July 30, 1997 - Technology, YAY!

(Note: this was a 4 day journal entry, so it has been broken up accordingly.) 
970802 - Wednesday we snapped in some more and had an ISMT activity which is a simulated rifle hooked up to a computer. I didn't do too bad but not too good either. 
ISMT = Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Training

Hey, remember 20 years ago? Back when people were still using pagers (or at least drug dealers were) and no one had cell phones? Remember Golden Eye for the Nintendo 64? (If you don't, then I don't understand why you're reading this. I have clearly missed my target audience) Well, that's when I was at boot camp. In a time where having some sort of "virtual" experience was the most incredible thing I could imagine. Therefore, when we went into a small, dark room and watched a "real" (in that it wasn't actually firing live ammunition) M16 firing at virtual targets, we were amazed!

And so we all sat down and tried to shoot this sort-of-real rifle at not-at-all real targets, and that was somehow supposed to show us how to shoot on the actual range. It didn't really work. Big surprise. Our Drill Instructors didn't even kill us for that fact, because they also knew that this was a total waste of time.

I tried to find a Youtube video of my experience on the ISMT machine, but unfortunately, Youtube wasn't even invented until 2005. So I'll leave it to your imagination to recreate my experience. For those of you who are lacking in imagination, here's an example of the "technology" that existed at the same time (full disclosure: This game came out in 1991. But that means that the technology was finally in use by the Marines 6 years later, which is actually impressive by Marines standards):


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August 29, 1997 - Graduation!

970829 - Graduation!! I don't remember or care what happened 2-day. I'm going home and I never have to see this place as a recruit again! Graduation day begins with a Company formation PT run. It's easily the most motivating run in all of boot camp. Well, it is if you're not stupid enough to volunteer to be a road-guide. My whole "volunteer for everything" mentality finally came back to bite me on the last day of boot camp. Instead of spending the morning on an incredibly motivating formation run through Parris Island, chanting all of the most motivating and possibly not-allowed cadences, I spent it sprinting from intersection to intersection and then jogging in place while the company ran by. It was a not-spectular end to my not-spectacular time in boot camp. After that, my journal actually captures everything pretty well: it ended, I was glad for the end, I was too tired to reflect on anything. I'm actually in a similar mind-set now, having just sp...
Read more

August 27, 1997 - Losing My Job

970828 - Yesterday we turned in our rifles. That's about it. As we wound down toward graduation, there was less and less that needed to be done. One important detail was returning our rifles. With the return of our rifles, though, I lost the best job, and the thing that undoubtedly sustained me throughout so much of boot camp: Early Chow. With no weapons to guard, there was no longer the need to have firewatch during chow time. This meant that I actually had to eat with the rest of the platoon, like a commoner. I had to wait in line, had to sit in the main section of the chow hall (we'd always sat in small tables on the edge of the room), and had to sit with whomever I'd been near in line (i.e.: not with C___). I was not a fan. On the plus side, I only had two days to deal with it.
Read more

August 28, 1997 - Family Day

970827 - Yesterday we turned in our rifles. That's about it. Today I saw my parents and family for the first time in 3 months. We walked around some and I even rode in a car! Also C____ came with my parents so he was there. We ate at some restaurant on Parris Island. The food wasn't much better than in the mess hall but the company was. When we were touring the squad bay my father met DI Sgt. M______ and told him I thought he was my favorite DI. I wouldn't really care if M______ wasn't on duty tonight. Oh well. I only have one more night here so I don't care!!! The day before graduation is called Family Day. It's exactly what it sounds like: a chance to see your family and show them around the island. When my parents saw me marching in, my mother didn't even recognize me because I had lost so much weight. It was great to get to see them and even better that I was now one night away from leaving Parris Island for good.
Read more