!
To wrap up the day, we headed on back and before being cut loose, they announced everyone's scores from the 9mm qualifying last Saturday. I scored a 226 which is only 2 points from getting the Expert rating!!! Expert is the highest then Sharpshooter then just qualified. So, I did qualify Sharpshooter which adds another ribbon to my uniform with a gold "S" on it. Actually, I'm perfectly happy with that. With nearly 14 years of service in the Navy, it's about time I get that. I will hopefully earn the rifle qualification ribbon later this week on the M4.
For dinner, it was nothing worth writing about but I did have dinner with a F-18 fighter pilot. I led the conversation and got us talking about the Blue Angels. He hasn't ever applied to do that but is considering it. Always cool to talk to one of these guys who have catapulted off the front of aircraft carriers and flown supersonic. Super cool! He's one of two F-18 pilots here with all 180 of us. Talk about a diverse group! After dinner, I cleaned up and headed out for a much needed haircut. Oh how I miss my barber back home in Kansas. It's the little things like that which I fear I've taken for granted before. I sure do wish I could take her with me to give me those perfect high-n-tight haircuts!
I downloaded Zac Brown Band's latest album via iTunes this morning. While on the way back from the haircut, I was listening to "Colder Weather" which I believe, is their current single. At the very end of the song, he (Zac) sung something that resonated with me. This little snippet is not what the song is about and honestly, I don't relate with the song but this quote I do. To my bride, Dorothy: "And when I close my eyes I see you. No matter where I am, I can smell your perfume through these whispering pines." I guess if you knew where I am right now and saw the endless pines, this would make a little more sense. :-)
Goodnight, friends.
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