If you thought the IOCT was bad...............
A modern military pentathalon includes 5 events: shooting, a dry obstacle course, a wet obstacle course, throwing events, and a cross country run. We will concern ourselves solely with the dry obstacle course...for now.
The cadetes here at AMAN so fortunately have regular access to and time set aside for practice and grading on their ability to navigate the 500 meter and 20 obstacle course. For them, it's a constant test and something they can train for whenever and for however long they wish. For the "cadetes americanos" (American cadets) it is solely an embarassing exercise in painful humility.
If you will now turn your eyes to the video monitor to witness two videos; the first, a demonstration of all obstacles and some semblence of proper technique (20. Count them. I did.) and second a demonstration of how to be an Austrian and a total boss and a 2010 World Record holder. *Note* In the demonstration at about 3:15, our exhausted demonstrator is supposed to use only the horizontal beams during his ascent. The correct form for this obstacle is in the second video. *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gk6cKsL9sU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIZeBDplaqo
Nate, Orlando, and I all jogged through this course together to ensure we learned the proper and safe way of doing each obstacle (also at the behest of our host Lieutenants, not wanting to explain to a Lieutenant Colonel why they broke the American cadets during the first week) After watching our host friends go through and come out the other side bruised, dirty, and sometimes cut and bleeding a mere 3-4 minutes later, we were warned, "It is just as hard to go fast or slow. And it does not matter your speed when start, everyone is same speed at end; sad." As we lined up, I wondered if this was a misinterpretation (mal entendido) or not. Turns out, it wasn't.
As we watched the other cadets run, Nate and I joked that the real reason any kid grows up wanting to join the military is the prevalence of playgrounds for adults. If only I could go back in time and squash that thought, I thought to myself, spitting the sand I had just crawled through as I sprinted up a steeply inclined wall. The important difference between this course and the IOCT I've grown to know and love is that if you go slow, the IOCT is not so bad. It takes until after the rope climb before you're starting to get gassed and after that it's the entirely controlled effort event of running. Not so bad. Here, messing up an obstacle means doing it over. So it behooves you to push yourself on and between obstacles to ensure you have the momentum needed to navigate it successfully. Far too many of these obstacles instructions involved the words, "Leap" or "Climb" in conjunction with the adjective "Over", to include a miniturized version of The Shelf, named "The Irish Table" Cute. But awful.
In the world record video, you'll notice on the second ladder obstacle the man who ultimate ends up winning decides to ignore the ladder for his descent. Don't be alarmed, this is in fact a technique developed by former wolrd record holder and current professor of physical fitness at........yes, you guessed it, AMAN. Lieutenant Ribamar Bandeira, of far too many accolades and awards to list here (http://www.rio2011.mil.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=832%3Amilitary-pentathlon-icon-joins-brazilian-technical-committee&catid=60%3Anews&Itemid=96&lang=en) developed the "Bandeira" (also means "Flag" in Portuguese. Coincidence?) for this particular obstacle. Outstanding.
Back to the grind. We leapt and crawled and climbed and jumped and collapsed exhausted but victorious on the other side. Our test is in 1 month. Good. Good. (Bom.)
Packing for Rio. Air Transport training here I come. I'll post again soon! Portuguese word of the day is a twofer. Two for one that is. "Forte" is "Strong". Conversely, "Fraco" is..............wait for it..........wait for it.........it's going to be legen......wait for it........I hope you're not lactose intolerant because it's............dary! "Weak"
Tchau for now!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Uma Noite no Resende (a Night in Resende)
As promised.........meus aventuras (my adventures)
First and foremost, after leaving the front gate of AMAN in White over Gray uniforms, we stopped at the "laranjeira". Imagine if outside of Thayer Gate (location, roughly where McDonalds is) there was a large orange house with lockers and clothing racks where you could change out of your uniform and into the civilian clothes. Just the best. Off comes the bright white sign that screams, "I am a cadet" and on comes khaki shorts (calcaos), a purple shirt (camisa roxo), and some fly white kicks (sapatos brancos). Winning.
