Aussies on AUTEC

My son, granddaughter, an Aussie, and I were joking around about the difference between leaving and old person (me specifically) in a locked hot car versus leaving kids and dogs, that being passersby would probably not break me out. Something like the oldie was at the end of her ride anyway had us chuckling. All this small talk occurred while we were waiting for the shuttle to take us to our plane and our new found Aussie friend gave us some pretty cool collectible coins (pictured here). One thing I like about going over to the Bahamas is that there are always new people to meet and interesting things going on and this trip was no different. I came to learn that the Australians have purchased a bunch of new helicopters (at quite a price tag but that may be for another blog) and have been practicing on the range with MK54 torpedoes and MH60-HR sensors (basically a bunch of anti-submarine warfare training). That’s the work side of this blog. I also overheard in the chow hall (a comment that I’m paraphrasing here), someone say they thought Aussies were born with a beer in their hand after talk of a ‘borrowed’ golf cart joyride and subsequent crash. The Aussies were however successful after only seven months of operating the MH-60R ‘Romeo’ Maritime Combat Helicopter, and NUSQN 725 achieved successful Mk 54 torpedo firings during the current deployment to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Centre (AUTEC). I still like their motto, Be Aggressive and I’m glad they did better with the helicopters!