Hello again, alright so randomly our training schedule has picked up pretty substanitally. This is good news but also very confusing. We have been doing a lot of dismounted foot patrol tactics. Its actually a lot more fun and interesting than what we normally do (mounted patrols) but unless something has changed we are slotted to do any so Im not sure what the purpose of it is. It's probably our company just adding any training we can get into our schedule to satisfy us and keep us busy until we leave. Im ok with that, the more training you have and are validated on the more well rounded soldier you will be I suppose. A lot of people are freaking out because they think we are going to be slotted into some sort of infantry roll, which is not out of the question but highly unlikely. Theres a lot of rumors flying around the closer we get to leaving, Im trying to ignore all of them unless they come from higher ups. The PNN always has crazy things going through it. The PNN is the private news network, basically lower enlisted hear something and then blow it out of proportion or drawing crazy conclusions.
The past two days I have been doing MATV training. It is an MRAP variant that replaced the HMMWV and its a very cool vehicle. Today was kind of an off day and I was just doing some details around post for the company but yesterday we did the MET (MRAP Egress Trainer). Its bascially a simulated vehicle rollover where you learn to evacuate a flipped vehicle, more specifically an MRAP. You get flipped upside down and have to egress out of the vehicle within a certain amount of time and pull security afterwards. Its kind of fun but I've done it about 4 times so it's not as cool as the 1st or 2nd time.
Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. We have daytime and nighttime driving so I will basically be driving all day and all night in order to become licensed on the MATV. The night time driving we have to drive with a DVE (driver vision enhancer), its basically a thermal camera attached to the front of the MRAP that allows you to see heat signatures so that you can drive without headlights on. So that should be kind of cool but from what I hear its kind of difficult since you have little to no depth perception.
I talked to a few people in the 84th and they are getting anxious for us to show up because that means they are about to go home. That date has yet to be confirmed to us so I can't really release it yet but from what I am hearing its pretty soon, we have begun packing up all of our ACU patterns and shipping them back to Mansfield and should be switching over to multicam uniforms sometime this week, so take that for what its worth.
Continue to keep us in your prayers, we are all doing well. We did have a bit of a tragedy today, my squad leader lost a child today and is currently en route back home. Baby was to be due in May so it was pretty tough. Definitely keep him and his family in your prayers.
As always I miss and love you all, hopefully the next time I update it will be from somewhere other than the United States. Take care!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
3 weeks and counting...
Hey everyone, sorry it's been a bit since I last posted. Things are actually picking up a bit which is very good. I think out command team has given 1st Army enough crap that they hadded some thigns to our training schedule so thats very good. I think the last time I posted was last Thursday so I will try to pick it up from there, the last few days are kind of a blur.
Saturday we had pretty much all day off which was alright. Me and Locklear went to the PX at Fort Bliss and got some food at Denny's and picked up a few things we "needed" for our bay, mostly things we can eat in between chow times. We ran into a few other people and decided to see a movie. We saw Wrath of the Titans in 3D and it was pretty cool. When we left the movie we discovered that a sandstorm had kicked up. This things are no joke! My first real sandstorm, this thing was crazy. You couldnt see 50 feet ahead of you and it dropped the temperature down to about 45, it was crazy. Heres a picture:
Sunday we woke up early because we had a range scheduled called SRM or Short Range Marksmanship. Basically the targets are 5m, 10m and 15m away and you have to engage the targets from various angles. The main point of this is to practice lining up your traget and facing them while shooting. By doing this, the weak point by your sides in your IOTV (your protective vest) are taken away and if you get shot it would be in your chest where the plates are largest. It was a pretty easy range altogether.
Yesterday (Monday) we had this range called Gunnery. That is where you shoot from the mounted position on a vehicle. In this case it was an M1151 uparmored Humvee. I was the driver at this range even though overseas I am designated as a gunner. That doesn;t mean I will be gunning the whole time but it would be my primary job. Im not allowed to post videos of this on here but I did take a few pictures of it.
I am scheduled to go to a 4 day MRAP class beginning Friday which is good. I will be licensed on the MATV MRAP which is pretty cool. I am excited about it I suppose, people who have already been through the class said it sucked but whatever Im staying positive about it. There aren't a lot of people who can say they are licensed to drive a vehicle that weighs 16 tons and is capable of killing a whole bunch of bad guys, so suck it naysayers.
Anyways, as always I miss and love you all! I'll keep updating as long as there are things to update!
