HEAT training

Today was HEAT training (Vehicle rollover training). After a few lessons on what to do, we were able to actually practice by getting in a truck they had stripped and made a simulator out of. With all of our body armor and equipment, they rotated us 360 degrees, over and over. The gunner on the vehicle doesn’t have a seat belt (the are normally standing in the turret), so the other 4 passengers of the vehicle actually have to help hold the gunner to keep them from flying out of the vehicle. Holy cow- this gave me some good perspective on what the guys go through when they have a vehicle that flips. Once they rotated us around a few times, we had to get out of the vehicle with it upside down. 240 lb combat up-armored doors are not easy to open when you are upside down strapped in a seat (or sorta strapped in- we were like scrambled eggs by that point). It was some serious training, but we had a tremendous amount of fun with it too.
Tonight at dinner it seemed like reunion time- I ran into 3 guys I had a TDY training class with, and another that I had cadet training with back a couple years ago at Ft Lewis, WA. It was great to catch up for a few minutes.

The amusing thing for the day: for some reason, soldiers love Chuck Norris. Every port-a-potty that you go into has something (or many things) written about Chuck Norris. In good military style many are graphic or vulgar, but still hilarious. Example: Chuck Norris was supposed to die last week, but the Grimm Reaper was afraid to tell him. I will have to remember more of the sayings and post them later on.

Much love to you all, thanks for the kind words and emails. I miss you guys, but at the same time I am very excited to finally be moving north soon and getting started taking care of patients again. The real fun has yet to begin.