It's bittersweet to be back in Michigan. On one hand, I've really missed being home with the family and friends, and it was definitely nice to be back in AA. However, Ann Arbor is such a transient place with people coming and going! It was cool to attend Bubble Tea Bash and a tailgate at Yellow House, but it's just not the same without the old crowd. I may not go to a football game until I get part of the old gang back in town.
It's interesting to me which habits I've retained and which ones I've broken already - the first night I was home I went to bed at 2230 in PTs, woke up and tried to run PT but my feet got really fucked up during AIT so I'm gonna take it easy with that for a little while.
05 September 2009
02 July 2009
Yay?
Basic Combat Training is over! It was definitely quite a learning experience with highs and lows, right now I'm just chilling before Advanced Individual Training, or more focused job training, begins - dunno if I'll have internet access then, so just doing what I can now to add a couple of entries from the past two and a half months. I have to report to Fort Bragg soon, we'll see how that goes... right now I just need a breather.
Some thoughts from BCT:
- Having a dump pouch to drop empty magazines into is REALLY convenient and I really missed having one during training, as opposed to the ease of reloading I had when playing airsoft. I'll definitely have one for future deployments.
- I curse more prodigiously now than I have in the past, I was trying to ease up on it but it's the nature of my profession.
- It's funny, I've been trying to break my habit of wearing hats all the damn time, and now they're required whenever I'm outside in uniform, whether it's a beret or a patrol cap. They sure are useful though, my head would burn otherwise!
Some thoughts from BCT:
- Having a dump pouch to drop empty magazines into is REALLY convenient and I really missed having one during training, as opposed to the ease of reloading I had when playing airsoft. I'll definitely have one for future deployments.
- I curse more prodigiously now than I have in the past, I was trying to ease up on it but it's the nature of my profession.
- It's funny, I've been trying to break my habit of wearing hats all the damn time, and now they're required whenever I'm outside in uniform, whether it's a beret or a patrol cap. They sure are useful though, my head would burn otherwise!
30 June 2009
Some last thoughts.
Bah, charge of quarters duty tonight from 0000-0200, this is the third night in a row that I've had some kind of duty and had to get up at an odd hour of the night. My summer boots are still damp from when I tried to clean them, so I'm rolling in my winters at the moment. Might as well write down some thoughts while I still can.
I know BCT has been quite the experience, but sometimes (especially in recent days) I wonder if I've improved as a person and/or how much I've changed as a result of going through the experiences I have. I think I've gotten stronger, I can't really tell. I've definitely learned a lot, I guess the question is how much I'm going to be able to retain and apply besides the four words "safe back down move". I've definitely learned a lot more about myself and how I work, but will I be able to improve on my deficiencies? Hmmm.
The hook "sometimes goodbye is a second chance" has been on my mind quite frequently - I wonder if it really holds true.
Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's fate, but it's mildly interesting that when I was six years old, I dressed up as GI Joe for Halloween... look where I am now, and the GI Joe movie is coming out at the same time. I wonder if mom still has pictures of me in my camouflaged vest she sewed me back then.
I know BCT has been quite the experience, but sometimes (especially in recent days) I wonder if I've improved as a person and/or how much I've changed as a result of going through the experiences I have. I think I've gotten stronger, I can't really tell. I've definitely learned a lot, I guess the question is how much I'm going to be able to retain and apply besides the four words "safe back down move". I've definitely learned a lot more about myself and how I work, but will I be able to improve on my deficiencies? Hmmm.
The hook "sometimes goodbye is a second chance" has been on my mind quite frequently - I wonder if it really holds true.
Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's fate, but it's mildly interesting that when I was six years old, I dressed up as GI Joe for Halloween... look where I am now, and the GI Joe movie is coming out at the same time. I wonder if mom still has pictures of me in my camouflaged vest she sewed me back then.
19 June 2009
Victory Forge and "Haji Yao"
WE MADE IT! According to Belangia (3rd squad leader, shot hawkeye or 40/40) we made the road march in about three hours and 45 minutes, and we had two long halts in the middle to rest. I figured it was about nine miles, though I heard that someone from 2nd platoon asked the company commander how much further we had to go at one point, and he extended it by another two miles so 11 total. The tents here trap heat like no one's business, and using a sleeping bag for anything other than to use as a pillow seems like it might be a bad idea considering how hot it is. We better be motor moving (taking the buses) back on Thursday!