Saturday we had pretty much all day off which was alright. Me and Locklear went to the PX at Fort Bliss and got some food at Denny's and picked up a few things we "needed" for our bay, mostly things we can eat in between chow times. We ran into a few other people and decided to see a movie. We saw Wrath of the Titans in 3D and it was pretty cool. When we left the movie we discovered that a sandstorm had kicked up. This things are no joke! My first real sandstorm, this thing was crazy. You couldnt see 50 feet ahead of you and it dropped the temperature down to about 45, it was crazy. Heres a picture:
Sunday we woke up early because we had a range scheduled called SRM or Short Range Marksmanship. Basically the targets are 5m, 10m and 15m away and you have to engage the targets from various angles. The main point of this is to practice lining up your traget and facing them while shooting. By doing this, the weak point by your sides in your IOTV (your protective vest) are taken away and if you get shot it would be in your chest where the plates are largest. It was a pretty easy range altogether.
Yesterday (Monday) we had this range called Gunnery. That is where you shoot from the mounted position on a vehicle. In this case it was an M1151 uparmored Humvee. I was the driver at this range even though overseas I am designated as a gunner. That doesn;t mean I will be gunning the whole time but it would be my primary job. Im not allowed to post videos of this on here but I did take a few pictures of it.
I am scheduled to go to a 4 day MRAP class beginning Friday which is good. I will be licensed on the MATV MRAP which is pretty cool. I am excited about it I suppose, people who have already been through the class said it sucked but whatever Im staying positive about it. There aren't a lot of people who can say they are licensed to drive a vehicle that weighs 16 tons and is capable of killing a whole bunch of bad guys, so suck it naysayers.
Anyways, as always I miss and love you all! I'll keep updating as long as there are things to update!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Frustration meet exhaustion
Hey everyone, so its currently Thursday night. This week has been somewhat more eventful than last, but that certainly isn't saying a whole lot.
I have been licensed on all the vehicles we currently have here available at McGregor which were the ones I posted about earlier, M1088, M1083, LHS and M1151 Humvee. So thats a good thing to have out of the way.
Yesterday we had our familiarization class with the MRAP which is the vehicle we will be primarily driving while over seas. From what we have been told we will be driving two different varients of the MRAP. The first is the MATV, this is a very cool vehicle. Its the smallest MRAP available and weighs about 16 tons, so that tells you how big this beast is. Its taking the place of the uparmored humvees as it is DRASTICALLY more mine/IED resistant and much more technologically advanced. I really wont get into details about it as Im not sure how much I can or cannot say but I will post a few pictures of it below.
The second one we may have over in Kandahar is called the Maxxpro. This thing is a beast, it is extremely tall and can carry troops is the rear of the vehicle. I wasnt really able to get many pictures of this one, but what I have I will upload. The doors alone weigh 600lbs and you need a pneumatic (air pressure system) assist to open them. They are pretty cool. Both of these vehicles have hulls designed to break away in the event of an IED detonation. This means that we can roll over an IED and get directly hit and the worst injury we should sustain is a concussion and minors scrapes and burns. These things are incredible and a far cry from the early days with the Humvees, I feel safe. The only down side is that there is a lot less visibility due to the amount of armor on the vehicles. My job as gunner will be to basically be the eyes and ears of these trucks and relay information back down to the driver and TC (TC is truck commander, he/she sits in the passenger seat and is tasked with raido contacts and calling in medevacs or anything else we may need).
Today, I did combatives. I am tired. It was a lot of fun though. Basically it was a 4 hour class. The first hour all we did was "warm ups", this was the only time in my Army career that I thought I was going to throw up due to PT. It was hot, I hadn't eaten in fear of throwing up and we just ran, did push ups, sit ups, some crap I have never heard of before but Im pretty sure they made it up to make us throw up. It worked on a few people. After the fun part, we got into actual hand to hand combatives. The focus on this class was if someone gets too close for your to shoot them with your M4, to give yourself space to either use your M4, M9 (pistol) or knife to....neautralize them. It was very good info and things that were relatively simple to pick up on. The second phase was focused on grappling and take downs. Over all it was a really good course, probably one of the better and more useful ones I have taken. I learned some new moves to put on Lindsey if she acts up!! Just kidding babe.
Anyway, time for a shower and sleep! Good night and I love you all! Take care.
I have been licensed on all the vehicles we currently have here available at McGregor which were the ones I posted about earlier, M1088, M1083, LHS and M1151 Humvee. So thats a good thing to have out of the way.
Yesterday we had our familiarization class with the MRAP which is the vehicle we will be primarily driving while over seas. From what we have been told we will be driving two different varients of the MRAP. The first is the MATV, this is a very cool vehicle. Its the smallest MRAP available and weighs about 16 tons, so that tells you how big this beast is. Its taking the place of the uparmored humvees as it is DRASTICALLY more mine/IED resistant and much more technologically advanced. I really wont get into details about it as Im not sure how much I can or cannot say but I will post a few pictures of it below.
