From the Halls of Montezuma!

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Dragon Sage007
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From the Halls of Montezuma!

Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:00 pm

I've returned after my long, long absence into the depths of boot camp at Parris Island, only to return a full-fledged MARINE. (Well, not quite. But close to it-I still have some combat training to do.)

I wish I had more to say at the moment, but I'm at a hotel in Georgia on my way back, and I'm honestly rather tired out. This is just a short stop on the way back home, and the ceremonies kicked my ass-it was fun though. Once home, I'll give everyone pictures of how I look now.

Semper fi, everyone! I'll be back in the chat rooms before you know it!

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Capntastic
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Unread postby Capntastic » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:14 pm

Hurray! So what sort of cool abilities have you gained? Can you shoot guns and such with lightning accuracy?

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KingOfDoma
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Unread postby KingOfDoma » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:02 am

Ooh! Ooh! Get into any secret government programs, like Stargate Command, or the Office of Secret Intelligence, or something?
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Dragon Sage007
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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:41 am

Abilities:
Fire the M16 A2 service rifle with...fair accuracy. I can at least hit a 24-inch target 19 times out of 20, and in rapid fire-where I'm not having to take the rifle out of my arm to mark where I shot-I tend to stay pretty near the 12-inch center of the target. I intend to pick up the pistol as well, soon.

Marine Corps. Martial Arts Program, AKA McMap. Some really cool choke holds here-two of them can drop you in twelve seconds flat. I know this from experience. (The time is cut because you focus on cutting the blood flow to the brain, rather than oxygen to the body. The more you know...) Other than that, mostly just basic kicking and punching. I intend to progress past tan belt at the first opportunity, however.

Swimming in full camouflage. It's surprisingly easy.

Ability to not be phased by having a drill instructor in my face. After 10 weeks, you get kinda numb to it.

Having 3 pull-ups, a 24-minute run time for 3 miles...and what I'm most proud of, 110 crunches in two minutes. I'mma work on that first part though. I want to pull that up to 20 by the end of the year.

Ability to carry lots and lots of luggage all at one time. Two Seabags, a body bag with my Dress Blues, Service Uniform, and other various clothes, and my overnight bag. So fun. And we weren't allowed to carry it on our backs, either...

The Confidence course. Dear lord, the confidence course. Let me break this down bit by bit.
First, the dirty name. There's a thick log, at about chest level. You jump at it, pull yourself on top of it...and repeat it from the top of the log with another log, falling off of it on the other side.
Second, Stairway to Heaven. I'd say it was about...thirty feet high. Basically a big ladder you needed to climb over, only with foot-wide logs for steps. There was also the rope ladder wall, which was pretty much the same thing.
Third, the rope swing. Jump over a pit with a rope suspended in the middle, land on the other side, like any action movie you care to name. That one was easy.
Fourth, mounting the wall. Throw yourself at a wall that's about seven feet high...and pull yourself over it. Then do it again.
Fifth, the wall climb. Twenty feet, using your feet braced against the wall and a rope to haul yourself up, go over the top, and drop on the other side.
Sixth, the Monkey Swing. Suspended fifteen feet over water, the only thing you have under your feet is a really, really shaky rope that refuses to stay still.
Seventh, the Monkey Bars. You know those monkey bars you found so fun as a kid? Have them angle up and down at random points, and then do a pull-up at the end. And did I mention that it's about sixty feet from one end to the other?
Eigth, the Arm Walk. Take two metal bars, a little higher than chest height. Using only your hands, suspend yourself between them and 'walk' for about thirty feet. http://www.wvec.com/news/gallery/pi/large/PC080028.JPG
Ninth, the Weaver. http://www.wvec.com/news/gallery/pi/large/PC080042.JPG See those logs? You go under the second one, then over the first, then under the third...and repeat, for about twenty logs. Without touching the ground.
Then, the most horrible part. The A-frame. I...it's horrible. I need a visual confirmation here. A-frame. Alright, see those ropes? First, climb up them. This is rather difficult in of itself. Then, walk across that damn shaky platform until you get to those logs you see that are forming an upside-down V...or, an A. At the end of that log is a rope-but not just any rope. While Barret has his golden shiny wire of hope, this is more like the fucking taunting rope of hatred. See, it's just far enough away to be out of your grasp...so instead of having a nice leisurely ride down, you have to -leap- off that A shape, and pray that you A)grab it, and B)don't just slide down it. The latter causes severe rope burns. Seriously.
However, every time you do the course you gain 1x hardcore point. I've acquired two.

Ability to survive for 54 hours in fucking single digit temperature, with a grand total of two meals in me. And then sharing part of that meal with another guy, because he was starving.

I also put a skill point into using crutches. I kinda got hurt on that 54-hour jaunt-tore my hip flexor pretty badly, and was told to stay off of my legs as much as possible. That sucked. A lot.

And as far as Charles' question goes...I have secret clearance since I'll be working with the government's security systems. That count for anything? I'll have a keycard and everything for the hero to use once our government becomes corrupt and needs a lone vigilante hero to save us all. Hopefully I'm not a semi-competent NPC who simply gets killed off during that time, though. I kinda like breathing.

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Kai
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Unread postby Kai » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:39 am

You play RPGs. Hopefully that disqualifies you from redshirt status.

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Jak Snide
 
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Unread postby Jak Snide » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:48 am

Did the drill instructor fall short, match up or even exceed the one from Full Metal Jacket?

