28 February 2007

King of Battle I

Artillery is the King of Battle. Today we got to go to the gun-line. Taken 2/28/2007.




Terrain Models

One thing we do every time we give an order is build a terrain model. I spent the late hours of both sunday and monday nights building them, in addition to writing my orders. I did not get very much sleep. These were taken 2/25/2007 and 2/27/2007.



Patroling

The past two weeks have been very busy. This week we've done two days of patroling and a call for fire/artillery gun line day. It been fun, but very tiring. Here are pictures of patroling. Patroling was exausting, but we got a helo insert, which was awesome. The CH-53 is a very big, helicopter, and the pilot showed us what it could do, banking all over the place. It was fun. These were taken 2/27/2007.





14 February 2007

R.I.P.

My great-grandmother's vacuum, bequeathed to my father and passed on to me, has died. It had a good life.

Superbowl Sunday

Here is my roommate and his kid. Taken on Superbowl Sunday 2/4/2007.


Sitting in the Room

Since we've come back early from the FEX we've just been... sitting in the room. Taken 2/13/2007.



In the Field

We went out to the field Monday and Tuesday, but were brought in due to bad weather that kept our support personel off the roads. Here are some pictures from the field. Taken 2/12/2007.




11 February 2007

A brief apology

I apologize for the dearth of pictures actually taken by me that I have been posting recently, but we have been very busy and mostly in the field. One downside of my camera (which I like very much, don't get me wrong) is that it is too big (and expensive) to take out into the field. Besides which, I'd rather focus on learning everything I can while out there than focus on photography. We have a long weekend coming up though, and I hope to be able to take some pictures then.

Two Random Pictures

Here is a picture I took of a very long escalator and a picture my roommate took of the Night Vision Goggles lab. Taken 1/27/2007 and 2/6/2007.


Land Navigation

I understand now why Marines fear a Lieutenant with a Compass. Mine, though, will never have to fear me with one. These are more of my roommates photos. Taken 1/24/2007.




Misc.

More of my roommate's photos. Including a Sand Table Exercise: we do one about every week. We plan assualts and give orders on a terrain model. It is a good training tool. Taken 2/1/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/7/2007.





More from the IFEX

At the IFEX we also got a demonstratioin in pyrotechnics and used night vision goggles for a night-fire. These were taken by my roommate. 2/7/2007.





High Explosive

On Thursday we had IFEX (Individual weapons Field Exercise). We fired AT-4 rocket launchers, m203 grenade launchers, the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and threw grenades. It was 14 hours of fun (...and waiting). Some of these were taken by me, others by my roommate. All were edited by me. Taken 2/8/2007.





03 February 2007

George Washington Masonic Memorial pt. 2




George Washington Masonic Memorial pt. 1

I visited the www.brandonstone.com George Washington Masonic Memorial today. Here it is, a beautiful building. Taken 2/3/2007.