Cortramid

[redmidgrl]

I just found out that I got into CORTRAMID West in San Diego, CA. I am really looking forward to Marine Week and Aviation Week. I even heard that we get to try the gas chamber, perform a mock amphibious assault on the beach, and possibly backseat a Hornet! I'll even be celebrating my birthday while I am there

What can you tell me about it? Best parts? Worst parts? What do you suggest packing? What's there to do while we have liberty? I actually have never been to Cali before, so if you can suggest any cool places to check out that are nearby...

Thanks. LG

 

[Chris Hill]

Uh... hornet backseat shouldn't be expected. You might get to sit in one on the ground. I went East, and during Marine week we mostly just got yelled at a lot. But we did get to fire a lot of weapons on a range, and do a night patrol... I hear you get to do more on the West, though. Plus, the Marines are the best organized out of all the weeks, and it will not be boring.

But I would say my highlights are as follows (in no particular order):

Sub week:
- Angles and Dangles
- Driving the boat
- Steel beach picnic - diving off fairwater planes
- Food in general
- Playing Spades

Aviation week:
- T-34 ride (I got to fly it backseat too - old but very nice aircraft)
- P-3 ride (flew it for 20 minutes too)
- Watching all types of aircraft
- Playing Spades

Surface week:
- 5" guns being fired
- Checking email on ship
- Playing Spades

Marine week:
- CH-46 ride
- Harrier demonstration
- Live fire of multiple weapons at the range
- Watching F-18 bombing runs from the ground
- Ride in tank and multiple vehicles
- MRE's
- Getting yelled at

One last thought. Don't bring more uniforms than you really need, and bring LOTS of civilian clothes (you will be wearing them a lot, unless you want to wear your uniform in town).

Hope this helps.

- CH

 

[vegita1220]

There's the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Good being something like a T-34 ride.
Bad being screwed out of T-34 ride because they're running out of gas...or sitting around waiting all day.
The ugly being along the lines of "things that'll get you kicked out of the Navy."

It varies from year to year and West or East...

 

[Chris Hill]

Oh I almost forgot. If you want to do something, ASK! If you see some Tomcat pilots hanging out, and you want a ride, ask them. The worst thing they could say is no (and they probably will - but try anyway). I got 5 cat-shots and traps off the Stennis in a Superhornet on my 1/C cruise because I asked around. I think I might have annoyed the guys in the squadron a little, but I got my ride!

 

[Chris Hill]

The ugly being along the lines of "things that'll get you kicked out of the Navy."

Sorry for all the posts, but just as a warning: OBEY THE RULES THEY SET. There are always a few Mid's who get kicked out of the program on CORTRAMID because they do stupid things. When they tell you, "don't go to Tijuana," DON'T GO TO TIJUANA. You don't want to go there anyway. Trust me...

 

[NozeMan]

I just found out that I got into CORTRAMID West in San Diego, CA. I am really looking forward to Marine Week and Aviation Week. I even heard that we get to try the gas chamber, perform a mock amphibious assault on the beach, and possibly backseat a Hornet! I'll even be celebrating my birthday while I am there

What can you tell me about it? Best parts? Worst parts? What do you suggest packing? What's there to do while we have liberty? I actually have never been to Cali before, so if you can suggest any cool places to check out that are nearby...

Thanks. LG

I think CORTRAMID is what you make of it. West....well, you're going to be in San Diego, the nicest city in the country! I celebrated my b-day on CORTRAMID as well.

I think all of the weeks are awesome, you just have to keep an open mind and try everything they offer. Like CH said, ASK if you want to try something. Also make sure you take advantage of every opportunity. During my aviation week. I rode in the T-34, S-3 AND P-3 (for over 6 hours!).

Marine week is pretty cool too. You get to see how they do things, ride in their vehicles, and shoot weapons. I think that Marine week was the most rewarding, by far.

 

[UMichfly]

I went West last summer and pretty much everything that's been said before has been spot on. We definitely didn't get to see the aviation side of the Marine Corps on Marine week but you will see some cool stuff when you go to Miramar for the swim qual etc... Biggest piece of advice I have is don't put too much faith in rumors you hear from other mids there unless you hear it from your company staff. Most of the mids are equally full of crap but will still claim they've got the inside track on everything. Oh, and enjoy, it was the coolest ROTC thing I've done.

 

[NozeMan]

redmidgrl, send me a PM when you wrote that last part down so I can take it off...don't want to upset the karma balance, but I'm not kidding about taking an evening trip over there to swim with...i've said too much already.

You're full of sh!t, I know what's on that part of the base.... If you did what I think you did...then that's freaking awesome!

 

[NozeMan]

In regards to Hornet rides, they gave them to the Marine Options on Aviation Week. That was because all the MO's went over to Miramar while the Navy Options went to North Island. You might still sneak an S-3 flight, but I'm not sure how many of those squadrons are even left.

 

[Brett327]

Oh I almost forgot. If you want to do something, ASK! If you see some Tomcat pilots hanging out, and you want a ride, ask them. The worst thing they could say is no (and they probably will - but try anyway). I got 5 cat-shots and traps off the Stennis in a Superhornet on my 1/C cruise because I asked around. I think I might have annoyed the guys in the squadron a little, but I got my ride!

Yeah, nothing wrong with asking, but I can tell you this - unless you've been through R-1/RP-1 swim/phys course, you're not going to fly in an ejection seat aircraft.

Brett

 

[zab1001]

What NOT to do on CORTRAMID:
Don't tell any chicks you hook up with you're a Harrier pilot, only to run into her Monday morning for a safety brief where she's your corpsman.

good way to lose a scholarship

 

[lowflier03]

Definately ask around if you want to do something. Find a friend there who drove down and has their car there. Thats the best way to get around and see stuff. Lots of civilian clothes are a must. I ended up with stick time in an S-3 and came home with a 5" shell. All because I asked the right people. Some people just sit around and sleep on their cruises, others want to go out and see what the jobs have to offer. Although with Marine week, its too structured to really do anything extra. I did get to shoot a few extra guns because my friend and I acted interested. That being said, Marine week was fun, but they like to yell alot, that is just because they are Marines. Some Mids dont understand Marines are like that and freak out a bit. Its funny actually.

 

[DanMa1156]

What NOT to do on CORTRAMID:
Don't tell any chicks you hook up with you're a Harrier pilot, only to run into her Monday morning for a safety brief where she's your corpsman.

good way to lose a scholarship

Zab, sounds like there's a story behind this one: do tell!

 

[redmidgrl]

I heard a lot of Mids--especially females--do not really enjoy Marine week. My unit had an indoc at MCB Quantico before school started, and I'm told ours was much harder than what we'll get from Marine week. I really enjoyed that stuff, and am really looking forward to Marine week (PT, Drill, etc). Who runs it? NCO's? Do we stay in Barracks? You keep saying it's really well planned/structured, but what is the typical day like there?

Thanks. LG

 

[DanMa1156]

Although I'm not a Mid (yet), I found this site to be a pretty funny take on CORTAMID, and I suppose a little insightful as to what you're looking for:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/wnicoll/summer04b.htm