Last week, I joined fellow Navy League members, some Navy Junior ROTC cadets, a member of the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, and guests on visits to Navy facilities in Coronado.
Our first visit was to Beachmasters Unit ONE on the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado. I pointed out to the Commanding Officer of that unit that I had served on that base 1970-71, which was likely before he was born. He was open-mouthed when I showed him pictures of the base at the time.
Anyway, after getting a briefing, viewing their vehicles, and handling some of their weapons, we all headed down the Silver Strand to a beach and took a ride. We went out to sea . . . briefly . . . on a LARC (Light, Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo) vessel. As the second wave broke, it washed over the port front quarter of the vessel, over me sitting there, and over my video camera. The camera kinda shorted out shortly thereafter. I used my iPhone during the rest of the day. I still don’t know if the camera, since dried out, will work again. I had detached the battery and misplaced it.
I was able to retrieve the SD card and to download the video files off it, however. I may have lost a video camera, but I got the shot!
In the afternoon, we went on a tour of the USNS Brashear (T-AKE-7), a dry cargo ship, manned by civilians, but doing work for the Navy. Huge ship. According to the Health app on my iPhone, I climbed 14 stories that day and I believe nearly all of them were aboard the Brashear.
You can see highlights on the video below. The young woman in the intro freeze-frame was the Naval Sea Cadet on the tour, a high school senior and a member of the unit supported by our Navy League Council. The Naval Sea Cadet Corps and school-based Navy and Marine Corps Junior ROTC programs are quite popular in Southern California.