Today, I did combatives. I am tired. It was a lot of fun though. Basically it was a 4 hour class. The first hour all we did was "warm ups", this was the only time in my Army career that I thought I was going to throw up due to PT. It was hot, I hadn't eaten in fear of throwing up and we just ran, did push ups, sit ups, some crap I have never heard of before but Im pretty sure they made it up to make us throw up. It worked on a few people. After the fun part, we got into actual hand to hand combatives. The focus on this class was if someone gets too close for your to shoot them with your M4, to give yourself space to either use your M4, M9 (pistol) or knife to....neautralize them. It was very good info and things that were relatively simple to pick up on. The second phase was focused on grappling and take downs. Over all it was a really good course, probably one of the better and more useful ones I have taken. I learned some new moves to put on Lindsey if she acts up!! Just kidding babe.
Anyway, time for a shower and sleep! Good night and I love you all! Take care.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
A little bit of training
Hey everybody, first of all. Happy Easter! It is Easter night as I write this here, so I hope you all had a good Easter and got to eat ham and all that good fun stuff. Im going to rewind a bit to Saturday.
Saturday was really the first full day of training I have had since I have been here. We did some driver training and began the licensing process of a couple of vehicles. The first one we did was called an LHS (load handling system) it is used to load trailers and racks, I will post some pictures below of the trucks and of our small convoy we did. The other 2 were an M1151 which is basically an uparmored hummer that the Army used to use for convoy security missions. It has since been replaced by the MRAP. The final vehicle we will be licensed on here is the M1088. Its kind of like an all purpose truck, it can be used for a lot of different purposes, supply hauls, troop transport, things like that.
The licensing process is kind of frustrating, before you drive you have to be a passenger for at least 50 miles. So Saturday I had to sit in the passenger seat of the LHS and just sit, no driving, no navigating, just sit. It was pretty awful but necessary I suppose. We got a late start because whoever used the trucks before us did not fill any of them up. The LHS has approximately a 120 gallon tank and the pump we had pumped fuel just like a normal gas pump at a BP or shell so it took about 40 minutes to get our truck filled up alone. By the time we filled them all up and were ready roll, it was lunch time so we decided to eat before rolling out. So we really didnt begin driving until about 1200-1215. Its fine though because we will have plenty of time to get everyone licensed on all of the vehicles necessary as 1st Army Division has kind of screwed us over in terms of training. So far the only thing they have us scheduled to train on and validate on are combatives (Army hand-hand combat) and MRAP training. So the rest of our trianing schedule relies on our company/platoon to make up some training.
The issue is that while we were in Ohio, we validated on all of the tasks we were supposed to be validated on while we were down here in Fort Bliss. So instead of repeating all of the tasks which we have done within the past 3-6 months, they decided to no retest us. We are basically being punished for doing what we were supposed to do. Whatever, suck it up, drink water and drive on I suppose.
So Sunday, today, Easter! I went with 3 other soldiers to Center Chapel One where they held the Porestant service. It was a very nice chapel and it was in an actual area with grass! Yes you heard right...Grass...In the desert. What a strange coincidence it was right where the officer's quarters are and where the post commander lives. I guess its one of the perks of being an officer, you get to look at grass.
The service was very different from what I am used to. It seemed to me like it was heavily influenced by the Catholic services. There was no sermon, which I was not a fan of. Im not sure if it was because if it was Easter or not but I didnt like it very much. They had communion which I took and everything but the vibe of it was different and more conservative.
Came back from church and we went the PX and I got a haircut and a little fan to go next to my bed which is AWESOME. I love sleeping with a fan so it feels a bit more comfortable!
Motor pool with LHS on far left and M1088 on right.
Pictures from convoy
Center Chapel One
Thats about it for now. I will post pictures below of various things over the weekend. Take care everyone! Love you!
Saturday was really the first full day of training I have had since I have been here. We did some driver training and began the licensing process of a couple of vehicles. The first one we did was called an LHS (load handling system) it is used to load trailers and racks, I will post some pictures below of the trucks and of our small convoy we did. The other 2 were an M1151 which is basically an uparmored hummer that the Army used to use for convoy security missions. It has since been replaced by the MRAP. The final vehicle we will be licensed on here is the M1088. Its kind of like an all purpose truck, it can be used for a lot of different purposes, supply hauls, troop transport, things like that.
