28 August 2005
Our Trip Overseas
We arrived in country, safe and sound. After I signed off last time on the hangar floor, we opted to “commandeer” the follow-on aircraft that was set up as the second of four chalks for our battalion (we were the first chalk). Instead of heading for Germany, this aircraft took us from Mississippi to Maine to Ireland and then to Hungary with the final leg to Kuwait.
When there is a large troop movement, the military typically charters commercial aircraft (with civilian crews). As you may know, when the military travels, we generally take our individual weapons with us so that we arrive in country ready to fight. In order not to alarm the public, we leave the weapons on the plane (when we charter aircraft) with some of our soldiers as guards.
Our first stop in Maine was a memorable one. We landed in Bangor and we were greeted by a long line of well-wishers, each shaking our hands. When we proceeded into the terminal, most soldiers were handed a cell phone and told they could call home. This was such a welcome. Apparently, this group greets all soldiers going through Maine (regardless of the time of day or night). That welcome in Maine will leave a long-lasting positive impression on me (see http://mainetroopgreeters.com/ for more information about their group). I had heard something about this group but it was still a welcomed surprise. This is another example of a good, positive story that doesn’t get much publicity.
After we made it through the terminal, we were allowed to step outside. I was then greeted with something I hadn’t felt in months—cool, low humidity air. Ahhhh . . . . I can still feel it if I close my eyes hard enough. I had a smile on my face a mile long. We stayed in Bangor for about 1 ½ hours before loading back up. Our next stop was Shannon, Ireland.
We arrived in Shannon in the early morning hours (~0100). We had to stay in the airport so we really didn’t get to see much—just the usual airport stuff. With the no alcohol policy, we didn’t even get to sample the local spirits at the airport pub—although, I was admiring the drafts on tap. Some soldiers took advantage of the customs-free shop to purchase European chocolates, jewelry, etc. but I don’t know if anyone really had a good handle on the then current Euro-Dollar exchange rate (if they had, I don’t know if too many people would have purchased what they did). We boarded the aircraft and then we were off to Budapest within an hour.
I was kind of excited about going to Hungary. I knew someone that grew up there and was interested in seeing at least the airport and immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, they didn’t even allow us off the plane. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour before taking off—our flight crew was being let off there (for a 5-day stay). That was definitely anti-climatic.
The final leg of our flight took us into Kuwait. We landed and were welcomed by the 125 degree heat and 10 mph wind—not quite the Bangor, Maine welcome but the weather was nonetheless saying “welcome my friend, to Kuwait.” My first thought was “Boy, that analogy of placing your face in front of a hair dryer wasn’t too far off.” It was hot, dusty, dry and breezy. We were moved to a series of places and given various briefings before settling in at Camp Buehring, which is in north-central Kuwait. The facilities we stayed in weren’t bad—large bay area-type tents with air conditioning.
In up-coming posts, I'll try to get some of my pictures (I don't have access to some of my camera-computer equipment yet).
When there is a large troop movement, the military typically charters commercial aircraft (with civilian crews). As you may know, when the military travels, we generally take our individual weapons with us so that we arrive in country ready to fight. In order not to alarm the public, we leave the weapons on the plane (when we charter aircraft) with some of our soldiers as guards.
Our first stop in Maine was a memorable one. We landed in Bangor and we were greeted by a long line of well-wishers, each shaking our hands. When we proceeded into the terminal, most soldiers were handed a cell phone and told they could call home. This was such a welcome. Apparently, this group greets all soldiers going through Maine (regardless of the time of day or night). That welcome in Maine will leave a long-lasting positive impression on me (see http://mainetroopgreeters.com/ for more information about their group). I had heard something about this group but it was still a welcomed surprise. This is another example of a good, positive story that doesn’t get much publicity.
After we made it through the terminal, we were allowed to step outside. I was then greeted with something I hadn’t felt in months—cool, low humidity air. Ahhhh . . . . I can still feel it if I close my eyes hard enough. I had a smile on my face a mile long. We stayed in Bangor for about 1 ½ hours before loading back up. Our next stop was Shannon, Ireland.
We arrived in Shannon in the early morning hours (~0100). We had to stay in the airport so we really didn’t get to see much—just the usual airport stuff. With the no alcohol policy, we didn’t even get to sample the local spirits at the airport pub—although, I was admiring the drafts on tap. Some soldiers took advantage of the customs-free shop to purchase European chocolates, jewelry, etc. but I don’t know if anyone really had a good handle on the then current Euro-Dollar exchange rate (if they had, I don’t know if too many people would have purchased what they did). We boarded the aircraft and then we were off to Budapest within an hour.
