Professional Training for Midshipmen…
As all of you know, Mark just wrapped up four weeks of ProTraMid in San Diego. Marine week was “okay” (“fun” but a lot of “hurry up and wait”); Surface week was “horrible” (no ships for our favorite midshipman); Aviation week was “a blast”; and the sleeper was Sub week (just completed). Mark is en route to Annapolis as I scribble this getting ready to start his Soaring Training Block tomorrow. Flying gliders? Who woulda’ thought?
I should have more ProTraMid pix and stories to relate in a few weeks. Until then, check out these two quick hits:
First, a short (6 min) video of a Navy Trainer doing a lap around a carrier at sea. (Please excuse the opening ad…a necessary evil.) This plane is very similar to the one Mark flew in during Aviation week. As far as the Navy Aviation “pipeline” goes, this flight pretty much sealed the deal. Mark’s flight didn’t involve a carrier landing or take off, but he did have the “bag” ready. He asked the pilot to show his skills, and show ‘em the pilot did…lots of fun! And no need for the bag!
As you watch this, notice how much is happening on the deck. Planes landing, planes taking off, blast shields up on the deck to keep everything and everyone safe as planes come and go. The choreography is pretty cool.
As mentioned in the previous post, Mark had heard that Sub week was “amazing”. The Sub guys do a serious sales job on the mids — they need new officers all of the time! They didn’t disappoint. Mark was on a “boomer” — a nuclear sub — carrying a whole bunch of nasty ballistic missiles with an undisclosed number of warheads. His cruise was somewhere in the Pacific where he learned a lot and had a lot of fun. He bunked between two of those ballistic missiles (“Dad, they’re huge“), he listened in on a bunch of dolphins having a chat, he climbed to the top of the sail (3+ stories up) when the sub surfaced to stand on top and watch the waves crash over the bow, and he enjoyed what I think he called “angles and dangles”…a drill that bobs and rolls the sub at 25 to 30 degree angles every which way while several hundred feet under water. Oh, and he also loved the “full back” drill: think about locking up the brakes in your car while doing 90 MPH but visualize it under water. Yeah…subs shake and vibrate too…
No cameras were allowed on the sub (for obvious reasons), but the Navy was kind enough to assign someone to take pictures of the mids. I only have one, and it’s a cell phone picture of a picture (so excuse the quality), but I’ll have more when we see Mark in late July. But check this out:
That’s a torpedo tube. A BIG torpedo tube — 26 feet long, I believe. Mark autographed the inside of that Bad Boy, filled it with water, and pulled the trigger just for kicks. Even water carries a heavy wallop coming out of the end of that thing.
The Sub guys did their job well. Mark is actually considering…considering (can you believe this?)…subs as a possible career pipeline. That was unthinkable just a week ago!
The only major drawbacks that I can think of all involve his family: he will rarely be able to tell us where he’s going or where he is, he can’t talk about much of anything that they do (even on this trip), and communicating with someone who spends months under water can be difficult. Plus, I don’t get any fighter jet rides…
Looking ahead, hopefully we’ll have some video of one of Mark’s glider flights. I’m especially looking forward to seeing a landing. I’d even settle for the audio…the screams of terror would be entertaining, don’t you think?
“Whadda ya’ mean there’s no engine! I can’t land this thing there!”
Hopefully more soon.