Best/Worst things seen at NTC?

I’m a MEDEVAC pilot here at NTC. I can attest to the falls. We get calls for snake bites, heat casualties, rolled over tanks, soldiers crushed between Strykers, burns, smoke inhalation, someone was ran over by an M113, and various other non-MEDEVAC B.S. calls at 3 A.M. We still take them to Loma Linda, as it is the primary trauma center, but we also go to Vegas for trauma as well. The other hospitals are for other things like burns, or cardiac issues. We also transport cases the hospital can’t handle (even though they just built a brand new, $20 mil hospital) such as strokes, pre-term labor, and such. I’ve seen many a crazy thing from the front seat of a UH-60 at NTC.

During my three years stationed at Irwin, I never had a situation like that. But then, this was way before the villages came to be. The worst thing(s) I ever saw/experienced was:

1) Someone tried to steal some NVG's while we were in the field. It was discovered on Friday that they were not in the vault. It wasn't until Monday when it came to the attention of the commander. We were locked in the MP for 3 days for investigations and searches. Hands across the desert (damn near literally) was not fun. They were finally found in the mop closet of the barracks after the perps that stole them tried to pawn them in Barstow and couldn't so they threw them into the barracks mop closet. To this day, I have no idea who it was.

2) One of the Soldiers in Recon squad had to take a leak, so his vehicle driver stopped so he could. He got out, propped his rifle on the wheel, did his business and got back in........without the rifle. So, once again locked in the MP for a few days while we did hands across the desert. Turns out, about 5 mikes after they drove off and left the rifle, an OC/T came by and secured it and tracked it down to my unit. Our lock down was done as a learning tool.

3) Not as bad as the first two but still bad. Had field chow delivered and served during a sandstorm. Eggs were crunchy.

I was at NTC 30 years ago this summer and my youngest son was there this summer. Other than the training being totally different from when I was there, my son it was just as hot and crappy as when I was there. But as bad as NTC was we went to 29 Palms the next summer and that place was worse.