I was kind of excited about going to Hungary. I knew someone that grew up there and was interested in seeing at least the airport and immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, they didn’t even allow us off the plane. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour before taking off—our flight crew was being let off there (for a 5-day stay). That was definitely anti-climatic.
The final leg of our flight took us into Kuwait. We landed and were welcomed by the 125 degree heat and 10 mph wind—not quite the Bangor, Maine welcome but the weather was nonetheless saying “welcome my friend, to Kuwait.” My first thought was “Boy, that analogy of placing your face in front of a hair dryer wasn’t too far off.” It was hot, dusty, dry and breezy. We were moved to a series of places and given various briefings before settling in at Camp Buehring, which is in north-central Kuwait. The facilities we stayed in weren’t bad—large bay area-type tents with air conditioning.
In up-coming posts, I'll try to get some of my pictures (I don't have access to some of my camera-computer equipment yet).
18 August 2005
Mobilization Station Training
Training
We finished the training at the Mobilization Station and I’m currently sitting in a hangar waiting for our aircraft to be fixed. It looks like we’re going to be spending the night on the cement hangar floor in this wonderful heat and humidity. All in the day of the life of . . . .
Any way, back to the heading at hand—training. The training method that the Mobilization Station used was to focus on individual task training and then about half of the way through the summer, we switched to focus on collective task training—tasks that require more than one soldier to conduct.
Land Navigation. The land navigation that we conducted included both mounted (in a vehicle) and dismounted (on foot). The classroom portion of the training was OK (most soldiers were already fairly well trained), the dismounted course was challenging, while the mounted course was fairly easy. Most of the soldiers really enjoyed the challenge of the dismounted course—long distances, varied terrain (swamps to prairies to large hills with thick vegetation) There were a few marked “known” points on the course though that were considerably off (by a couple hundred meters), which frustrated some soldiers at times (myself included). But overall, good events.
PLGRs (a GPS system). Using the PLGRs (pronounced pluggers) was new to most of the soldiers. Even though the system has been around for a while, most soldiers hadn’t used the system before—although, many had used a civilian GPS. After we had a classroom portion, we went outside and went through a relatively easy course using the PLGRs as a navigational aid. While the training was satisfactory, more hands on would have been beneficial.
Individual Weapons Qualification. Going through the individual weapons qualification was an interesting process. We came to the Mobilization Station with M16A2’s. We were suppose to receive our new M4’s before we started the weapons qualification, but we didn’t. So, we had to qualify with the M16’s. Then, when the M4’s came in (three days after we fired the M16’s) we had to fire those. Then when the CCOs came in (close combat optics) several weeks later, we had to zero and fire those. By the end of July, our guys had had a lot of trigger time, which is good. Unfortunately, it was relatively limited on the actual weapon system (the M4s with CCO configuration) that we’re taking to the Middle East. Overall though, I’m confident in my weapon system (with its current configuration) and I’m sure my guys are as well. It is likely that we’ll have more trigger time once we arrive in country.
CTT (Common Task Testing--basic soldier skills). As almost every soldier will tell you, virtually every unit trains on CTT tasks frequently. From the early days of basic training, CTT is a focus. The CTT tasks vary to some extent from year to year, but most soldiers know most tasks fairly well. CTT tasks range from applying a pressure dressing over a wound on various parts of an injured soldier’s body to map reading, to throwing a grenade, to calling in a medevac. While there is one standard for these events (you know, the “Army Standard”), techniques vary depending on who is teaching/testing the task. This variance was clear at the Mobilization Station. Our medics complained that the techniques used for medical tasks could have been better and our soldiers who previously taught other tasks at a different Mobilization Station complained that the techniques used were not taught as well as they should have been, etc.
Culture Awareness. While the formal culture awareness training class was relatively short (an hour or two), we frequently touched on culture awareness-type training events throughout our time at the Mobilization Station. One thing that the Army has done (which I like) is to hire people with Iraqi heritage (or former Iraqi nationals). We mostly ran into them as part of our interaction with COBs (another great Army acronym, standing for Civilians on the Battlefield, and yes it’s pronounced like corn on the “cob”). I’ll elaborate later on COBs. Any way, with regard to culture awareness, we learned a little about language, customs, history, politics, etc. Probably not too much more than what is discerned from the news from the casual observer. I did have the advantage though of taking a three credit university college course earlier this year that delved into the same topics in much greater detail.
