Day 20

Today didn't start out so hot.  We were told to eat in the dining facility at 7am, and then meet up for formation.  However, we ended up having to eat the powdered eggs and bread when we were sent away from the dining facility.  I'm guessing people didn't communicate the change of plans to the food people clearly, or at all.

Then we hopped on the bus, and our Drill Sargeant proceeded to get lost trying to get to our destination.  So what should have been about 20 minutes turned into an hour. But!!  We were treated to his demo cd on the way.  Let me clarify.

All of the Army people leading us seem to be South Carolina Army National Guard.  So these people are weekend warriors, and this is their required 2 weeks of service for the year.  They all have real jobs, and for some, it's hard to picture.  The majority seem to be policemen, either local or state troopers.  But we have a prison guard, two people who work at banks, a postal worker, and one who takes the cake.  Imagine the Drill Sargeant from Full Metal Jacket.  He's a crotchety old man who uses swear words as a completely reflexive part of his vernacular.  Add a deep southern accent which makes it nearly impossible to understand him.  Now, imagine this man selling real estate.  It boggles our minds!  I picture him at the rifle range the other day yelling out loud about how "he loves him some titties!" It's a truly hilarious image for me, anyway.  Long story short, our bus driver does a DJ job on the side.  His radio name?  The Sharminator.  Priceless.

The morning's training was all about IEDs and how to spot them.  I'm sure it was fine training, but if we find ourselves looking for IEDs, we have other problems going on.  In the afternoon, we learned how to barge into a room and clear it.  I disagree with the policies we have to use, in terms of the force required.  For instance, each family in Afghanistan is allowed to have one AK-47.  Any kind of RPGs are illegal, so if we see one, we are supposed to kill that person.  The scenario that bothers me is this:  if we enter a local's house at night and they come out with their AK-47 pointed at us, we are supposed to kill them.  I object to this policy, but I can't figure out a more appropriate tactic, other than not going in their house.  If someone was breaking into my house, I'd come down the stairs ready to shoot.  But we have apparently trained them to not react this way, which is sad to me.

But then we learned about how terrorists hate our working dogs, so they are a valuable asset to us.  Of course, I asked how many dogs a base might have to work with, and as for most everything we ask about, I was told it depends.  So helpful.

Then we played convoy.  I'm a gunner, but didn't make it into a humvee yesterday.  My team ended up riding in the super well armored personnel vehicle.  Not terribly exciting, but ehh.

We came back, turned our weapons in for the short weekend, then we hopped in Aaron's rental car and 4 of us headed to Columbia for an overnight.  Jon Berger and I got a room, and it is amazing.  The water is normal (not soft) so we can actually feel clean after a shower.  Oh yes, and in bed I can spread my limbs farther apart than 1 foot.  So it's pretty nice.

We showered and got dressed, and then went across the street for sushi and sake.  I realized, however, that sushi is fine but it is mostly just a vector for delivering soy sauce with wasabi.  But it was fine.  Then we wandered just 1 block to a place that sells alcoholic slurpees.  I had blue, which apparently had Everclear in it.  I didn't finish it, which I think I'm glad about.  Aaron finished his, and he didn't look so hot.  But then I came back to the hotel and talked to the most wonderful girl I know!  Emili had volunteered at the Baltimore TNR clinic all day so she had neat stories too. 

Tomorrow I will have a complimentary waffle and life will be good.  That's all for now folks!

Day 19

Today was the 4th day in a row to start at 4:30am in the morning. Except I woke up at 4am and couldn't fall asleep again. Sigh. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired now.

We arrived at a range in the complete darkness. In fact, we even got to sit on metal bleachers in the wind for an hour, waiting for the sun to come up. It was hard to contain my enthusiasm. But it was worth it, I would say. We were each given two chains of ammunition: 5.56mm and 7.62mm. Seeing the 7.62mm made me wish for my rifle out here.

We stood in line, and when it was our turn, we loaded the machine guns and then got to shoot the rounds at targets downrange. Following that, we got to walk over to the 50-cal machine gun, the M2. Quite an impressive gun. Not so much if you want to hit your target, but intimidate the crap out of your enemy. It had a very powerful repercussion, and had quite a good range. The targets we were hitting had to be about a quarter mile away. It was a neat demonstration.

