Map Reading

Today we were back in the classroom for a full day on map reading and land navigation. Tomorrow we crawl over logs and racks on the land navigation course. The class had a lot of practical exercises and a more difficult test than most Army classes. But the topic is very important. Getting lost in a war zone is very bad news.
The evaluator for today's course was an Iraq veteran with more than 20 years in the Army. In fact, at the end of the day he showed us his 20-year letter. He has a laminated copy he carries with him. The 20-year letter says he has 20 years active service and is eligible for paid retirement. He said he thought about retiring but he thinks that land navigation is so important that he stayed on active duty instructing and evaluating land navigation primarily for troops getting deployed. He was in Iraq twice and wants every soldier to know how to find his way home when all the electronics fail--he told several stories about soldiers who depended too much on the electronics and what happened to them. And about one of his own missions in which a new driver hit the wrong switch and destroyed ll the electronics in their vehicle. They got home using old fashioned land navigation.

Urban Combat

Today was Urban Combat training. We jumped through windows, moved along buildings, threw grappling hooks and built firing positions in a mockup village made mostly from Conex boxes, the 8 by 8 by 20 foot containers that cross the oceans on ships. It rained most of the day, not very hard, but steady. So when we crawled, it was in the mud.
Jon Rutter, the Lancaster Sunday News reporter who wrote a story about me joining the Army last September, came to today's training with a photographer and stayed most of the day. The article should be out soon, I would guess on Memorial Day weekend. Jon had never heard the Army motto "If it ain't rainin' it ain't trainin'" but he heard it many times today. Neither Jon nor the photographer had MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) before, and had a lot of fun eating the various things that come packed in Army field rations. Follow the link to see our lunch.
Today was another long, dirty day that was a lot of fun.

Eased Restriction for Mother's Day

I was home from 530 to 10pm this evening because the commander gave many soldiers passes for Mother's Day. So the restriction to post was eased to give soldiers a chance to see their mothers and wives. We did have to fill out a two-page request for a pass that included a virtual oath to drive carefully.
In the morning we had classes on communications and then one on health and sanitation. They picked the right guy to teach the class on health and sanitation. He is quiet and could get get through the entire presentation without making a single joke. The PowerPoint presentation that accompanied his talk included graphic reminders of how a soldier could get AIDS and other diseases, but our instructor left every joke unspoken.

Still Wearing a Borrowed Steel Helmet

Today we were supposed to get new field gear--two duffle bags full of it. But the Strykers went through the deployment processing facility the week before we did and the cupboard was bare. I got one duffle bag with a scarf and a ski mask and a canteen cup. I am still using a borrowed steel helmet--no kevlar helmet yet.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Physical Today and the Square Needle in the Left Nut

I just got four vaccinations, which is the maximum, not 8 or 9 as yesterday's rumor had it. Speaking of rumors, I asked a couple of the older guys here but no one remembers the mythical vaccination of Air Force basic training I heard in 1972. The rumor at Lackland Air Force Base back then was that after the shots from the air gun on the tenth day of basic training we would get one more vaccination for venereal disease. The rumor was we would all get the vaccination through a square needle in our left testicle on the 19th day of training. Most everybody knew after a couple of days that the square needle was just a rumor, but there were a couple of guys who didn't sleep well the night before the 19th training day.

There is a Viet Nam memoir by a Navy veteran titled Scars of the Square Needle that has a direct reference to the "square needle in the left nut." So if that rumor never made it to the Army, it was alive and well in the Navy and the Air Force.

More paperwork

Today was paperwork all morning--wake up at 0430--and into the afternoon followed by two-hour break, then a class on promotions, dinner and medical paperwork until just after 9pm (2100).
Tomorrow is medical processing--fast tonight then 8 or 9 vaccinations tomorrow and lots of other tests.

Dramatic to Deadly Dull

After choke holds, claymore mines, and combatives today was the opposite. I spent the morning in a classroom with 250 other soldiers reviewing the combat lifesaver course and taking the written test. I know this is serious stuff, but the guy who put the title on this course does not think literally. When I hear combat lifesaver, I think I am going to get a pack of camouflage-colored round candy. Anyway, the class and exam lasted from 8 am to 1 pm. After that we had a one-hour break and then went to begin three days of pre-deployment. We begin at 0515 tomorrow morning, but today, the processing staff had to make sure we were ready to begin. We were picked up in buses at 1415 and driven to another area of the base four miles away. We then had two roll calls. Then we were done. But it was three pm and the schedule said we were supposed to eat dinner were we were and return at 1830. So we waited 2 hours to eat. I waited three because I fell asleep until 1800 (6pm). Then we waited until 630 pm and returned to our barracks. One day of excitement. One day less exciting than watching paint dry.