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<blockquote data-quote="Surveyor1653" data-source="post: 2535035" data-attributes="member: 5197"><p>I was still in Explorers that summer.&nbsp; We were sponsored by HHC 1/20 SFG in Hunstville, AL.&nbsp; Our sponsors took us to the District camp for four days where they had recreated a (very) abbreviated RECONDO school for us, thanks to a VERY salty CSM.&nbsp; We dragged rubber duck rifles through those woods, over the bluffs on top of the mountain, and across that lake in RB15s.&nbsp; We killed, cleaned, and cooked our first meal to earn the right to eat MREs the rest of the weekend.&nbsp; We shot M16s, M60s, and M9s.&nbsp;&nbsp; Later that summer I worked in the salvage yard owned by my best friend&#039;s family.&nbsp; His uncle was retiring from the Army and wrapping up over 25 years in EOD and Army Ordnance. Hak was the primary inspiration for some of my future endeavors.&nbsp; I still have the EOD Crab he gave me that was hand-embroidered for him by a Vietnamese woman.&nbsp; I didn&#039;t earn a dime that summer but I made some of the best and most consequential memories of my life.&nbsp; Hak was later killed in a car crash as a Reserve Madison County Deputy, while pursuing a suspect.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Surveyor1653, post: 2535035, member: 5197"] I was still in Explorers that summer. We were sponsored by HHC 1/20 SFG in Hunstville, AL. Our sponsors took us to the District camp for four days where they had recreated a (very) abbreviated RECONDO school for us, thanks to a VERY salty CSM. We dragged rubber duck rifles through those woods, over the bluffs on top of the mountain, and across that lake in RB15s. We killed, cleaned, and cooked our first meal to earn the right to eat MREs the rest of the weekend. We shot M16s, M60s, and M9s. Later that summer I worked in the salvage yard owned by my best friend's family. His uncle was retiring from the Army and wrapping up over 25 years in EOD and Army Ordnance. Hak was the primary inspiration for some of my future endeavors. I still have the EOD Crab he gave me that was hand-embroidered for him by a Vietnamese woman. I didn't earn a dime that summer but I made some of the best and most consequential memories of my life. Hak was later killed in a car crash as a Reserve Madison County Deputy, while pursuing a suspect. [/QUOTE]

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