SINCGARs (radio systems). We had a brief instruction block on SINCGARs. We’ve been using SINCGARs in the national guard for a few years now. The radio system is great in terms of its capability and secure nature, but it is somewhat difficult to get to know how to use. Once one learns the perishable skills associated with running the system, it’s important to keep them up. The couple-hour block of instruction at the Mobilization Station was the bare minimum. We used several hours of our spare time for training on the SINCGARs system.
Theatre Specific Leader Training. A good idea that was not fully implemented (in my opinion) was leader training. Essentially, the trainers took about two days to teach E6’s (Staff Sergeants) and above on various leader tasks. It would have been nice to have a similar class with sufficient detail to cover all the main collective and key supporting training tasks that we were going to conduct throughout the summer. The instructors just touched on less than one fourth. Also, one set of the instructors for one of our groups was not very good. In fact, our battalion commander took them to the mat on the inconsistency between the message they communicated orally and the message on the instructor’s slides. Bottom line, the course is a great idea that should be expanded on in the implementation with solid instructors.
IED’s (improvised explosive devices). The existence, types, and effects of IED’s were really emphasized throughout the training at the Mobilization Station. In some of the training, the subject matter of IED’s was really oversimplified. For example, in some of the training scenarios, soldiers were suppose to move out, discover a potential IED, move away and call a report in a UXO report concerning the potential IED’s existence. It just so happens in the training scenarios that the IED is a pile of rocks, spray painted red (which was a frequent marker—not sure if the Anti Iraqi Forces know that they are suppose to paint them red). And that’s it. That’s not a very effective countermeasure in my opinion. Although, in fairness, it’s not as if the Mobilization Station or the Army for that matter is not trying to address the matter of IED’s—for example, they flew a retired special forces officer who is now working on the IED Task Force in Baghdad to assist us with IED issues. I believe the difficulty here stems from our inability to develop a coherent and effective response against the AIF’s use of IED’s. While I’m not sure if my soldiers picked up on this (I will be checking on this in the up-coming weeks), my take away from the training was that our response to IED’s needs to evolve and change over time in order to be effective—a single doctrine to be rooted throughout various Army manuals will not work. This really presents some issues in terms of training (substance and frequency) and continually updating and changing SOP’s and our approach to IED’s.
MOUT (fighting in an urban environment). Most of my soldiers really enjoyed the MOUT training. MOUT can be incredibly complex and it requires frequent training in order to preserve the perishable skills. We started training on entering and clearing a room. It’s a basic skill that is more difficult than it sounds. It typically requires at least a four-man team (or stack, which it is usually referred to as) that must work together closely and understand one another’s oral and nonverbal cues to effectively and efficiently clear a room. One great expression that is often mentioned in MOUT is “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” It emphasizes that one shouldn’t rush the task, but rather perfect the movements and the speed will follow from a smooth, well drilled motion.
Reflexive Fire (firing techniques in close combat). The event that preceded our live-fire MOUT exercise was reflexive fire. Soldiers worked on firing techniques for targets that are within 25 meters and weapon positioning when in a MOUT environment. Very enjoyable. The heart really gets pumping when using live rounds, especially when working closely with a four man stack that moves like silk.
Squad/Platoon Light Infantry Training. Imagine, if you will, wearing your full battle rattle, with MILES gear (laser receptors and transmitters that are equivalent to carrying a lead weight), humping (a/k/a moving in dismounted tactical formations) a crew serve weapon (a heavy automatic weapon like a M240B) and/or crew serve rounds in 100 degree heat with high humidity across long areas, culminating with a sprint in order to conduct an assault on a building with many COB’s present. That’s sort of what the squad/platoon infantry training was like. We also covered presence patrols and various dismounted movement techniques. Some soldiers bitched about the training when going through, but I think virtually everyone that went through it liked it. As with the crew serve weapons training, the non-infantry soldiers learned a lot and most felt challenged (at least physically) going through the training.
