Lore

Vietnam Experience Exhibit at Patriots Point

We are smack dab in the middle of a new website for our pals at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum – Home of the USS YORKTOWN and that means weekly meetings and calls and too many emails to count every week.

When we get into this middle part of a site build, two things are really important for the project leader:

  1. Keep the chaos as controlled as possible while keeping everything moving forward
  2. Try to break up week after week of conference calls with some site visits.

After a great meeting about some other cool interactive initiatives we are helping with, we strolled over to the Vietnam Experience Exhibit. I’ve seen just about all the marketing materials for it, posted about it on their website, made a landing page and STILL was impressed with the real deal.

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This is an exhibit they have had for years but were finally able to make some long awaited improvements to it including digging a moat / pond, adding new structures, but most importantly greatly enhancing the sensory experience.

The Educational and Sensory Experience  

See what a base camp during Vietnam looked like – from the ambulance to the medical tent to the barracks. Watch a commanding officer (via hologram!) give your squadron orders for your next mission.

Listen to the helicopters flying overhead and muffled voices of other soldiers on base. Speakers are scattered throughout the base to infuse sounds of the base at every turn.

Feel the spray from the (now retired) patrol boat’s engine as it idles in the moat. Climb inside the helicopter’s open cabin – push the buttons! Get the bejeezus scared out of you by the mannequins in the mess hall. Jump in the Jeep and take a selfie!

Taste the dirt. Just kidding. Don’t do that.

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[At least one person was happy to be in the Jeep.]