From there, our next stop was one of our new favorite restaurants (restaurantes preferidos), Habib's (http://www.habibs.com.br/) Habib's is Arabic fast food with some other international favorites as well (hamburgers and beer as well) and is one of the largest chains in Brazil next to it's American brothers in McDonalds, Burger King, and Subway. "Bibs'fiha" (pronounced, "Sfee-hah") is much like a small pizza (roughly hand size, depending on how large your hands are) and is a staple at Habib's. It costs about 1 Real (Brazilian currency, pronounced "Hey-Ai") and is the equivalent of aboout 70 cents. A generous stack of these generally takes care of any hunger pangs quite well.
From there we played a bit of musical chairs with trying to reach one of the nicer, more touristy areas of Resende (after all.....we are tourists) where there's more people, more drinks, and yes, you guessed it, more food. After nearly getting hit by 2 different buses, which, as it turned out, were both going to the place we were trying to get to, we waited around a bit for a taxi. Since there was a group of 5 of us, we needed to wait for a minivan taxi which, if you can imagine, are less commonly found than we're used to in New York.
After finally squeezing all 5 of us into a sedan and having the driver proceed to explain that he needed an additional 5 Reals per person due to the illegality of his actions and taking our money, we headed to Penedo (see: small tourist laden faux Finnish village. Lots of fun) and proceeded to check out a variety of their shops and restaurants before stopping at a small restaurant for beers and some live music. Speaking of beers, a beer on tap in Brazil is "chopp" and anything from a can or bottle is "cerveja". The more you know.
We stayed at this restaurant listening to live music and drinking Bohemia (The original and first beer of Brazil, as they claim) which was my first........few Brasilian beers. (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-pilsen/24536/) We also got some fried potatoes and meat appetizers, very delicious. Following this we ended up heading towards the nearest night club, Glave do Sol (not entirely sure what this means. Google translate is wildly unhelpful. Maybe it was Clave. That's like a key. Sun key, key sun........whatever). There was some bumping electronic music, an outdoor patio, and what seemed like a lot of people inside. After attempting to talk to door people down from the semi steep charge of 33 Reals (harder to convince someone to do you a favor when they can't understand you, apparently) we walked around the building a bit just to get a glimpse inside (If I'm dropping 33 Reals on a cover charge, I better get a t-shirt and a funny hat). There was a window into the patio area and we could see that the place was largely devoid of people, much less beautiful ones that wanted to dance with me. We decided against it.
As we crawled into another cab, we watched 2 cabs worth of Brazilian cadets head into the night club. It was surprisingly easy to spot them. Short haircuts, jeans, and blown out running shoes. Some things are universal. We headed back to the Academy, crawled into bed and called it a night.
On that note, that sounds like a great idea. Another story for another night. Fogo dancing lessons and Brazilian pizza. Stay tuned!
Portuguese word of the day is "ladrao" which means "thief". Just the worst. Tchau for now!
First and foremost, after leaving the front gate of AMAN in White over Gray uniforms, we stopped at the "laranjeira". Imagine if outside of Thayer Gate (location, roughly where McDonalds is) there was a large orange house with lockers and clothing racks where you could change out of your uniform and into the civilian clothes. Just the best. Off comes the bright white sign that screams, "I am a cadet" and on comes khaki shorts (calcaos), a purple shirt (camisa roxo), and some fly white kicks (sapatos brancos). Winning.
From there, our next stop was one of our new favorite restaurants (restaurantes preferidos), Habib's (http://www.habibs.com.br/) Habib's is Arabic fast food with some other international favorites as well (hamburgers and beer as well) and is one of the largest chains in Brazil next to it's American brothers in McDonalds, Burger King, and Subway. "Bibs'fiha" (pronounced, "Sfee-hah") is much like a small pizza (roughly hand size, depending on how large your hands are) and is a staple at Habib's. It costs about 1 Real (Brazilian currency, pronounced "Hey-Ai") and is the equivalent of aboout 70 cents. A generous stack of these generally takes care of any hunger pangs quite well.
