Lance Cpl. Ryan LaVallee, radio operator, Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires an F-1 Towed Gun howitzer from 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment, French Army, during a bilateral training exercise in Djibouti March 23. Artillery Marines from BLT 1/9 received an opportunity to shoot several howitzers while training along with the French Army and further learn artillery call-for-fire procedures. The 24th MEU Marines performed a series of sustainment and joint exercises alongside the French and Djibouti armed service members while in Djibouti. The 24th MEU is currently on a seven month deployment aboard Nassau Amphibious Ready Group vessels as the theater reserve force for Central Command. Photo by Sgt. Alex C. Sauceda
The worst part about being aboard a ship for an extended period wasn't the sea sick. No, that's a given. You're gonna get it, deal with it, it's expected. Nope. The worst part was when you got off the ship. Land sick. When the land starts rocking and rolling and trying to make you throw up, that's just a huge betrayal.
Protip: When on deck, stare at the horizon. When below decks, keep eyes shut as much as possible. It's the conflicting messages from inner ear and eyeballs which confuse the gut-brain into seasickness
We used to cross train with the US artillery and the Brits as well. The US had the 105 with the turntable at the time, can't recall the name.
What to do then, sir, when eating chow and you have to keep a hand firmly on your chow tray or it slides off the table? and your milk is sloshing back and forth in the glass wildly enough to be spilling over the sides?
I think what might have made it so memorable was that it was aboard an LSD while running through a typhoon. Hell, the hallways leading to the sickbay were as littered with the moaning groaning bodies of ships crew as it was with Marines.
Crammed in like sardines in the berthing area. The ship would roll one way and the guys on my side of the *aisles of racks would puke. Roll the other way and the other side pukes. The funnest part was that the roll was far enough over that the angle of puke trajectory tended to land on the guys opposite and one rack down. The deck was awash in sloshing puke by reveille each morning for a solid week.
*no clue how to spell that word. Too lazy to look it up atm too. So I winged it. Deal with it, all you spelling nazis :P
To get serious, seasickness does come in degrees. Some people get it easily, some less so. The worse the conditions, the larger number of sufferers. But there's always some immune bastard who ostentatiously chomps the slimy bacon while everyone else is thinking about how aware of their stomachs they are, and how death is really not that bad, and what they're going to do to that guy if conditions improve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxMClWhWS2U
I was aboard the Montreal for the 2nd video....