Outside view

[IEDmagnet]

I'll never forget when everyone I went through jump school with was standing around with red berets and1/507 flashes on. In the mean time I was standing in a group of soldiers in patrol caps waiting in a small formation. The crowd was loud most of the morning, but at one point there was a hush over them. I looked up and the "red sea" parted as a handful of cadre from the 75th walked into the company area. That image has stuck with me since.


That and the run to the Regimental HQ after the trucks with our bags left. None of us knew where it was, and they ran us faster than we had ever run. I thought I was going to die. It was awesome...I only wish I would have been a little more mature at that point in my life.

[mortar_guy78]

That and the run to the Regimental HQ after the trucks with our bags left. None of us knew where it was, and they ran us faster than we had ever run. I thought I was going to die.

I spent a lot of RIP wishing I was dead especially the CWST. I swim like a fucking stone. I remember being shoved into the water and struggling for what seemed like hours just to keep from drowning while the cadre just stood there with their arms folded saying, "Yep. It looks like he's a weak swimmer." The moment I completed the CWST is probably one of the top 5 best of my life; just below the births of my kids and when I got my scroll. Maybe just above my wedding day.

[IEDmagnet]

CWST was awesome, I was class 1-96 (October 1995) and the fucking water was cold as shit. I remember them walking around and checking our canteens. When I went in for the "long" swim I just remember hearing keep your head out of the water, keep swimming, don't you fucking quit. I was happy as a pig in shit when it was over. Did the five mile that morning, CWST after that...life was good.


As stated before though, never thought I'd graduate and fuck myself in the same day. Some wonders never cease.

[panthersix]

RIP at HAAF in '79 had a swim test too, they threw our asses into the swamp at tide gates. They threw us off with a 120' rope and a rubber duck tied to our LBE. We had to swim to a little sand bar about 15 meters away. I was classified as a weak swimmer too, no technique, just thrashed the water till I made it.

We had one inner-city black dude that kept getting recycled because of the swim test. They'd throw him in the swamp and he'd just turn around and hold onto the tide gate. Talk about getting motivated by another's failure.....

Did I mention that the cadre had M16s to provide alligator protection?

[mortar_guy78]

RIP at HAAF in '79 had a swim test too, they threw our asses into the swamp at tide gates. They threw us off with a 120' rope and a rubber duck tied to our LBE. We had to swim to a little sand bar about 15 meters away. I was classified as a weak swimmer too, no technique, just thrashed the water till I made it.

We had one inner-city black dude that kept getting recycled because of the swim test. They'd throw him in the swamp and he'd just turn around and hold onto the tide gate. Talk about getting motivated by another's failure.....

Did I mention that the cadre had M16s to provide alligator protection?

Every squad competition we did we had to swim someplace on HAAF, and there were always "Alligator Lookouts" but they never had weapons. You just had to swim fast.