From there we played a bit of musical chairs with trying to reach one of the nicer, more touristy areas of Resende (after all.....we are tourists) where there's more people, more drinks, and yes, you guessed it, more food. After nearly getting hit by 2 different buses, which, as it turned out, were both going to the place we were trying to get to, we waited around a bit for a taxi. Since there was a group of 5 of us, we needed to wait for a minivan taxi which, if you can imagine, are less commonly found than we're used to in New York.
After finally squeezing all 5 of us into a sedan and having the driver proceed to explain that he needed an additional 5 Reals per person due to the illegality of his actions and taking our money, we headed to Penedo (see: small tourist laden faux Finnish village. Lots of fun) and proceeded to check out a variety of their shops and restaurants before stopping at a small restaurant for beers and some live music. Speaking of beers, a beer on tap in Brazil is "chopp" and anything from a can or bottle is "cerveja". The more you know.
We stayed at this restaurant listening to live music and drinking Bohemia (The original and first beer of Brazil, as they claim) which was my first........few Brasilian beers. (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-pilsen/24536/) We also got some fried potatoes and meat appetizers, very delicious. Following this we ended up heading towards the nearest night club, Glave do Sol (not entirely sure what this means. Google translate is wildly unhelpful. Maybe it was Clave. That's like a key. Sun key, key sun........whatever). There was some bumping electronic music, an outdoor patio, and what seemed like a lot of people inside. After attempting to talk to door people down from the semi steep charge of 33 Reals (harder to convince someone to do you a favor when they can't understand you, apparently) we walked around the building a bit just to get a glimpse inside (If I'm dropping 33 Reals on a cover charge, I better get a t-shirt and a funny hat). There was a window into the patio area and we could see that the place was largely devoid of people, much less beautiful ones that wanted to dance with me. We decided against it.
As we crawled into another cab, we watched 2 cabs worth of Brazilian cadets head into the night club. It was surprisingly easy to spot them. Short haircuts, jeans, and blown out running shoes. Some things are universal. We headed back to the Academy, crawled into bed and called it a night.
On that note, that sounds like a great idea. Another story for another night. Fogo dancing lessons and Brazilian pizza. Stay tuned!
Portuguese word of the day is "ladrao" which means "thief". Just the worst. Tchau for now!
Bom
Good afternoon, readers (mom),
Hope all is well in the states. The rest of this week has finished out rather calmly. The pistol range went well (I hit 9 our of 15 targets, which, while sounds terrible, was my first try on a timed and graded event for 3rd year cadets here. Further, the range operator was issuing us commands in Portuguese) and I earned a B on a scale of 5 grades; (I for Insuficient, R for Regular, B for Bom, MB for Muito Bom, and E for Excelente) Overall, not too shabby.
We've been sitting in on 3 different classes this week. Our longest class is Brazilian Law (Direito do Brasil), which sadly is just about as interesting as American Law except in American Law I can understand what's going on. We spent about 4 hours (quatro horas) in this class on Friday. Quite possibly my favorite class so far is Didatica Aplicada a Instrucao Militar (paraphrasing here, "Military Instruction/Psychology"). From what we've been able to garner from the class lessons, it is the Brazilian version of PL300 (for my non cadets out there, essentially a leadership psychology class) that also dives into effective methods for teaching and instructing. Interesting but the language barrier makes it somewhat challenging at times. Our final class is much less a class than it is scheduled free time for the study of Portuguese and Brazilian culture. I have generally split this time between practicing verb conjugations and surfing the web (I changed the language on Firefox and Facebook. Totally counts)
I think there's some kind of character limit on these posts which is why I had some difficulty earlier this week getting them up on the site. I do have some insight into what a night on the town is like (last night) which will be added here shortly. Portuguese for the day is, "Sempre Frente" which means, "Always forward" which is the direction firearms need to be pointed at when on the range. As I was reminded. Tchau for now!
Hope all is well in the states. The rest of this week has finished out rather calmly. The pistol range went well (I hit 9 our of 15 targets, which, while sounds terrible, was my first try on a timed and graded event for 3rd year cadets here. Further, the range operator was issuing us commands in Portuguese) and I earned a B on a scale of 5 grades; (I for Insuficient, R for Regular, B for Bom, MB for Muito Bom, and E for Excelente) Overall, not too shabby.
