I have been able to do a lot of fun and crazy things in my life, but this week I got to do one of the coolest when I hitched a ride around the skies of Boston in a MV-22 Osprey care of the United States Marine Corps. As part of the Marine Week Boston festivities, they had a media day at Hanscom Air Force Base and I was one of the lucky few allowed to take a flight. A special thanks to Eric Schwartzman for the invitation to be part of the fun.
The Osprey is a beautiful piece of machinery that we got a full briefing on. It is currently being used in both combat and humanitarian missions. Able to carry over 20 fully armed Marines, be decked out as a flying emergency room or to transport cargo and supplies to anywhere in the world, this is not your typical airplane. The one stat I remember being amazed by was that it could take off from Boston and be in Chicago in 3 hours and not need to refuel. That is impressive when you need to get some place fast.
I took a bunch of photos or you can watch the video slide show of them below. I didn't film any video, but Eric posted a video of the whole adventure.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11504301[/vimeo]
In addition to the awesome time aboard the Osprey flying over Boston with the back door open, we also got to learn more about what today's Marines are doing and even why they have something called Marine Week. David Meerman Scott posted this video that includes an interview with just one of the great Marines we met.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIzwAfqitWs[/youtube]
I've always been a big supporter of our troops and being able to spend even a few hours with some of them and chat a little made this extra special for me. A couple of the young Marines I spoke to are headed over and into combat later this year. I told them to stay safe and thanked them for everything they do. Not enough people thank all of our armed forces for keeping us safe and protecting the freedoms we love so much.
Marine Week goes until this weekend and on Saturday they have got a bunch of great events to check out!
