I came to this training knowing that the Army has a different way of doing things. Since I have been here I have been reminded of this several times and that’s okay. Thanks to my wife, the info I gathered before departing Elmo has prepared me. It would be easy for me to get wrapped around the axle about the training schedule, but in some cases you just have to go along with it. This week was not any different.
We came back from our four day pass and jumped into driving training. It was broken up into a morning session and an evening session. During the morning session we learned about the 1151, or the up armored humvee. It may look big from the outside, but gear up a 6’2”, 200lb guy and shove him in a seat and it gets tight really quick. After we learned the ins and outs we took our turn with the HEAT. That stands for a roll over simulator somehow. We get strapped into the simulator and get spun around a couple times and end up upside down. The goal is to undo your seat belt, right yourself and open the door and get out. Being tall helped because I wedged my head against the roof to hold myself in place. I was always one of the first ones out. After that fun we got to go out on the tank trails and drive for awhile. I got to drive through a pretty good sized creek. I was thinking about Zac the whole time. Everyone managed to get through the daytime driving okay and we were released until 1900 that night. We all returned after our small hiatus to get acquainted with our NODS (night vision goggles) to take our night drive. We had a lot of fun with that training and then came the waiting. We drove the same trails, but it took 2 hours longer than the day drive. Nobody drove off the trails so I consider it a successful night anyway. And what do we get for a successful night of driving? We got a long walk home to the dorms. And as strange as it may sound it’s getting easier to carry around that extra gear weight.
We came back from our four day pass and jumped into driving training. It was broken up into a morning session and an evening session. During the morning session we learned about the 1151, or the up armored humvee. It may look big from the outside, but gear up a 6’2”, 200lb guy and shove him in a seat and it gets tight really quick. After we learned the ins and outs we took our turn with the HEAT. That stands for a roll over simulator somehow. We get strapped into the simulator and get spun around a couple times and end up upside down. The goal is to undo your seat belt, right yourself and open the door and get out. Being tall helped because I wedged my head against the roof to hold myself in place. I was always one of the first ones out. After that fun we got to go out on the tank trails and drive for awhile. I got to drive through a pretty good sized creek. I was thinking about Zac the whole time. Everyone managed to get through the daytime driving okay and we were released until 1900 that night. We all returned after our small hiatus to get acquainted with our NODS (night vision goggles) to take our night drive. We had a lot of fun with that training and then came the waiting. We drove the same trails, but it took 2 hours longer than the day drive. Nobody drove off the trails so I consider it a successful night anyway. And what do we get for a successful night of driving? We got a long walk home to the dorms. And as strange as it may sound it’s getting easier to carry around that extra gear weight.
Dan wants to play with all your cool toys....the night vision goggles would help me keep from tripping over the dogs when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteCindy