4 Stars and A long Week

I went against my better judgement this past week and decided to leave my camera in the field. We spent the past five days completely in the elements. The intent was to prepare for platoon live fires accompanied with mortars. However, as usual, my platoon was selected out of 16 others in the company to be reviewed by the current commander of U.S. Army Training Command. 4 Star General (and entourage) Dempsey decided to review our daylight platoon attack. Unfortunately our Cadre was also responsible for the entire range, so instead of having time to actually train, we spent hour upon hour rehearsing one battle drill and then essentially sat in a field for the rest of the week.

The week wasn't a complete loss however, as in the last day of training, I was able to volunteer to call in a fire mission of eight 81mm mortars on a hilltop/tank position. This was the first time I have ever completed an actual call for fire mission using live ammunition. By far the coolest experience of the week.

Last week was much more relaxed. We focused on using our machine guns and even on Friday we had a family/friends Machine gun range. For an hour or so, we were told we could bring anyone out to the range to see what we do, to fire the machine gun, and most importantly bring food to replace the usual MRE for lunch.

Several of the guys in my platoon have large families. This is LT Shandy and his daughter who kept her hands on her ears the entire time the machine guns were firing.

Drew Sorge (Upper Left) is a good friend that I met working in Ft. Lewis, Washington. His girlfriend Kali is experiencing her first time firing the M240B machine gun.

This is my platoon, cold, tired, and yes...bored.

The best part of MG day, rack out time while the cadre deal with the wives, girlfriends, and the kids.

Last week wasn't all rosey however. As part of our certification to complete the Army Combatives Level 1 program, our company had to complete the "Clench" drill. The drill is designed to teach individuals to protect themselves from a punching enemy while closing the distance between fighters and "wrapping up" with the opponent so that the aggressor can no longer punch the defender. During my last bought, I had a pretty tough boxer type land a stiff uppercut to my jaw that actually made me see stars. It has taken nearly a week to be able to close my jaw.

This upcoming week is going to be tough. We have a 10 mile road march, squad tactical evaluation lanes, and 9 total days in the field. Fortunately, I get to look forward to heading back to Raleigh for my Birthday in two weeks!