| Back in the old Army (National Guard) days |
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| Back in 1994, i somehow got myself involved in the Idaho Army National Guard with the HHC 116th CAV Brigade - Stinger Platoon. These are some pictures i found from our NTC rotation in 1999 (i think). NTC - National Training Center - is in Ft. Irwin, CA. It is a huge base just outside Barstow, not too far from Death Valley. We were out there three weeks, and i think the average temp was 117 degrees. The first day i was there was the worst at 127 degrees. |
| Above is Travis Rowley, my gunner. Manpads stinger teams are two people, the gunner and the team chief. Travis was awesome, he should have gotten the 'Best Stinger' award, but i think i pissed the Lt off too many times. Taking naps are: SSG Miguel Chavez and SSG Tom Wilson. These are two of the finest NCO's the guard has ever seen, and i probably would have quit the whole deal if not for them. |
| There was no such thing as hot coffee in the mornings, so Travis figured out that you could heat up a mug with two meal heaters. No HMMV would be complete without the sleeping soldier picture! |
| On our closing day of 'battle' we rallied for the equipment check. Luckily the biggest loss was a water bottle - if it had been anything else, we would have been out there for days looking for it. |