I was catching up on some episodes of Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey (http://www.history.com/video.do?name=LockNLoad) last night. I watched the one about AFVs / APCs (Armored fighting vehicles / Armored personnel carriers) and Helicopters (the Huey, Cobra, Blackhawk, Apache, Kiowa, etc). Those were a couple of shows that really brought back some memories.

What kind of memories? Hauling ass across the desert floor in an M113 for one. BTW, stripped down and running flat out on flat ground they'll go a "little bit" faster than the 42 mph that was quoted on the show :)

Another - hanging out the door of a Huey flying "nap of the earth" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nap-of-the-earth) where it seemed like my feet could almost touch the treetops. What a thrill-ride. I've never been on any amusement park ride that beat that one. And I cannot forget the ominous feeling of landing on the ground and running down the ramp of a Chinook in Panama during Operation Just Cause.

The cool thing about being a soldier, especially a grunt (Infantryman) or other combat arms, is the cool shit they let you play with while you're young. While I still think things like rappelling, explosives, and all that still sounds like fun I'm a little more hesitant these days to jump right in. Ah, those were some fun times. There's nothing much cooler than rappelling down the side of a building or down an elevator shaft, blowing holes in doors for quick entry with det cord, setting off claymore mines, shooting anti-tank rounds, oooh - shooting a stinger (that one was fun!), and on and on. Hmmm - I didn't remember being such an adrenaline junkie.