From there, we were bused to another range, where we did reflexive fire drills. We'd crouch down a little bit, and swing the rifle up to our shoulder, switch off safe, fire two quick shots, put the rifle back on safe, and then lower the weapon. I wasn't great at the drill, but probably average. It was hard because we don't use the rear site for this, because that would take too long. We shot at 25 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters, and then at 5 meters. Of course, at 5 meters, it's just not sporting anymore. And thinking about it, I trust myself with the 9mm for close ranges much more, but I'm more accustomed to shooting the 9mm at these distances.

The last drill of the day was called Stress Firing. It was kind of an obstacle course. This is how it went:

1. Jump out of an armored vehicle and zig zag around some barriers to make your way to take shelter behind a Humvee. We were wearing the full body armor and carrying our M4 rifle, along with the 9mm in its holster on our leg.
2. Run to an upright barrier and take shelter. Insert a 10 round magazine and shoot 3 targets with controlled 2 round bursts.
3. Run to a wooden frame that simulates a window. From a somewhat crouched position, shoot 2 targets with the same style 2 round bursts. Then take a knee and change magazines.
4. Run to a lower barrier and kneel down. From there, we had to lean around the corner and shoot 3 targets with 2 round bursts.
5. Then run to a group of sandbags and assume the prone position. From there, we shoot 2 targets with 2 round bursts.
6. Run to the end of the field. Phew!

Needless to say, we were quite tired after that exercise. Plus, while it didn't bother me much, the Army guys were yelling and trying to induce stress. It was actually somewhat comical. But then we got to come back to the barracks and relax a bit.

And now, here's a picture from the outside of our barracks.

Day 17

Today we went to a different shooting range to practice for the qualification.  Of course, this is not required for a handful of us, so there is very little pressure. 

I started off having to load ammo.  I think we ended up loading somewhere near 16000 rounds of 5.56mm.  Needless to say, that took a couple hours.  But eventually, they called us up as the last group.

I ended up shooting 36/40 targets on my first round.  That was pretty good, and qualifies as Expert.  Of course, my subsequent rounds went downhill from there, unfortunately.  The way it works is that there are 2 targets at 50 meters, one left and one right, and targets at 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 meters.  The targets pop up (seeming to be random at first).  The hard part is that the 50m targets only pop up for 4 seconds, 5 seconds for 100m, 6 seconds for 150m, etc.  And sometimes two targets pop up at the same time.  So it's actually challenging.  I was getting hot and sweaty, and sweat was dripping into my eyes after the first round.  So hopefully tomorrow will be cool, weather wise.



We had MREs for lunch, which is always exciting.  Today I had Meatballs in Marinara Sauce.  Not great, but not terrible at all.  I even got a Cinnamon Scone as my dessert too!

After my group was done shooting, there was some down time.  The Army calls free time "white space." Regardless of what you call it, it allowed for a nap!  Tomorrow is our actual qualification shoot, so hopefully I control my nerves.  Now I think I will rest...

Day 16

Today was our first chance to shoot at targets that were at varied distances.  We met outside at 5:15am and then had breakfast in the classroom.  Powdered scrambled eggs, bacon, and a banana for me.  If you enjoy grits you'd be set too.  It.just brings back My Cousin Vinnie for me...

When we arrived at the range, it was still quite chilly and we had to wait half an hour before we even saw the sun.  Unfortunately, a handful of us got the short end of the stick today.  We were picked to run the computer program at each lane.  It is a neat program, actually.  The lcd display shows an outline of the target, and then it registers where you hit or miss the target.  It was pretty neat.  In any case, I managed to fix a few gun jamming issues and everyone was safe.

I shot pretty well, considering I didn't wear the corrective lens inserts.  I actually hit 5/5 targets at 300 meters.  While wearing full body armor.  Oh yes, in an unsupported position.  So I don't know if you are aware, but I'm kind of a big deal around here. Smile.

But in traditional Army fashion, it was a Charlie foxtrot.  The monitor operators were kept on a station until another 4-5 shooters had cycled through.  We didn't finish that until about 2:30 pm.  Which meant we continued to rotate to the other stations.

The one station was walking through trailers that had tv monitors inside.  They told a story, which was not terribly important.  And finally, our last station was a vehicle to practice roll-overs in.  Good training, but there is such a remote chance of ever having to use this. 

Well, thus concludes another day in Army clothing.  I'll keep you posted!

