<p>yeah, miles aint completely realistic. but even training with blanks helps you get used to the noise of war. that was the thing that struck me is how freakin loud it is. i mean, its like grenades. you don't ever pratice the cookoff method... but they still teach it. i mean, you cant completely simulate war.</p>
<p>Enjoy your lives while you can... I've spent the last 36 hours working on homework, and I'm about to jump out the window. The fact that I have the AP Paper (around 15 pages), an English Paper, a Math Problem Set, and a Chem lab to do before Wednesday will make this a very interesting week.</p>
<p>I foresee a lot of caffiene in your future, marines4me. :)</p>
<p>Marines4me---HANG IN THERE GIRL!</p>
<p>Daughter jsut emailed us after her 25 K run today in S. Conneticut. Before spring leave begins on friday am she has:</p>
<p>A calc wpr
philosophy wpr
chem lab report due
psychology wpr
philosophy essay
math project
chem lab
history presentation</p>
<p>she is in major stress overdrive. </p>
<p>The only good thing she mentioned was that plebe drowning was over!</p>
<p>Sounds like some serious brain work being done in the barracks this week!</p>
<p>YES, Plebe Drowning IS almost over!!!! 1 more class--the 10 minute swim. THANK GOODNESS!! And wow... I think I might know your daughter. Is she in high swimming and run Cross Country?</p>
<p>Luckily I live in Florida and live off the beach, if I went to West Point I doubt I'd have any problems. Its kind of lame how some kids are afraid of the 10 meter and even the 5 meter diving boards. I do front flips off the 3rd diving board which is about 8 meters, rather not try on the 10 meter one.</p>
<p>M4Me:</p>
<p>She is in High Swimming and ran on the corps squad for cross country last semester. Right now she is on the Army Marathon team. She is in F-3.</p>
<p>Bleednsoulja: Plebe drowning is NOTHING like anything you've done. Below is an excerpt about one our daughters lessons she emailed us about:</p>
<p>"Yesterday I literally walked the plank during swimming. I was blindfolded with my LCE and rifle on with weights in my ammo pouches and canteens filled with water and pushed off a 12 ft diving board. You go down at least 8ft before you struggle to the surface and swim to the edge, without being able to see a thing. My instructor tied the blindfold so tight that I now have a scrape mark on my face from trying to pry it off me. I guess it is practice for when the Taliban pirates capture me on their ship and throw me overboard. "</p>
<p>Everything seems pretty cool until you start doing stuff with your rifle, pack, BDU's etc. Go to the DPE website at <a href="http://www.usma.edu/dpe/courses/Swimming/swlessons.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.usma.edu/dpe/courses/Swimming/swlessons.htm</a></p>
<p>I think I do know your daughter, by the way. We always talk in the mornings before swimming while getting changed.</p>
<p>BleednSoulja, living in Florida will do you nothing. Like Shogun said, it's COMPLETELY different when you put an extra 35 pounds or so on. And it's easy for you to say something is lame if you do it all the time. I guarantee if you come to West Point you'll be challenged with something that plenty of other people think is lame, but you'll struggle with.</p>
<p>M4Me---when you see her next call her "peanut"--see what she does.</p>
<p>yeah, plebe swimming sucks, I concur</p>
<p>I downloaded and watched the survival gate videos from the DPE website---I was scared just watching the demo----kudos to all the cadets for having to take and pass that class!!!!!</p>
<p>BleednSoulja - I bet you don't swim the length of the pools in Florida with BDUs on, your hands and feet tied, and a burlap bag over your head. Enjoy the beach.</p>
<p>GEB--you forgot the sharks they let loose on the final exam. :)</p>
<p>coast guard is the most gruesome, getting pushed off the 10-meter board blindfolded is pretty nasty. After a 6-hour endurance course designed by Marines yesterday for SMT (Saturday Morning Training), she had ballroom dancing lessons today. Talk about yin/yang!</p>
<p>One of the large advantages of West Point training is that they are vastly better equipped than any equivalent officer training, as they have a budget which is massive by comparison.</p>
<p>End result: more cool gear to use, more stuff to blow up.</p>
<p>Arinthel,
I'm sure the folks who work the budget for the Academy every year will be happy to hear the good news about the size of their budget.</p>
<p>As far as cool gear and blowing stuff up....you sure about that? ;-)</p>
<p>if by cool gear you mean the ALICE series web gear and flak vests used in Vietnam and by blowing stuff up you mean one drum of SAW ammo for a week long exercise, I guess yeah, right on...</p>
<p>Yes, we have a better budget than any other program, almost limitless compared to your average ROTC program, but we also have to put out 900 officers a year. Dont go getting ideas that things are like the general's daughter around here. We got a war going on, time's are hard, just ask the class of 06 about BAH...</p>
<p>you get the same crappy alice gear wherever you go. and dont get me started on canteens. i dont know about wp, but in rotc- not only is the gear outdated, the gear is USED. and i mean- they issue you stuff that should be DX'ed. ie. holes in med packs, canteens with mold, alice sacks without waist straps, ponchos that have holes...</p>
<p>but that's training. fa sho they could give you the latest and greatest molle7000 turbo super gear and gore tex everything. gotta make do. but acu's next year sohuld be nice. my unit doesn't even have acu's yet. lol</p>
<p>No, this is some SERIOUS crappy gear, literally USED in Vietnam. </p>
<p>ScreamingEagle, I've seen both sides of the story. At the .50 cal range with the Cav Scouts each person got 800 rounds of ammo, the average amount for a PLATOON. Then again, you're right--I think that unless you're in some kind of club, the opportunities to blow things up are very limited.</p>
<p>1.5 DAYS LEFT. I'm surviving on caffeine gum. Whoever came up with that stuff was a genius.</p>