Jacks Valley Days 3-5 (13th-15th)

Sorry I haven't updated sooner!!! But this one will have lots of pictures to make up for it :D

Tuesday the 13th -

Nathan and his squadron did the Assault Course. This is basically to teach the basics how to fight with guns and hand-to-hand.

Here's some of what WebGuy said:

"You see, the basics need to learn how to act on the Assault Course. So, without rifles, they learn how to punch, kick, and head butt.

Webguy Note: When I went though basic, this was easy for me since I already knew how to do all this stuff. I grew up the as the 4th of 5 children.)

Next, they get their rifles and learn how to thrust and parry."

For the first two pictures, we're not positive it's Nathan. It's harder to recognize him with a helmet on!

Oh, and that thing in his mouth above is part of his mouth guard...in case you were wondering ;-)

It might be Nathan in the front left below.
The picture below is of a different squadron on a different day - but Nathan would have done something similar. This is called pugil stick fighting. Once one basic hits another basic three times, the first basic wins.
Here is a link to a WebGuy blog post with pictures of Aggressors going through the Assault Course: http://usafawebguy.com/blog/aggressors-assault-course

and here is a link to a short video about it: http://usafawebguy.com/blog/fun-aggressors

Wednesday the 14th -

Nathan did the Leadership Reaction Course (problem solving - what CAP calls something else that I'm not remembering! ELP's maybe...) That's one of the places that WebGuy can't really get to/can't take pictures at. But thankfully, WebGuy or one of his teammates did catch Nathan's flight headed to dinner - so here's more marching pictures! ;-)

(Nathan is just to the right of Mr. Orange Vest below)
(Nathan is in the center of the photo below. I think that the flight's three columns were merging into one)
And there he is below almost smiling! :)
WebGuy saw a menu for the day and took a picture of it! (click to enlarge, then hit the back button to come back).
And then here is an eating shot of Nathan.....

Thursday the 15th -

Nathan and his group did the Obstacle Course today. Here's how WebGuy described it:

"When they go through it the first time, it is quite unpleasant. On the first day, you go through it one obstacle at a time, learning how to do it slowly and safely. That's not so bad. Then you go through it again fast. This time, however, it is intense and tiring, with many "repeating of the obstacles" taking place. Also, if you have to wait for the person in front of you to get done with an obstacle, you are supposed to run in place, and somtimes yell out knowledge or quotes.

Overall, the first day you go through the Obstacle Course is not a fun time."

Before the basics actually got to the Obstacle Course, they did some stretching.

Here's a picture of Nathan in formation. I think they had been waiting for another flight to arrive, and so it looks like he was studying the stuff he's supposed to have memorized. He's the 3rd one from the right.

And then they do some stretches/warm ups! Nathan's on the left side of the picture, in the second row back.

more stretches...and they get to wear bright orange mouth guards! ;-)

Then they actually get to the obstacle course! Below is a picture WebGuy took of the map with picture symbols for the 17 different obstacles (I don't know what they all are).

Below is Nathan jogging in place waiting for his turn. He's the 3rd one from the right.

And here he is actually doing the obstacle. This one was the kind of thing where you walk over water on a rope while holding onto another rope.
And he finished it! YAY!!!! :D
And here he is running up to another one. He's in the background on the right. I think this one they had to use the ropes to swing over a pit of water.