1300 - A 1st platoon drill sgt is giving a class on room entry and clearing but there's an Apache flying in circles around the area, it's definitely pretty distracting.
1715 - just ran an OPFOR* mission with my squad of 13. I role-played a suicide bomber - had a mock bomb vest underneath my ACU top flipped inside out, and wore my patrol cap backwards. I sauntered right up to Gate 2 yelling randomly in Chinese and "detonated" right in front of two guards, and another two got called out by the drill sgt who was supervising my attack. The rest of my squad attacked conventionally a few minutes later and bagged three guards, so altogether we netted seven of them? It was definitely a good time.
OPFOR - Opposing Force - roleplaying the enemy
1300 - A 1st platoon drill sgt is giving a class on room entry and clearing but there's an Apache flying in circles around the area, it's definitely pretty distracting.
1715 - just ran an OPFOR* mission with my squad of 13. I role-played a suicide bomber - had a mock bomb vest underneath my ACU top flipped inside out, and wore my patrol cap backwards. I sauntered right up to Gate 2 yelling randomly in Chinese and "detonated" right in front of two guards, and another two got called out by the drill sgt who was supervising my attack. The rest of my squad attacked conventionally a few minutes later and bagged three guards, so altogether we netted seven of them? It was definitely a good time.
OPFOR - Opposing Force - roleplaying the enemy
14 June 2009
NIC at Night
NIC was fucking chaos! The 1SG and CPT were impressed by our platoon's rehearsal in the afternoon, but the actual event went to shit, not sure why DS Holthus gave us an overall rating of "not bad". My eyepro and inserts completely fogged up and I couldn't see anything during the event, gotta wipe 'em down to prevent it from happening again next time.
There was a mock ambush on the trail to NIC my squad was assigned to take care of, but given I couldn't see anything we ended up flanking short of where the enemy actually was... oops.
I crawled my ass off in the sand when we made it there, haha. I didn't really pay attention to the live machine gun fire overhead or the boom pits, pretty much focused on crawling and suppressive fire. It really wasn't that hard to crawl under the wire, maybe I had to duck around a bit but I didn't really get slowed down. Blanks kept fouling up the M16, and a lot of sand got in all the crooks and nannies inside, it'll need a thorough cleaning for sure.
Once we got to the trench, squad was a little slow in getting in - we were about to swing over when the casualty was called, I slid down and immediately ended up running in knee-high water. Our squad hauled ass to the casualty collection point, though we got slowed down by the cadre - we were already in a formation, then someone splits us up to count us I think, then someone else yells at us to make a formation... what? I think we did a good job of making it to the casualty collection point and rapidly setting up security though, I heard 2nd and 3rd squads had a clusterfuck on their hands though with dropping the casualty and whatnot.
DS Holthus was pretty pissed off at our performance, but he thought about it and said not bad when we were back in the company area, so we might get our phones Monday after post detail.
There was a mock ambush on the trail to NIC my squad was assigned to take care of, but given I couldn't see anything we ended up flanking short of where the enemy actually was... oops.
I crawled my ass off in the sand when we made it there, haha. I didn't really pay attention to the live machine gun fire overhead or the boom pits, pretty much focused on crawling and suppressive fire. It really wasn't that hard to crawl under the wire, maybe I had to duck around a bit but I didn't really get slowed down. Blanks kept fouling up the M16, and a lot of sand got in all the crooks and nannies inside, it'll need a thorough cleaning for sure.
Once we got to the trench, squad was a little slow in getting in - we were about to swing over when the casualty was called, I slid down and immediately ended up running in knee-high water. Our squad hauled ass to the casualty collection point, though we got slowed down by the cadre - we were already in a formation, then someone splits us up to count us I think, then someone else yells at us to make a formation... what? I think we did a good job of making it to the casualty collection point and rapidly setting up security though, I heard 2nd and 3rd squads had a clusterfuck on their hands though with dropping the casualty and whatnot.
DS Holthus was pretty pissed off at our performance, but he thought about it and said not bad when we were back in the company area, so we might get our phones Monday after post detail.
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