My Float Tapes… Back in August of 2001 I was in the Marine Corps with Bravo Company 1/1 out of Camp Pendleton. I was a young Sergeant, a squad leader in a line company. I was set to head out on a Westpac (Western Pacific) deployment with the 15th MEU SOC (Marine Expeditionary Unit – Special Operations Capable). The plan was to make our way over to Djibouti, Eastern Africa, do some training and come home. Plans changed on September 11th.
I set out back then to create a Float Video, following my experience on that deployment. I had a little Sony HandyCam that used MiniDV tapes. Over the course of the next 6 months I captured about 19 hours of footage. Following myself from start to finish on that deployment.
When I returned I didn’t know where to start with all of the footage and was busy with life. The Float Tapes, 19 of them, got misplaced in the shuffle and lost until I finally found them about 18 years later. This will be the story of that deployment…
We had made our way out into the Arabian Sea. 1st Platoon and a element from Weapons Platoon was tasked with securing a downed helicopter in Pakistan…
Also out on the Debuque, we had a visit from the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Jones, as well as the 14th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, SgtMaj McMichael.
Loadout