We've been sitting in on 3 different classes this week. Our longest class is Brazilian Law (Direito do Brasil), which sadly is just about as interesting as American Law except in American Law I can understand what's going on. We spent about 4 hours (quatro horas) in this class on Friday. Quite possibly my favorite class so far is Didatica Aplicada a Instrucao Militar (paraphrasing here, "Military Instruction/Psychology"). From what we've been able to garner from the class lessons, it is the Brazilian version of PL300 (for my non cadets out there, essentially a leadership psychology class) that also dives into effective methods for teaching and instructing. Interesting but the language barrier makes it somewhat challenging at times. Our final class is much less a class than it is scheduled free time for the study of Portuguese and Brazilian culture. I have generally split this time between practicing verb conjugations and surfing the web (I changed the language on Firefox and Facebook. Totally counts)
I think there's some kind of character limit on these posts which is why I had some difficulty earlier this week getting them up on the site. I do have some insight into what a night on the town is like (last night) which will be added here shortly. Portuguese for the day is, "Sempre Frente" which means, "Always forward" which is the direction firearms need to be pointed at when on the range. As I was reminded. Tchau for now!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Os Cadetes Voltam (The Cadets Return)
The cadetes of AMAN have returned this past Monday and this morning we were greeted with a large formation and presentation of the cadets and faculty of AMAN (for my West Point cadets out there, Brigade pass and review but add in the faculty and MPs. Very cool!) The cadets here are extremely nice and many of them are studying English. Nos aprendemos e ensinamos com eles todos os dias (We are learning and teaching with them every day)
We've been a little busy (ocupado) over the last few days what with medical tests, x-rays, and quartermaster classes (examanes medicos, raios-X, e aulas de Intendencia) but we are speaking portuguese all the time and getting better every day. Most importantly, we have been sharing slang and culture (giria e cultura) with the cadets here and drawing parallels between AMAN and USMA.
The food here is very good. West Point has a rotation of meals for lunch and dinner and introduces some variety of American cuisine. In order to know what a certain meal is, plebes memorize the meals in advance so that upper classmen need not wonder what they will consume on a given day. At AMAN, this process is somewhat easier. On any given day you will have breakfast, generally (generalmente) consisting of lots of fresh fruit (frutas frescas) and bread with butter (pao com manteiga). For lunch and dinner your meal will consist of rice and beans and sometimes french fries (arroz e feijao e alguns batatas fritas) and generally some type of meat. Every time. Not that I'm complaining, the quality of food here is very good (*cough* West Point should take a leaf or two out of AMAN's book. *Cough*) I will say that this is the first time that I had rice, beans, and fries with chicken parm at an Italian restaurant, but when in Brazil... (quadno no Brasil...)
I hope everyone in the US is enjoying their summer (verao) even though it's winter here (inverno) with the bitter and biting low temperatures on 69 degrees farenheit in the morning. Burrr.
For portuguese today, the phrase is "Minha computadora gosta luchar comigo todos os dias e odia conectar ao internet," which means, "My computer likes to fight with me every day and hates to connect to the internet."
Bom dia!
We've been a little busy (ocupado) over the last few days what with medical tests, x-rays, and quartermaster classes (examanes medicos, raios-X, e aulas de Intendencia) but we are speaking portuguese all the time and getting better every day. Most importantly, we have been sharing slang and culture (giria e cultura) with the cadets here and drawing parallels between AMAN and USMA.
The food here is very good. West Point has a rotation of meals for lunch and dinner and introduces some variety of American cuisine. In order to know what a certain meal is, plebes memorize the meals in advance so that upper classmen need not wonder what they will consume on a given day. At AMAN, this process is somewhat easier. On any given day you will have breakfast, generally (generalmente) consisting of lots of fresh fruit (frutas frescas) and bread with butter (pao com manteiga). For lunch and dinner your meal will consist of rice and beans and sometimes french fries (arroz e feijao e alguns batatas fritas) and generally some type of meat. Every time. Not that I'm complaining, the quality of food here is very good (*cough* West Point should take a leaf or two out of AMAN's book. *Cough*) I will say that this is the first time that I had rice, beans, and fries with chicken parm at an Italian restaurant, but when in Brazil... (quadno no Brasil...)
