Free Fall from Space... Live feed.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

in Pensacola, but it was me and 4 other squids

Aircrew candidate by chance?

3 of the 5...  my roommate and I were at AT school.

Someone wasn't intelligent enough to not admit to using a certain grassy substance prior to enlistment which made a lot of opportunities unavailable - nuke and aircrew were the two that I wanted but couldn't get waivered.

rofl... I lied... did 20 as an AW...

I had probably the worst experience that one could fathom, and the really f-d up part was that I enjoyed structured nature of it, but I couldn't handle the lack of responsibility / critical thinking.  A quick timeline:

Boot camp at Great Lakes - loved it.  My first winter out of the southeast and the mind games that went into it - awesome.

Arrive in Pensacola for A-School and spend 8 months waiting on a class to open - cleaning the barracks for 8 months sucks.

Finally start A-School, but decided to take the AT(o) instead of AT(i) or wait another 4-8 months for a class to open. - really wanted to get out of the Barracks - for those that don't know what I'm talking about, if you were stationed there, but not in a school, you were 'stationed' at the barracks and your day consisted of cleaning the barracks (6-2) & standing duty when needed.  Pretty much sucked.

Almost 2 years into a 4 year commitment, I end up in J'ville in an S-3 Squadron (not a land base as I wanted, see the schooling note above) that had just gotten back from deployment, so what did I get to do as they wound back down - that's right another 8 months of cleaning.....  1st Lt at your service, sir.  Only this time, I get the 11-7 shift which pretty much fucked my weeks.  In that entire time, a spot in the shop never opened, and we were scheduled to do work-ups on the Truman.  Basically a 3 month deployment to St. Thomas which was pretty cool, but again, 3 months of split shift cleaning.

At 38 months I applied for and was granted early discharge with the additional months added to my reserve status. 

Basically I spent the better part of 4 years learning how to wax floors and fold clothes, but join the Navy see the World....  meh.  See the terlit sparkle.   

Postscript, my younger brother, through talking to me and based on my experience joined the Air Force - to stay close to home - his first duty station - Osaka, Japan.  He's now been all over the world, including 2 stints in Afghanistan and is currently a TI in San Antonio. 

FML. 

I had a 98 ASVAB, and wanted to drive a sub, he a 70 something and wanted to stay home.

yep... that was effed up.  That stuff can happen when the "pipeline" gets clogged.  Your apparent joy of jumping from things may have made you a good rescue swimmer.  I was a good enough swimmer but after tasting the thrill of jumping out of perfectly good helicopters... I opted for the P-3.  Took a year of training before getting to an active squadron... then went to more places than most can imagine... and never spent a day on a ship! (Unless 10 days aboard a submarine counts)

Where were you stationed mostly?  There's only a couple of P-3 bases, I think, here and Whitbey Island, WA.  I don't know any of the oversea bases other than is it Recitivak, Iceland (sp?)?

Did you get the benefit of at least one flight plan a month that always seemed to magically have a refueling / landing in a tax-free / haz. pay zone?   

[BridgeTroll]

Home bases were... Brunswick Maine, Moffett Field California, NAS Jax, Barbers Point Hawaii.  Overseas bases are to numerous to get into here.

And yes... tax free and hazardous pay zones/ combat pay zones were always a desired stop... though duty in those sectors was... um... less than desireable...lol

[KenFSU]

The Discovery Channel had incredible live coverage.

To me, this was one of the great live television events of my lifetime.

Crazy tense, bordering on creepy in a 2001: A Space Odyssey kind of way, watching the altitude meter climb way past 120,000 feet, the trouble with the heat visor, wondering if the door was going to open as the cabin depressureized, etc.

Seeing the capsule door roll open to reveal the earth below was one of those true "Holy shit" moments.

Can't even begin to fathom how insane it must have been to watch that grainy Moon Landing live footage back in the late 60s.

Not sure if it's available online anywhere, but Discovery closed their broadcast with a stunning music video with clips of the entire day.

[Bativac]

The Discovery Channel had incredible live coverage.

To me, this was one of the great live television events of my lifetime.

Crazy tense, bordering on creepy in a 2001: A Space Odyssey kind of way, watching the altitude meter climb way past 120,000 feet, the trouble with the heat visor, wondering if the door was going to open as the cabin depressureized, etc.

Seeing the capsule door roll open to reveal the earth below was one of those true "Holy shit" moments.

Can't even begin to fathom how insane it must have been to watch that grainy Moon Landing live footage back in the late 60s.

I agree - watching it, I kind of got a sense of how my dad must have felt, watching the first moon landing as a teenager. I mean, that door opening... That's when my heart skipped a beat. And the guy going out on that step, giving a little salute, then letting go..... Wow!

[Jason]

I was so wrapped up in the moment that it felt like I was the one falling out of that capsule.  Definitely a moment I will remember forever.

[Dog Walker]

Can't even begin to fathom how insane it must have been to watch that grainy Moon Landing live footage back in the late 60s.

I watched it a friends' house because they had a bigger TV.  Ours was 10".  Can still get goose bumps looking at the picture I took of the TV screen.

We all went outside and looked up at the moon; finding it wonderful that we had just seen something that had happened up there just minutes ago.

[BridgeTroll]

[finehoe]

[Overstreet]

If nothing else marvel at the technology. The suit was bigger and bulkier in 1969 moon landing. The cameras were bigger and bulkier in the 60s.  Asside from the live feed from the moon landing all pictures from space and the 1960 jump were from film that was recovered. Nothing was live feed..............in color and high definition. Nothing was on a 33" screen flat screen much less a 60" screen.