That's my only point of reference to marine training, unfortunately.

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pd Rydia
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Unread postby pd Rydia » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:53 am

Trevor, I think it's time I asked you some things.

Have you ever fired your gun whilst jumping through the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?'
Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air yelling 'Aaaaaaah?'
Ever been in a high-speed pursuit?
Have you ever fired a gun whilst in a high-speed pursuit?
Is it true that there's a point on a man's head where if you shoot it, it will blow up?

Thank you for your time, good sir.

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Justice Augustus
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Unread postby Justice Augustus » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:58 pm

When you complete the Confidence Course, does the Final Fantasy victory theme play in your mind?

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pd Rydia
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Unread postby pd Rydia » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:00 pm

Does it play aloud?

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BrainWalker
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Unread postby BrainWalker » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:54 pm

What about the shores of Tripoli?
Anime is kind of like fish in that it is better the less "fishy" it is.

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Kai
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Unread postby Kai » Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:21 pm

Sailing 'round the bloody world to defend democracy!

Now Sage has now been equated in my mind with Jack from Jack of all Trades. I think I like it.

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Dragon Sage007
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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:07 pm

pd Rydia wrote:Trevor, I think it's time I asked you some things.

Have you ever fired your gun whilst jumping through the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?'

Yes. Except for the jumping. And the screaming. And...well, I fired a rifle, at least!
pd Rydia wrote:Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air yelling 'Aaaaaaah?'

No, but I totally saw my Drill Instructor do so after he forgot to take his Ritalin.
pd Rydia wrote:Ever been in a high-speed pursuit?

Several! Except it was on foot. And nine times out of ten, was to recover my hat-also known as a cover in Marine terms, no matter what type of hat it is-and the other time out of ten was to recover my rifle from a Drill Instructor that wanted to play a game. Oh, and I had to chase down a car on foot, because the bastard nearly hit the Drill Instructor that I had a metric shitton of respect for.
pd Rydia wrote:Have you ever fired a gun whilst in a high-speed pursuit?

I really wanted to, on that last one. Sadly, I lacked ammunition.
pd Rydia wrote:Is it true that there's a point on a man's head where if you shoot it, it will blow up?

Well, it makes a gory mess, but I wouldn't say it actually blows up per se. It just ruptures the skull-we call this a T-Box shot. (Sage's note:No, I'm not kidding. We're actually trained to aim for that particular part of the head, as it's the only part of the head guaranteed to drop an opponent instantly, as opposed to having a chance of him die in about 15 seconds.)

Jak Snide wrote: Did the drill instructor fall short, match up or even exceed the one from Full Metal Jacket?


Well, lemme tell you a secret about the Marine Corps. boot camp. Drill Instructors can't actually lay hands on you-they risk losing their entire career if they do. Now keeping this in mind, with that particular limitation? Far exceeded-he put pain in my body that's nigh unimiaginable without ever touching me. Or needing to.

On another note, I request a title change! "Property of the USMC Marine Corps." I find it fitting.

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Jak Snide
 
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Unread postby Jak Snide » Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:10 pm

pd Rydia wrote:Awesome Quotes


You are a legend, ma'am.

Idran1701
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Unread postby Idran1701 » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:40 pm

Dragon Sage007 wrote:On another note, I request a title change! "Property of the USMC Marine Corps." I find it fitting.


Then go into your profile and change it. :D

Also: Welcome back, Sage. Glad to hear things're going well for you so far.


Also, Jak, I believe the guy from Full Metal Jacket actually was a drill sergeant before he was an actor.

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Unread postby Nekogami » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:45 pm

Nice to hear from you, Trevor!

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Dragon Sage007
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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:28 pm

Idran is correct! That guy was totally a drill instructor beforehand.

Also, I've now gone through Marine Combat Training, MCT for short. I'm now qualified with the M203 Grenade Launcher, the 249 Squad Automatic Weapon, (A machine gun) the 240 Golf, (A bigger machine gun) the AT-4 rocket launcher, and hand grenades. And believe me folks, the movies don't do the last two of those things justice. The AT-4? I was about 500 meters-five football fields-away from it when it made impact. It still felt like a kick to the chest. And hand grenades? I threw it a good 30 yards, and was behind a few feet of concrete when it was thrown. I felt it, too. And I could feel it all the way down the grenade range, at least 300 meters. It was awesome.

I also trained in clearing buildings, a simplistically complicated thing. But effective-I only got shot once, and that was my combat buddy's fault-he failed to provide security while I ran across an alleyway. Still, it was all in good fun. I also learned how to use bigass radios-which I still don't know why we use-how to get in and out of a 7-ton vehicle, and most importantly, how to locate and avoid IEDs-Improvised Explosive Devices. The preferred Insurgent weapon after the AK-47 machine gun.

All in all, I had fun. Now I'll be going to California for my training in computers! See you all there. Perhaps I'll get some leave and go to one of the big con meetings-I'll be there in full camouflage.

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pd Rydia
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Unread postby pd Rydia » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:48 pm

Dragon Sage007 wrote:Perhaps I'll get some leave and go to one of the big con meetings-I'll be there in full camouflage.
But if you're camouflaged, how will we see you?

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Dragon Sage007
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Unread postby Dragon Sage007 » Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:53 pm

You'll know I'm there when I drop you from 500 meters.


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