I'm, personally, not all that into military things but my husband and Austyn are interested in it so we drove to South Carolina to get a hands-on experience of what it would be like to live and work as a U.S. Marine. It was very interesting. I recommend it for anyone learning about U.S. history or with kids interested in Military vehicles. It is about a full day to get through everything, especially if you are interested in reading the tour signs. We could touch just about everything. I was amazed at how hands-on it was!There are controls to turn and buttons to push. It was an interesting experience.
I was just going through the pictures trying to decide which ones to share with you guys. I decided that I'd break this up into separate posts so that it's not confusing. There is a large airplane carrier, a submarine, and a Vietnam support base, so I'll do this intro and a post for each section of the museum. From their website and flyer there was suppose to be another ship but we didn't see it there. The air craft carrier that we looked at is called USS Yorktown and takes the longest to tour. It is HUGE! There were over 3500 people serving on it at one time. It has been in World War II and has collected astronauts and the capsules from Apollo space trips including the first trip around the moon. This ship had everything in it! There is a medical section, surgery room, dentist, cafeteria (mess hall), bunkers, area to work on missiles, elevator machine shop area, mail room, printing presses, meeting rooms, a jail, storage rooms, a bakery, a kitchen, a lab, shoe repair, sewing area, and the list goes on.
The submarine, which is called The USS Clamagore was an eye opener. There were about 200 people who served on it. It was very crowded, very hot, and extremely noisy. They only had one engine running when we were in it and we were to imagine it with all three engines in that section running. The sub was so crowded that people were to sleep anywhere they'd fit. They even slept in-between the missiles. If men worked on this ship they'd have to be okay with touching other people all the time because of how crowded it was. Most of the pictures show that the men were very sweaty and had their shirts off because of the extreme conditions.
Here is the website for more information:
http://www.patriotspoint.org/