Base Defense Operations. Base defense operations covered three main areas: (1) ECP—entry control points (think of it as controlling the gate to an installation where you do personnel and vehicular searches), (2) quick reaction forces, and (3) perimeter defense. Overall, the training was good. Some of the instructors were better than others. For any given event, the training had from 10 to 75 COBs that would be a part of the training. For example, for the ECP training, they had a 50-person demonstration at the control point and then they had a small group hurling rocks and trying to enter through the concertina wire. Roughly half of the COBs were from the Middle East (the others were locals hired) and actively spoke Arabic and wore Middle Eastern attire. We also had several smaller direct one-on-one interaction scenarios. For instance, in one scenario there were two women who were taking pictures of our base perimeter and we were to react to the picture taking. The interaction could lead to either an escalated sequence of events culminating in an exchange of fire or a completely cooperative interaction in which we would retain the film and the women walking away.
Road March Stress Fire (firing after conducting a couple hour footmarch at a fast pace with equipment and weapons). The stress fire is designed to show soldiers the difficulty of firing when tired. I had the unfortunate distinction of shooting the worse of my group of 14 (thankfully, I wasn’t the worst in my company). Good event, but it would have been better if we had done it more often in order to get use to firing when tired and breathing heavy.
Ground Assault Convoy. The ground assault convoy involves conducting convoy operations and firing on the move. The training most closely resembles the mission that we will conduct in Iraq. Fortunately, we spent more time on this training than any other training event at the Mobilization Station and it was the training most of our soldiers liked the best. There were a few different scenarios that our soldiers went through but almost all involving firing from moving vehicles, calling in medevac requests and UXO reports, and performing self-recovery of a disabled vehicle. To put it bluntly, our soldiers kicked some butt. More than one instructor commented that we were among the top if not the top unit to go through this lane at the Mobilization Station, which has seen more than 20,000 soldiers pass through there in the last year. The training really gelled some of our teams. Target acquisition, distinction, and engagement were excellent. Team work, communication, and cooperation were outstanding.
We had other training at the Mobilization Station, but It’s the early morning hours now and I need to get some sleep. So that’s all for now.
We finished the training at the Mobilization Station and I’m currently sitting in a hangar waiting for our aircraft to be fixed. It looks like we’re going to be spending the night on the cement hangar floor in this wonderful heat and humidity. All in the day of the life of . . . .
Any way, back to the heading at hand—training. The training method that the Mobilization Station used was to focus on individual task training and then about half of the way through the summer, we switched to focus on collective task training—tasks that require more than one soldier to conduct.
Land Navigation. The land navigation that we conducted included both mounted (in a vehicle) and dismounted (on foot). The classroom portion of the training was OK (most soldiers were already fairly well trained), the dismounted course was challenging, while the mounted course was fairly easy. Most of the soldiers really enjoyed the challenge of the dismounted course—long distances, varied terrain (swamps to prairies to large hills with thick vegetation) There were a few marked “known” points on the course though that were considerably off (by a couple hundred meters), which frustrated some soldiers at times (myself included). But overall, good events.
PLGRs (a GPS system). Using the PLGRs (pronounced pluggers) was new to most of the soldiers. Even though the system has been around for a while, most soldiers hadn’t used the system before—although, many had used a civilian GPS. After we had a classroom portion, we went outside and went through a relatively easy course using the PLGRs as a navigational aid. While the training was satisfactory, more hands on would have been beneficial.
Individual Weapons Qualification. Going through the individual weapons qualification was an interesting process. We came to the Mobilization Station with M16A2’s. We were suppose to receive our new M4’s before we started the weapons qualification, but we didn’t. So, we had to qualify with the M16’s. Then, when the M4’s came in (three days after we fired the M16’s) we had to fire those. Then when the CCOs came in (close combat optics) several weeks later, we had to zero and fire those. By the end of July, our guys had had a lot of trigger time, which is good. Unfortunately, it was relatively limited on the actual weapon system (the M4s with CCO configuration) that we’re taking to the Middle East. Overall though, I’m confident in my weapon system (with its current configuration) and I’m sure my guys are as well. It is likely that we’ll have more trigger time once we arrive in country.
CTT (Common Task Testing--basic soldier skills). As almost every soldier will tell you, virtually every unit trains on CTT tasks frequently. From the early days of basic training, CTT is a focus. The CTT tasks vary to some extent from year to year, but most soldiers know most tasks fairly well. CTT tasks range from applying a pressure dressing over a wound on various parts of an injured soldier’s body to map reading, to throwing a grenade, to calling in a medevac. While there is one standard for these events (you know, the “Army Standard”), techniques vary depending on who is teaching/testing the task. This variance was clear at the Mobilization Station. Our medics complained that the techniques used for medical tasks could have been better and our soldiers who previously taught other tasks at a different Mobilization Station complained that the techniques used were not taught as well as they should have been, etc.
