The Massive Update part 2

I realize that this is weeks late, but it's definitely time for an update, as we're completing our mobilization shortly, and going home on leave in less than a week. We left off at Range 100, a muddy quagmire of broken hopes and shattered dreams; though the army calls it a gunnery range.

Sleep was minimal, and sickness was rampant. We spent most days trying to sleep when we could, which was rarely as there were so many details ongoing. Ammo detail, fire detail, etc. Some of us drivers determined that the drivers could have just driven in blocks of time for all of the gunner crews and the remaining drivers could either sleep, or just not be there at all. Alas, we're not the ones in charge.

These are the remaining videos taken at Range 100. In one of the videos I discussed with two other soldiers about medication that we were all to receive because someone in the tent had come down with some undiagnosable illness. When we returned to the barracks we were never given the medicine, so I can only assume that we're not sick.










After completing that range, we engaged in normal Army activities. Waking up too early. Eating bad chow. Taking endless classes about things we've discussed and studied and been tested on time and time again. We also were finally able to do PT for about a week and a half, and it was very good. We would spend several hours a day going to the gym and/or track to run, work on cardio machines, lift free weights, or machine weights, and in my specific instance primarily work on the exercises that we're tested for on the APFT.

On one of the more or less free days, I was able to go and visit my Grandfather's final resting place. He passed away in February 1988 and I wasn't yet old enough to attend the funeral, so it was very important to me to finally say good-bye, and take some time to have some private conversation with him about life, the military, and family. He is buried at the Ft. Bliss National Cemetary and served on CVE-71 Kitkun Bay as a Radioman during World War Two. I still remember him sitting in my first bedroom and telling me bedtime stories of his time during the war, and trying to figure out if it hurt when he got his tattoos. I have plenty more than he did now, and as I've learned more about the history of Navy tattoos during the second world war, I can only imagine his experience as a young Sailor running through Hotel street in Hawaii with a bunch of his mates, lining up in the bars there for their three shots, drinking them as fast as they were poured, and then moving on to the next bar, and finally, a tattoo parlor. His stories of the war were incredible, and I think that if he could, he'd tell me that he's proud of my brother, my cousin, and myself for joining the military.

Soon after we were told that we're all validated for deployment. The final exercise for us was a base defense iteration conducted at night just after we started MRE. I have no idea what MRE stands for. Initially we thought that it was going to be a class on how to eat field chow (Meals Ready to Eat) but it turned out to be a construction project held at a nearby FOB where we would tear down old tents and then replace them with ABM (Automatic Building Machine) Quonset huts. The base defense was conducted over two nights and tested our ability to hold and secure a FOB (Forward Operating Base) while staffing QRF (Quick Reaction Force) ECP (Entry Control Point), Vehicle Search, Personnel Search, BDOC (Base Defense Operations Center), ECPCP (Entry Contrl Point Command Post), Guard Towers (9 of them), and also Casualty Evacuation teams, Medical Tent, Coalition Forces Entry Control Point, and I think one more station, if not more than that. All and all it was very well coordinated and we completed the practical test in only a few hours.

I was stationed in Tower 2 (ECP overwatch) and I was thrilled that it had been completed so well, so quickly, as I was part of the team that was working on the building construction earlier in the day - so it made for a 20 hour day all told.

The MRE training (construction, not eating!) continued and our morale suffered for it. The reason was that it was about this time that we realized why our training here was so spotty. Apparently (and this is all according to PNN (The Private's News Network)) the battalion headquarters that we fall under did not go to RTC (Regional Training Center) with the rest of the companies that fall under the battalion. RTC was actually our mobilization training, and many of the other units here that fall under our battalion also attended RTC. We were all actually validated GO at that time. Battalion needed to conduct it's mobilization, and mobilized the rest of the battalion to come with them. Maybe it was supposed to be a team building exercise. The exercise did have some positives, those soldiers who needed to be validated were able to do so, but for those of us who were already validated, there has been a lot of hurry up and wait.

The MRE was further complicated by the absence of building materials. The platoon began running 24 hour operations on the job site, generally waking up around 0500 the squad selected for the job site would get to the convoy staging area at 0615. At 0630 a convoy brief would be held, and then the convoy would roll out the gate at 0700. The job site is about 6 miles away, but the average time to reach the FOB/job site is an hour to four hours. The reason for this is that the OCs (Observer Controllers) set up ambushes, mortar attacks, and IEDs along the roadside for us to react to. They're all simulated, so no one actually gets hurt, but if there are 'casualties' taken during the mission it prolongs the entire event. Sometimes very little work is actually done, and other times, due to lack of building materials, no work can even be done. It's all very tedius, and as we're all validated already, we just have no interest in it.

Gratefully the MRE is over on the 18th, which is only two days from now, and 2nd Squad Jackals have the day off today. Sort of. There does seem to be a lot of running around going on, but it's like watching a relay race on a track - lots of movement, but everyone ends up right where they started. Today being the 16th tomorrow should be our squad's last visit to the site. My fingers are crossed.

Last night I turned in my M249 SAW to be validated. I'm ecstatic! It was absolutely filthy from use and we weren't told why we were turning them in, but once the weapon is validated it can no longer be used for blank ammunition, so I won't see the weapon again until we're boots on the ground!

So we're really pretty much done here. A couple days left of construction, turning in the rest of the weapons, and then going home for a few days! I also saw a road runner today, and got to feed it, which although against the rules, was too good of an opportunity to pass up!