hornetball

iTrader: (4)

Most suck. But this was one of the best deals I ever had in the Navy. Let me paint the picture . . .

I had finished the F/A-18 RAG and was getting ready to join my fleet squadron. But first, I had a few things to finish up, namely SERE. SERE, BTW, RRREEEAAALLLYYY SSSUUUCCCKKKSSS!!!

So, I get back from SERE and check-in as the FNG. The squadron had a slot for this school -- called "TEST" (Tropical Environment Survival Training). Everybody's like "who wants to go to a survival school?" Nobody raises their hand, which leads to "give it to Bluto, he just got back from SERE, he's ready to go!"

So, off I go to Antigua. As it turns out, this was a pseudo-survival school -- it was only there to have some presence in the Southern Caribbean (anyone remember Grenada? Or Ronald Reagan? Now I'm dating myself). Antigua is a beautiful island, a British possession that frequently hosts the royal family. About 12x10 miles, it's home to about 5,000 bars. I think you are starting to get the picture.



It's me, a handful of others in the same boat (FNGs to their respective fleet squadrons -- mostly A-6 and F-14 types -- Grumman fliers who incessantly harassed the lone Hornet guy because they were all jealous) and a bunch of SEALs. The SEALS run SERE and were also the instructors at TEST. In fact, the SEAL that beat and waterboarded confessions out of me with ease at SERE was one of the instructors here. He was MUCH smaller than I remember him being in that dank, cold cell in Maine. He was also a great guy, but you needed to be careful around him -- a small, wiry type who could dispatch you with his bare hands in a couple of seconds without even thinking much about it. Fun guy to drink with.

So what did we do . . . LOL:

One day we powerboated out to Long Island and snorkelled for conchs. We cooked those up over an open fire and ate them with coconut juice and water. Then, it was return to base and off to the bars!

Another day, we took a hike up to Boggy Peak. Along the way we sampled breadfruit, mangos, bananas, guyabas and perfectly clear ground water. At the top, we were treated to a spectacular view of the island. Then, it was return to base and off to the bars! (This is the refrain).

Another memorable outing was to Half Moon Bay. This bay has awesome surf. The objective was to get out into the water with our one-man rafts and then practice surfing them into the beach without drowning. Fun. On this outing, we were already at a bar and the girls in bikinis thought the flyboys with their little rafts were great entertainment (the movie "Top Gun" was pretty recent)!

Ahhh, and the bars. Doing flaming tailhooks and afterburners under thatched roofs. More than one proprietor asked us to "please leave." LOL.

I also recall doing a ship boarding. We were at a bar and got good and liquored up. There was this pretty tourist sailing vessel anchored out in the bay. Hell, it didn't look THAT far. Not sure who suggested it, but we were all thinking it and next thing you know we're in the water swimming for it. It was easily half a mile out, so by the time we get there and board, we're not drunk anymore. And we still have to swim back.

Ahhh, to be young and stupid again!

I have the patch -- "TEST, IBENDERMON!" I'd go back.

gearhead_318

iTrader: (1)

That sounds like an awesome time. I'd get back to my unit and be like "Guys that sucked way worse then SERE, I don't ever want to see that island ever again", but I don't think the Marine Corps wold ever send me anywhere mildly nice. SERE is what my friends did, they went to a lower level course but I'm not sure which one.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Yeah, that looks desolate, haha.

Since this thread is moving about as well as the missing aircraft, I'll continue the thread drift.

The island where I was only had two bars and no cars. That little Piper didn't actually go there. Nothing went there. We had to take a little boat from where the Piper landed at Marsh Harbour over to the little island where the construction job was. There were only Kawasaki Mules and golf carts there except for a few construction company pickup trucks. Fresh water for bathing and such had to be brought in by ship every two weeks and you had it pumped into the cistern at the house to use. Groceries arrived at the little shopette once a week by boat. My customer rented a nice house for the job and put up his whole crew there.


Conch was a pretty common food there, too.



The driveway:




The construction staging area at the dock:









That machine was the largest one they could fit in a shipping container. The north half of the island used to belong to Disney. The new developer built a decent pier to handle all of the planned construction. My customer's guys were over there lifting and moving some older buildings for a new development for bazillionaires to get away from people.



New golf course was being built:














Workers, many of them domestic helpers, on the boat to the outlying island:



Captain Cool, the ferryboat operator:

hornetball

iTrader: (4)

LOL. Capt. Cool looks like a pretty contented guy. Can't say I blame him.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

wtf is all that **** doing in here?


BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely crashed in the Indian Ocean, Malaysia's Prime Minister said today.


BREAKING NEWS GUYS!!!! The plane that crashed three weeks ago, likely crashed three weeks ago. Breaking News!

hornetball

iTrader: (4)

Now, back to your regularly scheduled Caribbean programming Mon!

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

ya mon:

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

too bad it's staged for the same exact reason she gives for not wanting to continue the story...

Braineack

iTrader: (62)