Well, last night was peaceful. The drill sergeant never woke us up for anything, so our fireguard must have been doing the right things all night to not give him an excuse to mess with us! Wake up was at 0430, so we got up, brushed our teeth and shaved, and then took our linen downstairs to turn in. We came back to the bay, did some packing for our 3 day/2 night bivouac field training, cleaned the bay, and went downstairs for my funeral detail briefing. The rest of the company went downstairs to do PT, which today had workouts that involved their rifle. The eight people doing funeral detail got to take showers, put on our Class As (jacket), and then eat breakfast. After breakfast, we made sure our Class As were squared away, fixing buttons and other shiny pins. After that, our group practiced our shooting drill and ceremony a few times, then waited for our transportation to arrive. The bus finally arrived a little after 0900, and we didn't get to the cemetery until 0930 (over an hour late). We basically got right into position, because the family started to arrive right after we got there. We we supposed to run through it a few times before the actual funeral at the cemetery, but time didn't permit. So, the family arrived, and we stood at ease for nearly 45 minutes in the sun, before it was our turn for the 21 gun salute. We did pretty well, marched off, and then waited for the family to leave. We picked up our brass and then loaded the bus to head back to the barracks. While we were gone, the rest of the company got their transportation to the training site, so when we got back, we changed and got ready to meet them out in the field. We made sure to use the latrine one last time, and then took our rucks and equipment downstairs to take the deuce out to our training area on the Malone Range. When we got their (new bivouac site), the company had just finished eating their MREs for lunch, so the rest of us ate our MREs. Dad, you said you wanted to know some of the best MREs I've had. Well, today I had probably the best one- beef ravioli! After I finished eating my fudge chocolate brownie (oh so good!), we relaxed by our rucks in formation. It was then time to get on with today's training. We walked through the woods for about 10 minutes to a large clearing and practiced squad movements for response to fire. Basically, it's a wedge movement, where if we take enemy fire, A team gives suppressive fire, while B team moves into a flanking position. A team shifts fire and then ceases as B team moves in to take out the enemy. When all enemies have been taken out, you provide aid and check the enemy for useful information. At 1600, we went back to our rucks, topped off on water, and then got to sit down, talk, and just relax again until it was time for dinner at 1700. After dinner, we sat around for another hour before we put our rucksacks on and walked a couple hundred meters down the dirt road to where we were setting up our base for the night. We set up camp and I had a new battle buddy, because Robbins and I are not in the same team, so no more tents! First platoon had our area set up, and third platoon was told to sleep in our area, too, so we had a small area to guard, and nearly 100 people! At 1900, our drill sergeant told us to grab our gear and meet him at the open field. The person he told thought it meant to pack our gear up, so we started heading over with our rucks, and he told us to go back and leave them at our area. So anyway, we go back with our FLCs and ACHs, and we got training over determining distances. We had people stand out in the field, and we estimated in meters how far away from us they were standing, while our drill sergeant used a range finder, which gave him a fairly accurate distance when he looked through it. Our objective was to come within five meters of the reading the drill sergeant had. It was fun, and after it started getting dark, the drill sergeant from third platoon came over and told us stories of base life and deployment from before he was a drill sergeant. That went on for nearly 90 minutes, and at about 2200, we finally left and went back to our shared patrol base. I fell asleep around 2230, and enjoyed a peaceful night!
21 July 2009 (Day 87- 24 days to go!)
Last night got extremely cold! In reality, it might have hit around 60 degrees, but with me being about 30 lbs. lighter with less fat and insulation, and my body being adjusted to the warmer weather, 60 degrees felt like waking up on a winter camp out! Also, last night fourth platoon thought it would be funny to sneak over and take things, so when we woke up, we had a missing ACH and weapon. Anyway, we packed up camp starting at 0500, and formed up for morning PT back at the field. This morning, the drill sergeant decided to have a little GFT tournament within the platoon. The drill sergeant had his truck in front of us, so it was pitch black out, with the headlights of his truck lighting up our GFT "ring." Lucky for me, I had to leave to pick up breakfast before it was my turn at 0615. So I hopped into the back of the deuce, and rode back to our barracks to the D-Fac loading dock to pick up our breakfast. After it was loaded, we came back to our training area (which we found out is the same place we area doing are FTX next week). We unloaded the truck and joined our platoon (the stolen items had been returned), and filed in for some food. After we ate breakfast, we received some blank ammo to split up among the platoon. It came out to everyone having 50 rounds to fill two magazines with 25 each. We then marched down a sandy road, where we started training around 0900. We went off into the woods and I was chosen to be a part of the "enemy," so me and two other guys set up in the hoods and waited for the squads to move in so we could ambush them with our blanks! Each squad ran through the scenario, and I was replaced so I could run through it with my own squad. As each squad finished, we would talk over what we did right and wrong, as well as hot to fix it for the future. After all four squads went, we came back up to the main "base camp," topped off our water, passed out