My CORTRAMID West 2012 Experience: Days 11-15 Pictures. Surface Week.

First day, Colleen making her rack.

Coming out of the porthole that leads down to our berthing.

Can't tell you how many times I've hit my head trying to climb up from these things.

Brouker and I, he's a close friend from my unit. We were the only 2 from San Diego on the Stockdale.

Colleen, myself, Bruno, and Buckon. If only this photo truly demonstrated how windy it was trying to take this photo. Also, none of us have our covers on because if we did, they'd all blow off!

Charles, myself, and Colleen standing on the bridge wing.

Getting ready to shoot the .50 cal and M240! This is me and Brockman.

Practicing my shooting stance on the .50 cal!

Listening to instructions.

Finally shooting the .50 cal! Such an adrenaline rush!

Listening to instructions on the M240.

It was too bad that guy was standing in front of the gun! :(

These are the racks in the berthings. 3 levels and the space underneath your rack was all the space you had for any personal belongings. I slept in the middle rack. This is also exactly how they all had to look for berthing inspections every morning.

This was my rack! It was awkward and hard to climb into, but once I was settled in I found the small space cozy. The rock of the ship was so relaxing and rocked me to sleep like a baby every night too.

Colleen getting ready to shoot!

These are the ammo for the .50 cal!

Colleen on the .50 cal, probably aiming at the waves.

After the guys had their turns shooting, they took naps in the sunshine on the deck.

They told us we weren't aloud to bring hairspray or gel onto the ship because it was flammable, so we made do with our buns, however after being outside we always had to redo our buns since it was so windy!