The licensing process is kind of frustrating, before you drive you have to be a passenger for at least 50 miles. So Saturday I had to sit in the passenger seat of the LHS and just sit, no driving, no navigating, just sit. It was pretty awful but necessary I suppose. We got a late start because whoever used the trucks before us did not fill any of them up. The LHS has approximately a 120 gallon tank and the pump we had pumped fuel just like a normal gas pump at a BP or shell so it took about 40 minutes to get our truck filled up alone. By the time we filled them all up and were ready roll, it was lunch time so we decided to eat before rolling out. So we really didnt begin driving until about 1200-1215. Its fine though because we will have plenty of time to get everyone licensed on all of the vehicles necessary as 1st Army Division has kind of screwed us over in terms of training. So far the only thing they have us scheduled to train on and validate on are combatives (Army hand-hand combat) and MRAP training. So the rest of our trianing schedule relies on our company/platoon to make up some training.
The issue is that while we were in Ohio, we validated on all of the tasks we were supposed to be validated on while we were down here in Fort Bliss. So instead of repeating all of the tasks which we have done within the past 3-6 months, they decided to no retest us. We are basically being punished for doing what we were supposed to do. Whatever, suck it up, drink water and drive on I suppose.
So Sunday, today, Easter! I went with 3 other soldiers to Center Chapel One where they held the Porestant service. It was a very nice chapel and it was in an actual area with grass! Yes you heard right...Grass...In the desert. What a strange coincidence it was right where the officer's quarters are and where the post commander lives. I guess its one of the perks of being an officer, you get to look at grass.
The service was very different from what I am used to. It seemed to me like it was heavily influenced by the Catholic services. There was no sermon, which I was not a fan of. Im not sure if it was because if it was Easter or not but I didnt like it very much. They had communion which I took and everything but the vibe of it was different and more conservative.
Came back from church and we went the PX and I got a haircut and a little fan to go next to my bed which is AWESOME. I love sleeping with a fan so it feels a bit more comfortable!
Grass!!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
First post
One week in
Hey everyone, so I decided to start a blog to kind of keep everyone up to date on what was going on while I am away. So far, there is not a whole lot to report.We arrived at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX last Tuesday. We spent the next 3-4 days doing medical and administrative things very similar to SRP. Basically, you get to wait for long periods of time, get stuck with some needles, wait some more and then go fill out a bunch of paper work relating to finance, life insurance, benefits and all that fun stuff. Its pretty much the most agonizing thing you can think of, especially when you are in the mindset of going to a hostile area in Afghanistan. We had the weekend off so we spent it kind of exploring Fort Bliss. The PX here is massive, it has outlet stores and a bunch of restaurants and such. On Saturday, some of my friends and myself went to the USO on post and watched the Kentucky game and then went to the rec center to play basketball. It was here where I rolled my ankle. I didnt think much of it but as I took my boot off the next day it was very bruised and swollen, it has gotten much better since then so no worries.
On Monday we moved out to our training area called McGregor Range, it is still technically part of Fort Bliss but it is located in New Mexico. Its pretty much smack dab in between nowhere and some mountains. Its actually very pretty in the morning when the sun hits the mountain range, its only after the sun comes fully up that you remember you're about 40 minutes from civilization and in the desert. The range itself is pretty big, we are in a barracks in an area of the range called the mayor's cell. The mayor's cell is basically the heart of the range. The barracks, defac (dining facility), training classrooms and motorpools are located here. We have to carry our weapons everywhere, which is fine because it is something we will have to get used to and they arent all that uncomfortable to carry while walking due to our slings.
Since we have been here, the training has been sporadic at best. We have had a lot of details, which are basically oddjobs that need to be done. Today I was on a baggage detail in which we had to move a bunch of baggage containing our excess gear and equpiment back to Fort Bliss for storage until we leave.
The training we have done has been pretty good, we did some convoy simulations in these simulators which were pretty cool. They were big semi trailers with mock guntrucks inside and virtual reality headsets you put on and you can simulate any kind of incident while moving in a convoy. I have been designated as a gunner. That basically means I sit in a M240B turret and scan for possible IEDs, ambush points or suspecious activity while we are in a convoy. Its a very important job and one I cant afford to be bad at, so far so good. During our simulation I spotted all the IEDs that were hidden. Of course, simulation is extremely different than the real thing but its good practice.
We have not yet gotten a hard date as to when we will leave the states but we do have a tentative date, I wont release it yet for OPSEC (operational security) reasons. There will be things I can't really get into details about for those same reasons so I will say what I can.
Overall I am feeling pretty good, I have internet in the abrracks here which is nice to keep in touch with everyone. Our squad is very good with great leadership and I feel we are very capable. I am starting to feel pretty comfortable with them which is important because you have to feel tight with the people you work with most. These next weeks leading up to going overseas will be vital in learning everyone's strength and weaknesses. The more you know what people can and cannot do the better off you'll be when things go bad.
I miss and love you all very much. I will try to post some pictures as I figure this blogging thing out a bit more. I will post as much as I can and as long as there is things to post about!
Talk soon!
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