I got all of the interview forms back and the photographer got all off the mug shots done Saturday. The broadcasters had to finish on Sunday, so I went with them. It only took an hour. After that the civilian broadcaster and I took a trip to Bass Pro Shop, he said it is the headquarters. It was my first time in one, not including that little one in Arundal Mills mall in Maryland. I bet its safe to call it the Redneck Mecca.
We had early days the three days the competition ran. By early, I mean being on base at 3 a.m. Monday and Tuesday were full 10 hour days, but we were done at 7:30 Wednesday morning.
Since my main responsibility for the trip was finished Saturday I took one of the office's D2-X cameras so I would have something to do, and the boss thought I might be able to get what the photographer didn't see. Yeah, it has been a while since I've used one, and it showed. I got it figured out after a while. I took, probably close to 2,000 photos, not including the ones deleted directly from the camera, and had one make it into the stock photos that were sent out with the story. We'll see if it gets published at all.
We got to watch them build C-4 charges, breach a door with explosives with just 10 feet and a wall of plexiglass between us and the door. I also go to ride on a Black Hawk for the first time. I think I played it cool enough nobody figured out it was my first ride.
My next trip should be to Panama next month. I'll be writing about the New Horizons exercise. I will be in a few cities down there. It will be a multi-branch exercise.
Homie's note: Not sure why I can't load more photos to this right now.
