And now, for something completely different....

AN UPDATE POST!!!

For those out there who have been waiting for an update, here it is. Finally, I have gotten off of my procrastinating behind and sat down to give everybody an update. First off, a BIG thanks goes out to Stacey for taking the time in setting this Blog up and showing me the ins and outs of blogging.

As you all may know, the deployment is getting closer and closer. This means alot of stuff has to get done, both around the house and up at the unit. One of those inevitable facts of life in the military is that when it comes time to actually go forth and conduct your mission, you find out that the Army has alot of training that has to be completed so they can say with confidence that you are now trained and safe enough to go to war.
Hence, myself and my partner in many Army Adventures, CW4 Robert Negron, were informed that we were to go up to Groton Conn. to practice crashing an air craft in the ocean. This is what the Army refers to as "Overwater Survival Training". http://www.survivalsystemsinc.com/sea.htm


The training took about a week, and included academics about survival at sea, actual aircraft ditching incidents, and the scariest part of the whole training....how to egress a sinking aircraft. The gist of this is that they put you in this big blue thing that looks sort of like an aircraft fuselage complete with fully functional exits. After you get in and put the lap belts and shoulder harnesses on, they hoist the whole contraption up over a 14 foot deep pool. The instructor says "Ditching, ditching,ditching..." and then the whole thing lowers into the water....and usually flips upside down, all the while filling with water. In the mean time, you have to stay strapped in your seat, waiting for the thing to fill with water and the motion to stop. After what seems like an eternity, you reach out, find the exit, open it (or jettison it from the aircraft), place your hand on a good reference point outside the aircraft, release your lap belt shoulder harnesses, and pull your self hand by hand outside the aircraft. All while holding your breath and trying to figure which way is up. (Follow the bubbles....). We repeated this scenario over and over at least fifteen times. Too make things interesting,(as if we needed it) the instructors threw in various challenges....challenges like having your exit blocked, so now you have to work your way through the aircraft hand over hand until you get to your alternate exit...all while upside down and underwater. The next day, as an added bonus, we did it all over again-this time without the benefit of having light.

Needless to say, after two days of this, Rob and I had volumes of pool water in every sinus and had enough of being upside down and inside of a tube filling with water. All in all, for you fellow pilots out there, this was by far the best over water training I have ever had. The instructors at Survival Systems are very competent and greatly increased my confidence should the need to ditch (God Forbid) ever arise. Number one rule of Sea Survival: DON'T EVER DITCH. Also, if I ever do have to ditch, I want Rob there because for some reason, this guy never losses his sense of humor despite being drowned 30 times.

I will post some pictures of this adventure as soon as possible. In the meantime, everyone at the unit is busy getting everything in order as we get closer to heading out to Africa.