Graduation At Last
This has been quite a weekend! I believe it had everything in it you can cram into a two-day period! It started off with a long drive to Clayton, GA. Oh Lord, don't let me be late and not graduate!!! I made it finally and reported in. I passed the gear inspection and the knot-tying tests just fine. Sandy had told me he was going to work something out so I could try rappelling again, and I looked up to find him smiling at me. "Do you want to do this? The Captain has given us 30 minutes - just us and no pressure." I grabbed my helmet, gloves, and harness and followed him to the base of the tower - which looked a lot more substantial than the previous one! The good news was that you climbed ladders on the INSIDE of this one! There were several Boy Scouts and a couple of girls who were Venturers on the tower already. I found myself climbing the ladders after Sandy and suddenly was peeking out the hatch on top. Oh Lord, if Mama knew, she'd shoot me for sure! Smith instructed me to climb out on the platform, and he hooked me to the safety line. I watched a young girl go down the tower for the first time, and she was scared to death. I WILL NOT CHICKEN OUT THIS TIME!!! After a little last-minute instruction, I hooked on to the rope and leaned back off the tower. Sandy was grinning at me as I made the first step off. All the way down I looked right at my feet and the tower. I didn't scream and didn't screw up!!! I'm happy to say I made it - and one of the scoutmasters got it all in photos!!!
When I got back to camp the Captain and the Lieutenant had both learned that I made it, and both said they were proud of me. I told several of the guys, and they were happy about it too - which made me feel pretty good. We settled in for some of our last instruction before the final exercise.
We were split into teams for the exercise. The scenario was that a plane had crashed on the mountain, and the co-pilot bailed before impact. We had to locate both the victims and the crash site, hopefully before nightfall which was about 2 hours away. The first teams went out and our team stayed behind to practice with some of the extraction equipment. We strapped a good-size soldier into something called a SKED, which is like a roll-up litter. It has lots of straps and buckles, and is pretty confusing. We had just finished when the second team radioed back that they were joining up with the first team, who had located the crash site. They actually had real plane wreckage that they had placed one of the rescue dummies in! Since they were tied up with that, they sent our team to search for the co-pilot. It was getting cold and was nearly dark by the time we set out up the mountain. The terrain was rough and rocky, and we just kept going up and up and up. We finally located the victim high on the ridge on a ledge about 8 feet wide. (Just a note, this is the same manequin my team has had to rescue every time. He needs to be more careful, as we are getting a little tired of hauling his heavy behind out of the woods!) We radioed vitals down and requested extraction equipment - and were told to sit tight. Well, we were there for quite a while. Freedom Fred, the victim, didn't add much to the conversation, but that didn't stop the rest of us! We lay back against our packs, wrapped in emergency blankets, and laughed for hours until the other team arrived. We continued to monitor Fred and radioed his condition back to the TOC every 30 minutes. Finally it was decided that the other female soldier and I would share a tent with Fred, while the men slept under the stars. Into the tent went Fred, strapped in his Stokes litter, and the two of us.
We got up in the dark, broke camp, and prepared to get Fred down the mountain. We stood and joked until the sun came over the ridge - and it was beautiful! It was slow going back down the rocky trail, but we finally arrived in the main camp. I had two minor injuries to treat when we arrived, but everything went very smooth. Finally we formed up and were individually presented with our certificates and congratulated by the instructors. It was a great feeling, and I sure am going to miss the comraderie I experienced playing in the woods and being just "one of the guys."
____________________________
Everyone in the family took off in a different direction this weekend. Barry graduated from Woodbadge at Bert Adams Scout Reservation. Aaron sang in the Spivey Hall Treble Honor Choir at Clayton State University. Daniel sang in the Olde Town Conyers Fall Festival. Even though we missed each other's shining moment, we were all proud of what the others had done. Thank the Good Lord for family who step up when needed to make it all come together. Tutter & Uncle Bob made sure Aaron got to Spivey Hall early in the morning for the all-day rehearsal. Granny & Papa made sure Daniel got to the Pavilion in Olde Town and watched him sing. Mama picked up Daniel, and they went to hear Aaron's performance. Then she kept the boys until I got home. I am very grateful for everyone who made the whole thing work out!
When I got back to camp the Captain and the Lieutenant had both learned that I made it, and both said they were proud of me. I told several of the guys, and they were happy about it too - which made me feel pretty good. We settled in for some of our last instruction before the final exercise.
We were split into teams for the exercise. The scenario was that a plane had crashed on the mountain, and the co-pilot bailed before impact. We had to locate both the victims and the crash site, hopefully before nightfall which was about 2 hours away. The first teams went out and our team stayed behind to practice with some of the extraction equipment. We strapped a good-size soldier into something called a SKED, which is like a roll-up litter. It has lots of straps and buckles, and is pretty confusing. We had just finished when the second team radioed back that they were joining up with the first team, who had located the crash site. They actually had real plane wreckage that they had placed one of the rescue dummies in! Since they were tied up with that, they sent our team to search for the co-pilot. It was getting cold and was nearly dark by the time we set out up the mountain. The terrain was rough and rocky, and we just kept going up and up and up. We finally located the victim high on the ridge on a ledge about 8 feet wide. (Just a note, this is the same manequin my team has had to rescue every time. He needs to be more careful, as we are getting a little tired of hauling his heavy behind out of the woods!) We radioed vitals down and requested extraction equipment - and were told to sit tight. Well, we were there for quite a while. Freedom Fred, the victim, didn't add much to the conversation, but that didn't stop the rest of us! We lay back against our packs, wrapped in emergency blankets, and laughed for hours until the other team arrived. We continued to monitor Fred and radioed his condition back to the TOC every 30 minutes. Finally it was decided that the other female soldier and I would share a tent with Fred, while the men slept under the stars. Into the tent went Fred, strapped in his Stokes litter, and the two of us.
We got up in the dark, broke camp, and prepared to get Fred down the mountain. We stood and joked until the sun came over the ridge - and it was beautiful! It was slow going back down the rocky trail, but we finally arrived in the main camp. I had two minor injuries to treat when we arrived, but everything went very smooth. Finally we formed up and were individually presented with our certificates and congratulated by the instructors. It was a great feeling, and I sure am going to miss the comraderie I experienced playing in the woods and being just "one of the guys."
____________________________
Everyone in the family took off in a different direction this weekend. Barry graduated from Woodbadge at Bert Adams Scout Reservation. Aaron sang in the Spivey Hall Treble Honor Choir at Clayton State University. Daniel sang in the Olde Town Conyers Fall Festival. Even though we missed each other's shining moment, we were all proud of what the others had done. Thank the Good Lord for family who step up when needed to make it all come together. Tutter & Uncle Bob made sure Aaron got to Spivey Hall early in the morning for the all-day rehearsal. Granny & Papa made sure Daniel got to the Pavilion in Olde Town and watched him sing. Mama picked up Daniel, and they went to hear Aaron's performance. Then she kept the boys until I got home. I am very grateful for everyone who made the whole thing work out!
posted by Jennifer at 11:31 PM
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