Culture Awareness. While the formal culture awareness training class was relatively short (an hour or two), we frequently touched on culture awareness-type training events throughout our time at the Mobilization Station. One thing that the Army has done (which I like) is to hire people with Iraqi heritage (or former Iraqi nationals). We mostly ran into them as part of our interaction with COBs (another great Army acronym, standing for Civilians on the Battlefield, and yes it’s pronounced like corn on the “cob”). I’ll elaborate later on COBs. Any way, with regard to culture awareness, we learned a little about language, customs, history, politics, etc. Probably not too much more than what is discerned from the news from the casual observer. I did have the advantage though of taking a three credit university college course earlier this year that delved into the same topics in much greater detail.
SINCGARs (radio systems). We had a brief instruction block on SINCGARs. We’ve been using SINCGARs in the national guard for a few years now. The radio system is great in terms of its capability and secure nature, but it is somewhat difficult to get to know how to use. Once one learns the perishable skills associated with running the system, it’s important to keep them up. The couple-hour block of instruction at the Mobilization Station was the bare minimum. We used several hours of our spare time for training on the SINCGARs system.
Theatre Specific Leader Training. A good idea that was not fully implemented (in my opinion) was leader training. Essentially, the trainers took about two days to teach E6’s (Staff Sergeants) and above on various leader tasks. It would have been nice to have a similar class with sufficient detail to cover all the main collective and key supporting training tasks that we were going to conduct throughout the summer. The instructors just touched on less than one fourth. Also, one set of the instructors for one of our groups was not very good. In fact, our battalion commander took them to the mat on the inconsistency between the message they communicated orally and the message on the instructor’s slides. Bottom line, the course is a great idea that should be expanded on in the implementation with solid instructors.
IED’s (improvised explosive devices). The existence, types, and effects of IED’s were really emphasized throughout the training at the Mobilization Station. In some of the training, the subject matter of IED’s was really oversimplified. For example, in some of the training scenarios, soldiers were suppose to move out, discover a potential IED, move away and call a report in a UXO report concerning the potential IED’s existence. It just so happens in the training scenarios that the IED is a pile of rocks, spray painted red (which was a frequent marker—not sure if the Anti Iraqi Forces know that they are suppose to paint them red). And that’s it. That’s not a very effective countermeasure in my opinion. Although, in fairness, it’s not as if the Mobilization Station or the Army for that matter is not trying to address the matter of IED’s—for example, they flew a retired special forces officer who is now working on the IED Task Force in Baghdad to assist us with IED issues. I believe the difficulty here stems from our inability to develop a coherent and effective response against the AIF’s use of IED’s. While I’m not sure if my soldiers picked up on this (I will be checking on this in the up-coming weeks), my take away from the training was that our response to IED’s needs to evolve and change over time in order to be effective—a single doctrine to be rooted throughout various Army manuals will not work. This really presents some issues in terms of training (substance and frequency) and continually updating and changing SOP’s and our approach to IED’s.
MOUT (fighting in an urban environment). Most of my soldiers really enjoyed the MOUT training. MOUT can be incredibly complex and it requires frequent training in order to preserve the perishable skills. We started training on entering and clearing a room. It’s a basic skill that is more difficult than it sounds. It typically requires at least a four-man team (or stack, which it is usually referred to as) that must work together closely and understand one another’s oral and nonverbal cues to effectively and efficiently clear a room. One great expression that is often mentioned in MOUT is “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” It emphasizes that one shouldn’t rush the task, but rather perfect the movements and the speed will follow from a smooth, well drilled motion.
Reflexive Fire (firing techniques in close combat). The event that preceded our live-fire MOUT exercise was reflexive fire. Soldiers worked on firing techniques for targets that are within 25 meters and weapon positioning when in a MOUT environment. Very enjoyable. The heart really gets pumping when using live rounds, especially when working closely with a four man stack that moves like silk.