MREs, and ate lunch! I had another good MRE today, Dad, the vegetarian meal...spicy penne pasta. Once the platoon finished eating, we sat around for about an hour, and then loaded up on some more blank rounds and headed to a new spot in the woods. For our afternoon training, we learned about near ambushes (within 35 meters) and far ambushes (farther than 35 meters...which 35 meters is the effective range of grenades). I was on the opposing team, so I was one of three guys who did all the ambushing. After we went through what to do if we are ambushed (pray that never happens...best rate of survival is 25% of living), we learned how to set up an ambush. Depending on if the road is straight (linear ambush) or has a bend (L-shaped ambush), determines which ambush to use and where the M249 (saw gun) is placed. After we set it up, and learned how to effectively use it, we packed up and went back to "main base" and topped off on water and sat in the shade until it was time for dinner at 1830. We all snarfed down our food, and then sat around on our rucks until everyone had finished eating. One of the drill sergeants who was staying the night with us told us our schedule for tomorrow (it's going to be tough and very busy), and said that we have a PT test Thursday morning. We then had a class over TCP (Traffic Control Point), which is how to set up a road stop to check vehicles. After our class, it was time to assign who would have the M249 saw gun and the M240B tomorrow for our events, as well as carry it all of next week during our FTX. To my displeasure, I will be carrying the M240B machine gun (weighs 26.7 lbs., shoots up to 950 rounds per minute, and has an effective range of 11oo meters when mounted on a tripod). That's "only" 20lbs. heavier than my M4! The worst thing about that is, Thursday is a PT test, and my pushups are my worst area (arm muscles), and now my arms will be sore...*sigh*...oh well. At 2030, we got our rucks and went out to set up our platoon control base. I got everything set up, changed socks, and then a drill sergeant came by and told us not to get comfortable. We then were given 20 rounds of blanks to load into our magazine, and then we waited. I dozed off, because this was cutting into my sleep time, when at 2230 or so we were given NODs and told to report to "base camp" for a night operation. So we attached our NODs to our ACHs, and then got into a tactical road march formation (3-5 meter spacing on either side of the road). We slowly marched along, not being told what was going on. The drill sergeants threw a flash bang into the woods so we hunkered down and waited, but nothing happened. We moved out again, and about 50 meters down the road, we started taking enemy fire from 6 o'clock (rear). We pushed off the road and started planning our counter attack, when the drill sergeant called it off. Apparently the guys from his platoon messed it up and didn't fire when they were supposed to, and although we would have taken heavy casualties, we were on the right path on how we were going about a counter attack. We were sent back to our platoon area after turning in our NODs, and that was the end to our training. The drill sergeant (same one we had Sunday) just wanted to have fun and got frustrated with his platoon, so he called the rest of the squads from our platoon off. Oh well, whatever. I lost about two hours of sleep because one drill sergeant wanted to have fun. I got back on my sleep pad, put my PC (patrol cap) over my face, and fell asleep somewhere in the 2330-2400 range!
22 July 2009 (Day 88- 23 days to go)
I woke up a few times throughout the night because the temperature had dropped. It wasn't as cold as yesterday morning, but it was still chilly. Wake up was at 0500, so we woke up, packed up our rucks, and moved out by 0515. We formed back up where we were the previous day, and sat on our rucks. I fell back asleep for about 30 minutes, and at 0630, we went through TCP in the field area. After a half hour of practice ran by our platoon's leadership, we fell back in our rucks and then got in line for breakfast. We ate a much-needed breakfast, and then had some downtime to sit on our rucks, while the drill sergeants, I assume, were going over the day's events. At 0900, more blank ammo was distributed. We loaded it up into our magazines, and we were ready to begin today's training! Instead, we practiced in the field for almost two hours of tactical maneuvers, until our drill sergeants came over and told us it was time to roll. First squad went first, so being in fourth squad, we were last to go from our platoon, and second to last to go in the company. There were basically three stations: React to contact, medical evacuation and IV, and TCP. So we started out in a wedge formation in the field, and walked into the woods. We then got "attacked" so we tactically moved into position to take them out. Besides confusion with the lane beside us (which wasn't our fault), we cleared that objective successfully! Next, we had a "casualty," so we had to provide medical attention to them. Once we cleared that objective, we set up a road block and two of the drill sergeants pulled in, and we had to stop and search them. The guy patting the passenger failed to find a small bomb in his sleeve, but I did my job well (stop the vehicle and ask for ID). We then headed back to base camp, turned in ammo, and got lunch MREs (chicken and noodles!). Transportation came at 1500 to take us back to our barracks where we showered, changed into PTs, and cleaned weapons until dinner. After dinner, we set up the mats for PT in the morning, and then got mail! I had 12 letters today (1 from mom, 2 from dad, 4 from Brittney, 1 from Brittney's cousin Kennedy, 1 from the Barnetts, 1 from Angela Barnett, 1 from Sease grandparents, and 1 from my Reinbold grandparents)!!! I spent the next 90 minutes reading all of my mail, and decided to wait to respond until tomorrow. We had final formation at 2030, and then it was upstairs to finish writing today's journal and then head to bed. I unfortunately have a CQ shift from 2300-2400. Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment