FTX: "When you wake up screaming, and realize you haven't fallen asleep yet."

Two things right off the bat:

1.  I can't talk about FTX much.  A friend of mine in the class below me asked about it and I replied:

"Do you ever know what your nightmares will be about?"

2. A certain Chief is missing from these pics.  That's because he's a ninja and you don't see him until you feel the kill shot hit you.

If you haven't built up your stamina before now, heaven help you.  Class 010-10 after the run, in full gear, to the FTX site.

Bell and I prepare for WAR.

Someone's poker game is about to get a rude interruption...

Cheek is my Godpod!  Here we shoot a caterpillar nest covered in paint.  -Nature vs. War-

MC2 Vernon hands a terrorist a fist-full of STFU.

A grenade roll is executed to check for hidden explosives.

Student Warriors warm up by pretending to shoot at instructors.  I'm down on the end by Chief Miller.

Corporal Maggert checks a terrorist (Chief Miller) for weapons as "a badass" covers him.

The main objective of FTX is to force MCs to produce a product under strict time constraints and elevated stress levels.  Here, I give an interview, or standup, shortly after an intense firefight.

This is the one part of FTX that really bothered me.

This is where I died. 

I was busy shooting photos in another direction when this terrorist (MC1 Simoes) pulled a hidden weapon and aimed it at me.  I didn't notice until he'd fired off five rounds, ending my existence.

In the middle of all the post-exercise chatter, I couldn't stop thinking...

"My mom and dad just got a visit from the chaplain."