Nov EF Lottery

[reapereviltwin]

The November EF Lottery theme is "Military". For this month, submit media or stories of anything military related. You do not need to have been in the military for the submission. The subject matter can be anything relating to the armed forces, such as displays in parks, in front of buildings, etc.

Ending and drawing date will be on or about December 9th.

Goal: To encourage members of the Explorer Forum to submit a photo and/or vid, or written story in accordance with the theme and award two members with an one year elite membership.

Only one submission to be entered into the drawing per member. Submission can contain multiable pics and or video(s) and/or links to pics/vids. Members are encouraged to post positive feedback.

Reminder: only one submission per member. (I am now just going to mark any extra submissions as "not for submission".)
December's EF Lottery is going to be another generic theme, plus will be shorter than normal so I can get back to a more reasonable drawing time frame.
The Lottery information thread will be updated by January"s Lottery. A few changes will be made.

 

[davidk]

I'll call this: Four-wheeling is fun until someone gets hit in the head by a stretcher...

I was a Navy hospital corpsman in the early 1970’s. Part of my job working in the emergency room of a small Naval Hospital was driving the big old battleship gray Dodge Power Wagon 4WD “cracker box” ambulance. There were two steel mesh stretchers mounted on each side in back (as well as roll-up stretchers).

There was a big field in back of the hospital that had lots of little hills (and jackrabbits). That was our “4WD training ground” - yes, we’d go out in the middle of the night and chase jackrabbits, complete with flashing red light on top.

One night I was the sole graveyard shift ER corpsman (along with two guys who had the “duty” i.e. extra overnight staff). It was quiet, so we decided to go four-wheeling and chase jackrabbits in the Power Wagon. One of the other guys asked to drive (he said he’d driven a jeep a lot - as it turned out he lied). So I’m in the passenger seat, this guy is charging up this hill and never takes his foot off the gas. Yes, the PowerWagon went airborne!

When it landed, it bounced so hard that one of the steel mesh stretchers flew off the rack, hit me on the back of the head, and knocked me out cold. I was told that the other guys panicked, yelling on the radio to base, “We killed him, we killed him!” I woke up when they were driving into the ambulance loading bay (remember, I was the guy on duty). They took me in on a stretcher, woke up the doctor on duty (which really pissed him off). He “evaluated” me, told me I was still breathing (funny guy), to get my butt off the stretcher and finish my shift, and wake him up if I started having severe concussion symptoms. The nightly 4WD training and jackrabbit chasing were eliminated, and I got yet another lecture on inappropriate use of government resources. I wish I had that PowerWagon today!

David
(Not for submission)

 

[Conestoga Actual]

Not for competition...
In the late 80's & early 90's i lived and worked in northeast Ohio. It was right around the time the Soviet Union broke up, and i remember that a flight of Mig 29's was visiting the Cleveland lakefront airport. I forget if it was an airshow or just some other friendly visit type of event, but they were there, and it was a big deal for Migs to be in US airspace. Anyway, spectators were able to get relatively close (about 50 yards) to look them over. They were also kind of blocked in by a bunch of A-10's and F-16's, and LOTS of guys wearing black BDU's carrying black rifles and they didn't smile. But here's what i thought was the neat part of this...when they flew in, they were wearing the red star markings of the Soviet Union, but we literally watched as crews painted over the star and when they flew out, it was with the Russian flag painted on their wings and tails. No more USSR. They may have gone back to star markings since then, but they flew out of Cleveland without the red star.

 

[reapereviltwin]

Bump, one week to go

 

[WormsExplorer]

I was in Iraq and had to help a HMMVV get unstuck. I was in a LMTV (Like a 2 1/2 ton) Well my truck had the Central Air System on the tires and I fell in love. Was able to move her into behind the HMMVV and pull it out no issues. It was stuck in Mud up to its axles and was uparmored. So heavy as hell. There were many times that we had issues with our vehicle getting stuck cause of the rains and mud and Ditched on the side of road.

 

[davidk]

Here's a photo I found of what I believe is the Dodge M-886 CUCV "cracker box" ambulance - probably the same type as the "flying" ambulance that almost killed me. Except mine was battleship gray.

Not for consideration

 

[reapereviltwin]

Drawing is soon!! If you are interested in having a chance to win a free elite membership, can't be done unless an entry is made. There are fine ones already posted, add to 'em!

 

[reapereviltwin]

Congrats to @WormsExplorer for winning a one year free elite membership!!
Mike