High Octane Gouge

GET THE GOUGE FUNNIEST MILITARY STORY ESSAY CONTEST   Here's your chance to win a cash reward for your funniest military story! Prizes will be awarded to the top three contestants based on most votes through the viewer's polling system. Votes can be cast at anytime and will be recorded in a ""real time"" format so contributors will have continued access to see where they stand throughout the contest's duration. You do not have to be a military service member to enter this contest; however, you must have the rights to your story as outlined in our terms of publication.   Contest will start on August 1st and continue through September 30, 2008 at Midnight EST.   Please submit your essay using Times New Roman, 12-font, double-spaced format (Submissions will remain un-edited and posted ""as is"" so, there is no need to exclude yourself for professional writing bias. While essay flow may make the difference in reader votes, it's your story that counts!   Essays should be no more than 1,000 words (two pages maximum). Again, this will be a reader-based voting system so reader-ease is your key to success but not necessarily a victory guaranty if your story is the best.   Submissions will be posted to Get the Gouge as they are received, reviewed, and published accordingly. Get the Gouge  reserves the right not to post, for any reason, any material submitted to us.   By submitting your essay, you agree to the United States Naval Institute's terms of publication if selected as a winner. Submissions do not necessarily represent the opinions of the United States Naval Institute or their respective affiliates.   Please submit essays to gougestaff@usni.org   Prizes are as follow: 1st Place:         $1,000 2nd Place:        $750 3rd Place:        $500

Take an Inside Tour into the World of Snake-Eaters and Frogman: Our Nation's Elite Warriors

Florida may be best-known for seaside cities and gorgeous beaches, the Kennedy Space Center and Disney World, but at the coastal town of Fort Pierce, you'll find another gem: the Navy UDT-SEAL Museum – the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to the Navy's elite warriors. Located between Daytona Beach and Miami, just a short drive off I-95, the museum stands on the original World War II training site of the Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) – a site known as the "birthplace of the Navy Frogman."

Naked Warriors, Devils with Green Faces – the names have changed, but the mission's the same. The Navy UDT-SEAL Museum covers a lot of physical and historical terrain. It features everything from underwater and surface craft dating from World War II to the present; original steel-and-concrete obstacles used to train early elite units more than 60 years ago; Vietnam-era patrol riverboats and a Seawolf helicopter, two Apollo space capsules, two desert patrol vehicles from Afghanistan and Iraq and the high-tech SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV). (In the early days of the space program, UDTs retrieved astronauts and space capsules following re-entry.)