Day 15

Today was easily the most frustrating day to date.  Let's review the schedule:

• 0700 - Breakfast, no problems
• 0750 - Formation outside, chilly but otherwise ok
• 0800-1130 - IED brief.  Plain awful.  A former Marine would talk for 10 minutes from the Powerpoint slide and then put us on a 20 minute break.
• 1130-1210 - Brief on something.  I honestly don't remember.
• 1210-1245 - Lunch.  Needless to say, we're supposed to have an hour for lunch.  However, once you stand in line for 15 minutes, and you have to be outside with your body armor donned, you end up not getting to finish your lunch after all.  Oh yes, and then people yell and get bent out of shape when people show up late.
• 1300-1700 - Outdoor activities.  I need to address this more.

This afternoon we took a bus 0.5 miles away and each of the four platoons was assigned a different activity.  After about 45 minutes or an hour, we'd rotate.  We were to start on the convoy training station.  However, once we arrived, the Army changed its mind.  We moved to the simulator building first.  The first part of the simulation was neat.  We were shooting a 9mm (shoots digital bullets) at a screen in dusk conditions as a black target.  I actually hit the target 7 out of 7 times, but all 7 shots were in his right arm.  So he'd have no arm, but he might still be alive.  Oh well.  However, after that simulation we moved to the second, which used the M4 rifle.  In groups of 5, we were shown a situation video, and we had to shoot the threat when it presented itself.  However, the first scenario didn't require any shooting at all!  And then the instructor kept asking which of us was "commando", so I told him we were all Special Forces.  Then he asked again, "which of you are commando?"  So I replied, yes, I am not wearing underwear today.  I was really scratching my head, trying to figure out what he was talking about.  Eventually it came out that he believes "commando" means the same thing as "mando", as in mandatory.  A handful of us are required to qualify on the 9mm, and we are the group to which he was referring.  But then he got up on a soapbox about this training and how to load a weapon, etc.  We stopped short of pointing out that we'd already been to the range and shot these weapons.  But it gets better.

The convoy training was fine, if not simplistic.  That station was nice because the Drill Sergeant said we could take off the body armor if we wanted to, because this station was all lecture.  Great!  So I, along with about 4 other people took it off.  Ok.  I glanced over and we could see the next station from where we sat, and they were not wearing the body armor, so that was more good news.

So when it was time to rotate to the next station, I carried my body armor over, but didn't not put it on.  However, we were then fussed at to stand in tight formation, and wear the armor.  I objected, and pointed out that it would be pointless to put it on because we were about to take it off.  Didn't make any sense to me. I can't actually remember whether I put it on or not, because I was so frustrated.  So then everyone took off the armor and had to place everything very neatly and orderly on the ground.  This, before we crawled and rolled around the ground practicing low crawls and medium crawls.  Asinine.

The last of the four stations was the sleeping station.  We just sat there and did nothing.  In the end, we only needed the body armor for the one indoor simulation stations.  Ahhhh!

All in all, a good use of our time.  Please watch out for the sarcasm forming a puddle at my feet.

Day 14

Week 2 is complete now.  Today I slept in until about 8am, which was fantastic.  The weather was all sunshine with an appropriately chilly breeze.  It's starting to feel like fall!

I got to talk to Emili this morning, and I heard about taking Rhombus to the vets.  He is a cat who belongs to acquaintances in Baltimore, and the humans are heading to Ghana tomorrow.  Needless to say, Emili helped them out.

What else...hmmm.  I played some Civilization today, but that left me with a headache.  I need to find a routine, but I doubt I'll be able to do that while in SC.   Tonight we muster at 8:45pm and then check out our weapons again.  That will most likely take at least an hour.  Good times...

Day 13

Stone cold killer.  I got a 237/240 on one course for the M9, and a perfect score on the second portion.  Not too shabby.  The instructor helped me improve on the M4 too.

There was a ton of down time, but it was good to shoot.  As it turns out, I am only required to qualify on the pistol, which I did today.  So there is very little pressure on me now!  I'll do my best on the rifle, but it will be a new style of shooting for me.

I had a good time today chatting with various people.  It's fun to talk to disgruntled people from all different communities.  In way, it provides a unifying bond among us.  Very few of the officers volunteered for these jobs, and we all look forward to the end of this tour. 

Well for now, Good Night South Carolina!