"Hollywood" -- Front Page of the Sunday News Again

This morning's Lancaster Sunday News had an article about me in Urban Assualt training that was half the front page and most of two inside pages. Here's the link. Today was the first of two days of automatic weapons training and the article got passed around the among the people waiting to be tested on field stripping M249 SAW and M2 .50 Caliber machine guns. I heard "Hollywood" a lot today.
The SAW is new to me. It was introduced in the 80s but not standard issue until the 90s. It is light for a full-auto machine gun and easy to maintain. The M2 50 Cal. is exactly the same gun I fired from M113 Armored Personnel Carriers in the 1970s and 80s. It was introduced in 1921 and last modified in 1968. It is a great weapon--reliable and powerful with a range of more than 500 meters.

Dinner with my Kids

I got as pass tonight after a short training day. I got home by 6pm, in time to take all four of my kids out to dinner and let my wife listen to Prairie Home Companion in peace. We ate at Isaac's, a local restaurant chain with very good sandwiches named after birds. Although the day was short, it was difficult. It was gas mask training. I was never very good at getting my helmet off and mask on and leak checked in 9 seconds. When the 100 soldiers in today's training started lining up to get tested, I went up front first, and failed. So I went off by myself to practice all the the steps--15 or 20 times. I finally got it and was the last one who passed--but I passed. I have to keep working on this one.

IED Training

Today we had training in the many kinds of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and how to react to them. I felt much better this morning. The forecast was rain and the forecast was, unfortunately correct. It rained all day. Steadily all morning, hard at noon and tapered off until it stopped just 15 minutes before we loaded into the trucks. All of us were wet and cold. I was less wet and cold than some of the guys because I got issued a full rain suit, some guys had just the jackets. The high temp never got over 55 so everyone was tired as well as dirty when we got back. The training area had churned into mud by the time we finished practicing identifying weapons hidden in the woods and searching vehicles for explosives. The line was so long for the shower, I decided to eat and get on line first, then shower later.

Sick Call

Last night after I signed off I felt strange, but thought I would be OK. At 2am I woke up with my digestive system about to go into reverse. After a half hour in the latrine, I got back to bed. I woke up and got dressed and went to the range for today's training, but I was a mess and thinking the symptoms were about to return. Our motor officer drove me to sick call. The doctor said I have a virus and sent me to the barracks. I slept from 0830 until about 1600. I went on bought some crackers then went back to bed. I tried eating dinner. I am not very hungry, but feeling better. Hopefully, I'll be OK tomorrow. I should certainly be well rested.

Land Navigation

Clearly I need more practice at finding my way in the woods. We went into a woods on a hillside singly and in pairs with a compass, a map, and four points to find in the a rock and fallen-tree strewn wood. We were looking for green target silhouettes. Luckily, my partner had better eyes than me for green objects in dark woods. He found our targets when I saw nothing. We walked about five miles over the rocks and trees and across streams for three hours. Later this summer I am supposed to be going to a two-week Warrior Leadership Course so I should get a lot more opportunity to practice map reading and land navigation in the woods. Tomorrow is squad tactics. We should be out in the woods until dark or later.

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.