LeMoore, CA
Wow.... I'm worn out after tennis yesterday. Only 2 of us for instruction. This meant non-stop ball hitting on a very warm day. {Sweat, sweat, boil, boil}
So this chick that has been writing me from Russia for less than a month wants to come visit me over here. I agreed to it only because she hasn't asked me for anything in return. I'm very suspicious as I stated before. How could someone already love me in that short of time period?
Anyway....
C School:
I flew into Fresno, CA directly from Tennessee with no break in between. They provided a bus to shuttle us to LeMoore which was about 15 minutes away. The best way to describe this town is that it's desolate, dry and foggy. The cities sit in the San Fernando Valley so it gets at least 2 days a week with very thick fog. I've never seen such thick fog... we're talking no visibility at about 10 feet in front of you. They put me in a tower barracks. Each floor had a common room with a TV and another common "head" (showers, toilets). So I get there and they assign us rooms. I noticed that one of the guys I went to A school was also there but I didn't get to room with him. Instead I got this lanky black guy that was an extreme neat freak. He had his room nice and organized and it looked like he was without a roomate for some time. He had a 36" Zenith TV and a speaker system taking up one whole wall. The entire 3 months I was there I didn't dare use his stuff or even watch a single tv show on it. In fact other than the first day when I invaded we never saw each other.
The classes there were a little more exciting. First of all I got assigned the F/A-18 aircraft and this school was the training for that specific aircraft. Classes basically went through each Technical Publication and explained the various systems which we would work on. After each system we would get an example on the real aircraft. The class took place in a hanger, well a room in the hanger. So we just had to walk out the back door and there was the hanger full of aircraft. I enjoyed the classes there and the 3 months went by real quick.
To pass time when not in class I often played pool for free in the rec center. Thank god they didn't push the PT thing there. If you haven't noticed yet I don't like to be pushed to do it. During one of these visits to the pool hall I managed to feel my first and only earthquake. This was the big San Fransisco quake in the Fall of 1989. We still had barracks inspections there but my roommate took care of all that stuff and I just enjoyed life :) I ended up hanging out with a guy in my class during some of the off time. Because I didn't drink or have a car my options were limited. So we decided to take up BINGO to pass some of the time and hopefully win some money. First we tried the BINGO on base and once we went off base. I'm sure it must have looked strange, I think there was 3 of us. So 3 marines show up in a BINGO hall with mainly old women around. The only time I went out was with these two guys and we just went downtown Fresno. We were walking around there and I just remember the three of us getting whistled at as we walked down the side of the road followed by a female voice. All I could think at the time was "Please pull over". :)
The only other eventful thing that happened to me there was a medical thing. One day while walking to class I started seeing a bunch of white dots in my vision. I reported this to the doc after class. He wasn't sure what it was but he thought it was my vision. So the next day I was shuttled to Oakland Naval Hospital for an all day vision evaluation. In the end they decided, after all the vision tests passed, that it was a migraine. But at least I got to see a little bit of Oakland.
After 3 fun filled months I recieved my permanent duty station orders. I read them and wondered where the hell this place was I've never heard of it. It read VMFA-251 in MCAS Beaufort, SC. My friend from A-school got his orders to Hawaii, so much for my idea of guarenteed coast. I had second thoughts about fighting for that back in boot camp.
To be continued in MCAS Beaufort....
So this chick that has been writing me from Russia for less than a month wants to come visit me over here. I agreed to it only because she hasn't asked me for anything in return. I'm very suspicious as I stated before. How could someone already love me in that short of time period?
Anyway....
C School:
I flew into Fresno, CA directly from Tennessee with no break in between. They provided a bus to shuttle us to LeMoore which was about 15 minutes away. The best way to describe this town is that it's desolate, dry and foggy. The cities sit in the San Fernando Valley so it gets at least 2 days a week with very thick fog. I've never seen such thick fog... we're talking no visibility at about 10 feet in front of you. They put me in a tower barracks. Each floor had a common room with a TV and another common "head" (showers, toilets). So I get there and they assign us rooms. I noticed that one of the guys I went to A school was also there but I didn't get to room with him. Instead I got this lanky black guy that was an extreme neat freak. He had his room nice and organized and it looked like he was without a roomate for some time. He had a 36" Zenith TV and a speaker system taking up one whole wall. The entire 3 months I was there I didn't dare use his stuff or even watch a single tv show on it. In fact other than the first day when I invaded we never saw each other.
The classes there were a little more exciting. First of all I got assigned the F/A-18 aircraft and this school was the training for that specific aircraft. Classes basically went through each Technical Publication and explained the various systems which we would work on. After each system we would get an example on the real aircraft. The class took place in a hanger, well a room in the hanger. So we just had to walk out the back door and there was the hanger full of aircraft. I enjoyed the classes there and the 3 months went by real quick.
To pass time when not in class I often played pool for free in the rec center. Thank god they didn't push the PT thing there. If you haven't noticed yet I don't like to be pushed to do it. During one of these visits to the pool hall I managed to feel my first and only earthquake. This was the big San Fransisco quake in the Fall of 1989. We still had barracks inspections there but my roommate took care of all that stuff and I just enjoyed life :) I ended up hanging out with a guy in my class during some of the off time. Because I didn't drink or have a car my options were limited. So we decided to take up BINGO to pass some of the time and hopefully win some money. First we tried the BINGO on base and once we went off base. I'm sure it must have looked strange, I think there was 3 of us. So 3 marines show up in a BINGO hall with mainly old women around. The only time I went out was with these two guys and we just went downtown Fresno. We were walking around there and I just remember the three of us getting whistled at as we walked down the side of the road followed by a female voice. All I could think at the time was "Please pull over". :)
The only other eventful thing that happened to me there was a medical thing. One day while walking to class I started seeing a bunch of white dots in my vision. I reported this to the doc after class. He wasn't sure what it was but he thought it was my vision. So the next day I was shuttled to Oakland Naval Hospital for an all day vision evaluation. In the end they decided, after all the vision tests passed, that it was a migraine. But at least I got to see a little bit of Oakland.
After 3 fun filled months I recieved my permanent duty station orders. I read them and wondered where the hell this place was I've never heard of it. It read VMFA-251 in MCAS Beaufort, SC. My friend from A-school got his orders to Hawaii, so much for my idea of guarenteed coast. I had second thoughts about fighting for that back in boot camp.
To be continued in MCAS Beaufort....
posted by Jason at 10:39 AM
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