Shoup Airlines

Heat Cas!

Raise your hand if you think I have been exaggerating the whole heat and humidity deal down here in ‘Bama. Uh huh, that’s what I thought. In the first three days of the FLX we lost two individuals to heat exhaustion with three more on the verge of getting “stuck.” The military, always so nice in their euphemisms, defines getting stuck as receiving an I.V. wherever they can find a vein. Then they call you a heat cas (pronounced cazsh) and you’re branded for life. Anytime you go out in the field you have to wear some kind of indicator, usually a piece of red tape around your pistol belt or boot lace, because the effects of heat exhaustion are cumulative.

The first guy was a Drill Sergeant, so you can pretty much guarantee he’s seen some nasty heat before. In fact, he was based at Ft. Huachuca. For those not in the know, the fort is located in the southeast corner of Arizona. The only thing there is heat! He fell on the first day while we were completing the leadership exercises. They took him to the fire station, stuck 3 I.V. bags in him and then moved him onto the E.R.

I also forgot to mention that if you get stuck it is an automatic recycle in the course, no questions asked. You do not pass go. You don’t collect $200. You get to start Warrant Officer Candidate School all over again from Day 1! Actually, it’s Day 12 which is the first day of the 4 week program, but that’s a long story and this one is already dragging on.

The second guy was an inter-service transfer from the Navy. He was struggling on the land nav course simply because you just don’t do a lot of land compass work in the Navy. Plus, it wasn’t an easy course by any means and that’s coming from someone who has run a lot of compass courses. The heat eventually got to him on his second attempt through the course. He only needed one I.V. bag but he had some major heat cramps. Regardless, they recycled him. We were all disappointed to see him go.

No one really cared what the actual temperature was, it was just too damn hot to care. I heard 103° at one point but I was more concerned with the humidity. That was the killer. I would go through 3 liters of water about every 2 to 3 hours, but because we were drinking so much water we had to down the salt packets from our MREs just to keep our electrolyte levels balanced. I got headaches the first two afternoons but never saw anything else problematic after that, thank God!

Then someone higher up finally realized it was hot, they decided to bring us back into garrison on the third afternoon. We were ordered to take a long shower and get some rest because we would be heading right back out to the FOB the next morning. It was kind of odd to come in for one night and then head back out but that’s what we did and let me tell you that shower and air conditioning never felt more welcoming.

We would find out later that the entire week we were out in the field the area was setting record breaking highs upwards of 105° with humidity levels still in the high 80s!

FLX – Night 2

You thought I was done with those spiders. I’m not. As creepy as it was not trying to run into those things during the day, we had to head out again and complete a shorter land nav course. At night. Four man teams. One flashlight. One red lens.

You know how hard it is to spot those suckers with a red lens? Let’s just say there were a lot of heeby jeeby dances that night. We had to constantly play rock, paper, scissors to see who would take point with the flashlight and a stick. A VERY LARGE STICK!

This is Wiggins, our class photographer, after he had run into too many webs. In the end it wasn’t even the spiders that got us. It would be the branch someone in front of you pushed out of the way and then let go of. Murphy’s law would dictate that said branch ALWAYS whack you right in the face. I guess there was a reason they made us wear the eye protection.

Allow Me to Introduce You…

So in preparation for yesterday’s entry I wanted to go out and get some of my own photos of these not so little creatures. I thought it would be rather easy, knowing what to look for and avoid. As usual, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I actually went back to the very spot where I started the land nav course and headed off in the same general direction knowing it wouldn’t take long to enter their territory. Apparently, they’ve expanded that territory a little large bit. I think I took about 15 steps before snagging a web around my leg and arm. I wasn’t concerned at first only because it felt like a normal web, invisible and thin. You know when you’ve snagged a weaver’s web, you will actually feel the pull and friggin’ HEAR the “twang” of the strand snapping. So I started searching for the offending non-event spider that I entangled. I found him dangling about 12 inches between my legs and rapidly making a climb for an area he wasn’t invited too. I let him know with the end of my tripod. He didn’t think that was very funny as he crawled away. I kid you not, three rather hefty whacks of the tripod did not deter this little black and white guy. I have no idea what he was, but I digress…

After that little encounter I began to realize I wasn’t properly dressed for this little excursion wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Or that’s the excuse I told myself for not hanging around much longer. I took about 5 more steps and saw her less than 3 feet from me. I would have walked into this one as well had I not stopped. You laugh, but it’s difficult to actually spot them hanging between the trees because your eyes focus further out then right between the trees.

She’s not as big as I would have liked but the heeby jeebies prevented me from trudging deeper into the forest only because I knew the big ones were out there and I couldn’t see them. Plus, as I finished up this one’s photo shoot, which by the way she seemed more than happy to pose for, I noticed another one not 5 feet away on another set of trees. Remembering that sinking feeling of being entrapped by these gals I decided to call it a day.

Call me a wuss all you want, but until you come out for a visit and get your own face to face with one of these vamps I could really care less what you think. If you’re still snickering, on the drive into the base yesterday morning I think they were on a “display of force” mission. Every 10 to 20 yards or so, right along the forest edge, were 5 to 10 foot webs with a black and gold darling sitting right in the middle of each. This continued for a good mile on both sides of the road!  We’ve never seen anything before or since. Very awe inspiring. Very creepy as well.

As usual, the rest of the photo shoot is up in the gallery. There will be more to come just as soon as I can build the gumption back up again or get someone to go with me.