Adventures of Doc T: Pre-deployment #1

Hello to all.

We made it to Camp Pendleton without a problem. The landscape in this part of California looks surprisingly like Sicily. Sharp brown hills/mountains, very little development (on the base), few tall trees. Here is a picture of the drive from Port Hueneme. For those who saw some of our Sicily pictures, you can tell it looks pretty darn similar. Who knew?!

Our new home at Camp Pendleton is just that - a Camp. Unfortunately, it appears to have been built shortly after World War II. It dawned on me today that it looks alot like a prison camp. Here is a picture of the "Seahuts":

Notice the prison camp atmosphere. When we arrived, we luckily were assigned by rank, but other than the people you are bunking with, there is no difference in the accomodations. "One Team, One Fight" is the motto.

Here is the inside of the huts, and a picture of me in my little corner of the world.

Pretty Cozy, huh? I do like to camp, so this hasn't been so bad. Also, I am close to the back door, where there is a good breeze. It has been hot (108 yesterday), so the huts are not a good place to hang out during the day. At night, it does cool off and has been reasonably comfortable.

Last week in Port Hueneme, we spent a week making sure we were ready to deploy.
The purpose of this two week stint is to make really sure we are ready to go. In addition, we were issued more uniforms, more gear, gasmasks, more gear, kevlar suits, more gear, and some more gear. Get the picture? I now have the large bag I left Annapolis with, along with three other seabags of gear.

Here is me wearing the neat Kevlar "jumper" with my kevlar helmet. Pretty menacing... Don't worry, mom, we will not be shot at, this is just for traveling, and even then it is overkill. Still looks good though, and who wouldn't want to wear this suit in 12o degree weather?

They have been good at aclimatizing us so far. We need to drink about six liters of water a day (or we don't get cookies with dinner). This translates to lots of trips to the bathroom...

Yesterday, we had a convoy operations training exercise which was fun. We loaded into the back of a truck and pretended we were in a convoy that got attacked. Then we unloaded from the truck with rubber weapons to try to "defend the convoy". They were playing middle-eastern music over the loudspeakers, peppered with the occasional explosion and gunfire.

It was fun, especially watching the "non-military" doctors and nurses get off the truck and down the ground. So, that was the highlight of the day.

Our land navigation course was typical of the course work here. Third grade level, simple stuff I had done in college. Nonetheless, plenty of people needed help.