Old friends in New Places.

I had a great weekend visiting with some friends from college and enjoyed seeing their little girl for the first time. She is a very cute little 2 year old and although a little shy had warmed up to me by the time I had to leave. It was good visiting with John and Jennifer for the weekend and I got to see their parents as well. Relaxing on the couch watching football and the Aggie basketball game was a very nice change from being stuck in my BOQ room on the weekend just killing time.

We just finished a week in the field focused on squad battle drills which culminated in a platoon live fire exercise. The op-tempo was slow but the weather held out for the most part so it wasn’t too bad.

Next week will be back in the field with the focus being on platoon maneuver and culminating in a squad live fire exercise. I’m not sure how it makes sense to do the platoon live fire prior to the squad live fire but someone with a pay grade higher than mine set it up that way so I’m sure somewhere it makes sense.

The training schedule seemed slow last week and I hope next week will have more for us to do. With cold wet weather predicted I’m not looking forward to sitting around being cold and wet and not doing much. Hopefully the op-tempo will be high enough to keep us busy and not thinking about the cold.

Here is my pancho hooch that I slept in at nigh. Nothing fancy just a pancho stretched between two trees to provide some dry ground and a little warmth.

Happy 2008!

I apologize for not updating this in such a long time. I am currently at Ft. Benning in the middle of the Infantry basic officers leadership course. With just over 6 weeks left and our major exam behind us I’m looking forward to getting into the field portion of the class and out of the classroom.

Hopefully it will be a little warmer than the teen’s we had for PT this morning.

Week 2 complete

We finished up week two and with a few scrapes and bruises I'm glad to leave combatives behind. I was hoping to end up level 1 qualified but with only 20 hours of training and no good way to get the other 20 hours of training in there just isn't time. I have been told that I'll get level 1 qualified at IOBC at Ft. Benning. There are 4 levels in the Army's combatives programs. Levels 1 and 2 are the standard fighting styles and level 3 gets into using knives and taking away knives and pistols from an enemy. Level 4 is for instructors and is mostly risk mitigation and instruction type stuff.

The week consisted of 4 hours of combatives in the morning and an afternoon of briefings and classes. The briefings were on TLP's, OPORDS, and assuming command of a platoon. Then we got into BRM, Basic Rifle Marksmanship, which consisted of learning how to bore sight our M4's and the basics of marksmanship. We have all had this before so it's just a refresher course mostly for the ROTC guys who didn't get much if any range time.

We are shooting with the M4, a shortened version of the M16A2 that most of us have trained with in the past. We are also using the M68 CCO which is a red dot sight that mounts on top of the M4. With the CCO you just set the red dot on the target and squeeze the trigger. You are supposed to shoot with both eyes open with the CCO which is very different than what you are normally taught with a rear sight and front site post. I'm looking forward to spending the week at the range and getting used to using it.

I hope everyone is doing well and I'll check in later as I get a chance.

Combatives week

We are back at it this morning with combatives. We started with the basics of hand to hand combat with the fighting stance, standing base moves and drill 1. Drill 1 is a series of moves that leads you through the dominate body positions in the Brazilian jujitsu which is what the Army’s combative training is based heavily on. If you are familiar with mixed martial arts and the Gracie family then you know what we are doing.

The rest of the week will be spent on combatives and some classroom stuff. Unfortunately we won’t get enough hours in to be certified level 1 but hopefully eventually I can go to the class and go all the way through.

It’s pretty icy up here still and I don’t think it will change much because it’s not going to get much over freezing during the day and is dropping down into the teens at night so everything refreezes over night.

If it isn’t raining, you aren’t training

If it isn't raining, you aren't training, is a common statement in the army. Well today it was freezing rain and a 20 degree wind chill so our five mile road march definitely counts as training.

We knew it was going to be cold when we fell out and the wind was blowing and the temps were hovering just above freezing. Shortly after weapons draw it started raining and about mile one the rain started to freeze on everything and everyone. By the time we were done with the road march everyone was covered in ice from head to toe and our uniforms were soaked with melted ice.

Everyone made it through on time and while painful it was a good lesson in mental toughness. Pain like that is only temporary and completing the mission is always first.

On a bad note, it looks like roads will be closed soon and passes may be revoked for the weekend so I might not make it home. They are going to wait till in the morning to make the final call.

In processing

Week one has consisted of in processing which is the same for most military schools. It consists of standing in lines and waiting to have medical and financial records screened and sitting through briefings. In the case of this school there are a lot of Lt's who are brand new to the military, whether straight out of ROTC or OCS and need to have a lot of things done for the first time so that slowed the process down quite a bit.

 

Tomorrow we kick off our actual training with a road march with full battle gear and ruck sack. It's only 5 miles and is mostly to get out and do something after standing around and sitting in briefings all week.

 

The barracks are pretty basic, a room with a bed a wall locker and a desk. I'm lucky and have a three person room and only have one roommate. So space isn't an issue for us.

 

This weekend is Martin Luther King's birthday so with the three day weekend I'm going to go home.

 

For my fellow Lt's who are reading this it's pretty nice here. They will treat you well and NCO cadres call you sir and ma'am and treat you with respect. The program is very much based on mentorship and that is obvious from the company commander down. I wouldn't say there is anything that is hard but definitely a lot to learn and I think a lot of help mastering basic infantry tactics.

 

I'll update more later as I can.

Getting started

I report to BOLC II at Ft. Sill, OK on 07JAN2007.
It will be the beginning of at least 5 months of training and possibly 8 months depending on follow on schools.

At BOLC II I am looking forward to some good training and a lot of good range time. I did basic training at Ft. Sill in the winter and I'm not looking forward to being back at the same time of year. The incessant wind makes normally chilly days cold and cold days bone chilling. I don't think there is anything between the north pole and Lawton, OK, the wind blows straight down.

I'll try and post as much as I can along the way.