National Infantry Museum

While we were in Columbus, we went to the National Infantry Museum, which is near the entrance to Fort Benning.  It was quite impressive.  The exhibits were immersive and gave a real sense of the different roles soldiers fill.

It is hard to photograph a lot of the scenes, some of which were very realistic:

One entire floor of the museum is devoted to the various types of training which soldiers undergo at Fort Benning, including the Rangers and the Sniper School.

 Catherine was particularly impressed that the soldiers had to learn how to give each other IV's:

 Learning about types of ground shown in topographic maps:

One of the girls' favorite exhibits was the trench warfare room, which was built to make you feel like you were really in a trench:

Some mannequins climbing out of the trench:

 The children's area was very small, but the girls enjoyed dressing up:

 Catherine trying to act like she's a soldier, standing at attention:

 Catherine putting on a holster:

 Sabrina saluting:

This is the official flag burning area, with a fire pit and bleachers:

 We also toured a re-created World War II army company.  The girls were quite enamored with the "old fashioned lap tops," no screen, no plug ...

 Sabrina using a rotary dial phone with a cord attached to it:

 Two of the buildings in the company town.  We also saw a church, mess hall, and barracks.

 Some old tanks:

 The actual building once used by General Patton, which was moved to this area:

 The supply room:

 I love this gun carousel:

 Back in the museum, Catherine checked out the bayonet display:

 Touring more of the immersive exhibits, the girls showed off some dance moves:

In the modern warfare section, they showed some of the equipment used for night vision:

 And some modern army vehicles:

The museum was great and I wish we had more time to spend there.  The IMAX movies are historically based, but we did not have a chance to watch one.  I wish we could have.  When we were there, there was a movie based on the Lewis & Clark expedition and one on the building of the Continental Railroad.  This is a great museum.