I hope everyone in the US is enjoying their summer (verao) even though it's winter here (inverno) with the bitter and biting low temperatures on 69 degrees farenheit in the morning. Burrr.
For portuguese today, the phrase is "Minha computadora gosta luchar comigo todos os dias e odia conectar ao internet," which means, "My computer likes to fight with me every day and hates to connect to the internet."
Bom dia!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
USA!!!!
PARABENS!!!!! (Congratulations!) The United States Army Golden Knights (Parachute Team) has competed and done quite well at the 5th Annual CISM World Military Games. The Mens team took 3rd in the Formations event (Formaturas) and the Women took 2nd in Formations, 1st in Accuracy (Precisao), and 1st Overall. GO ARMY! I got lots of pictures of the final jumps into the awards ceremony as well as many of the individual and team title winners. I will post them as soon as possible.
Also, as part of my class schedule, I will be taking PL373 Life Cycle and Human Development via email at West Point while I am here in Brazil. I started doing some of my coursework and looked over a few of my assignments, one of which includes observing a child aged 3-11 for some time and apply my knowledge of developmental psychology to my observations to write a report on my findings. Finding said child should prove to be an interesting endeavor.
Our Lieutenant (Tenente) contacts here at the academy have planned to take us to a National Park (Parque Nacional) tomorrow (amanha) so it's time to call it a night (noite). The Portuguese word of the day is "para-quedismo" which means "parachuting". Tomorrow is a big day (grande dia)
Also, as part of my class schedule, I will be taking PL373 Life Cycle and Human Development via email at West Point while I am here in Brazil. I started doing some of my coursework and looked over a few of my assignments, one of which includes observing a child aged 3-11 for some time and apply my knowledge of developmental psychology to my observations to write a report on my findings. Finding said child should prove to be an interesting endeavor.
Our Lieutenant (Tenente) contacts here at the academy have planned to take us to a National Park (Parque Nacional) tomorrow (amanha) so it's time to call it a night (noite). The Portuguese word of the day is "para-quedismo" which means "parachuting". Tomorrow is a big day (grande dia)
Friday, July 22, 2011
LDAC Complete and a Long Flight
Finalmente! LDAC is complete (shout outs to 4th Platoon, B Co., 5th Reg. "Quick, Look Serious") and I have returned from Washington and subsequently left for and landed in Brazil. It's taken me a few days to get internet access and what not but I am finally back online.
The last few days have been a little hectic what with international flights, the 5th annual CISM taking place here at AMAN (Something involving the olympic equivalent for military teams), getting acclimated to a new school, and trying to pick up a little Portuguese along the way. As my novos amigos (new friends), the cadets here at AMAN say, "ficar peixe", which directly translates to "stay fish" but the context meant "relax". Or maybe I have a long way to go........
It's late and there are many things to do tomorrow but with any luck, pictures from Rio will be uploaded soon with another update even sooner. Portuguese word of the day is a phrase this time (you're welcome, readers.) It's "que legal" which means, "how cool" or as one cadete put it, "wicked sick".
Tchau for now!
The last few days have been a little hectic what with international flights, the 5th annual CISM taking place here at AMAN (Something involving the olympic equivalent for military teams), getting acclimated to a new school, and trying to pick up a little Portuguese along the way. As my novos amigos (new friends), the cadets here at AMAN say, "ficar peixe", which directly translates to "stay fish" but the context meant "relax". Or maybe I have a long way to go........
It's late and there are many things to do tomorrow but with any luck, pictures from Rio will be uploaded soon with another update even sooner. Portuguese word of the day is a phrase this time (you're welcome, readers.) It's "que legal" which means, "how cool" or as one cadete put it, "wicked sick".
Tchau for now!
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