Squad/Platoon Light Infantry Training. Imagine, if you will, wearing your full battle rattle, with MILES gear (laser receptors and transmitters that are equivalent to carrying a lead weight), humping (a/k/a moving in dismounted tactical formations) a crew serve weapon (a heavy automatic weapon like a M240B) and/or crew serve rounds in 100 degree heat with high humidity across long areas, culminating with a sprint in order to conduct an assault on a building with many COB’s present. That’s sort of what the squad/platoon infantry training was like. We also covered presence patrols and various dismounted movement techniques. Some soldiers bitched about the training when going through, but I think virtually everyone that went through it liked it. As with the crew serve weapons training, the non-infantry soldiers learned a lot and most felt challenged (at least physically) going through the training.
Base Defense Operations. Base defense operations covered three main areas: (1) ECP—entry control points (think of it as controlling the gate to an installation where you do personnel and vehicular searches), (2) quick reaction forces, and (3) perimeter defense. Overall, the training was good. Some of the instructors were better than others. For any given event, the training had from 10 to 75 COBs that would be a part of the training. For example, for the ECP training, they had a 50-person demonstration at the control point and then they had a small group hurling rocks and trying to enter through the concertina wire. Roughly half of the COBs were from the Middle East (the others were locals hired) and actively spoke Arabic and wore Middle Eastern attire. We also had several smaller direct one-on-one interaction scenarios. For instance, in one scenario there were two women who were taking pictures of our base perimeter and we were to react to the picture taking. The interaction could lead to either an escalated sequence of events culminating in an exchange of fire or a completely cooperative interaction in which we would retain the film and the women walking away.
Road March Stress Fire (firing after conducting a couple hour footmarch at a fast pace with equipment and weapons). The stress fire is designed to show soldiers the difficulty of firing when tired. I had the unfortunate distinction of shooting the worse of my group of 14 (thankfully, I wasn’t the worst in my company). Good event, but it would have been better if we had done it more often in order to get use to firing when tired and breathing heavy.
Ground Assault Convoy. The ground assault convoy involves conducting convoy operations and firing on the move. The training most closely resembles the mission that we will conduct in Iraq. Fortunately, we spent more time on this training than any other training event at the Mobilization Station and it was the training most of our soldiers liked the best. There were a few different scenarios that our soldiers went through but almost all involving firing from moving vehicles, calling in medevac requests and UXO reports, and performing self-recovery of a disabled vehicle. To put it bluntly, our soldiers kicked some butt. More than one instructor commented that we were among the top if not the top unit to go through this lane at the Mobilization Station, which has seen more than 20,000 soldiers pass through there in the last year. The training really gelled some of our teams. Target acquisition, distinction, and engagement were excellent. Team work, communication, and cooperation were outstanding.
We had other training at the Mobilization Station, but It’s the early morning hours now and I need to get some sleep. So that’s all for now.
07 August 2005
Mississippi
Here I sit in a tent under the sweltering Southern Mississippi August sun. Hands and arms dripping with sweat onto the computer keyboard. I’m in the middle of an ARTEP (a military exercise evaluation) with a lull in the action. I am thinking about all that my unit and I have been through these last two months and what awaits us in ten days as we depart for the middle east.
In looking back, it’s been a busy, fast-paced summer. My work day typically ranges from 14-20 hours, seven days a week. We did get July 4th off, but to be honest, I slept half of the day.
The training overall has been good. I’ve had some quarrels with some of the specific training (especially as it specifically relates to my company) or the quality of a few instructors, but I’m generally pleased: we’ve had a decent amount of trigger time, a lot of physically demanding training, and good team building time. I’ll go into some of the specifics shortly.
Living Conditions
I’m frequently asked, “what’s it like down there?” Well, it doesn’t take much to realize that it’s hot and muggy in Southern Mississippi during the summer. The days are typically in the mid-90s with high humidity. We wear “full battle rattle” most of the time, which means BDUs (long sleeve, long pants dark camouflage clothes), wool socks, boots, Kevlar helmet, Kevlar vest (with armor plates), weapon magazines, weapon(s), pouches, etc.
During my first month at the mobilization station, I split my time between FOB (Forward Operating Base) Hurricane and cockroach-infested, run-down billets with no air conditioning. The FOB contained tents that slept around 25 or soldiers with wood floors. Overall, not too bad. The ground outside the tents was made out of gravel that was somewhat arduous to walk around on. My troops had better conditions when we were in billets at the mobilization station. Most had somewhat modern billets, with air conditioning, which was helpful. During my second month here, First Sergeants and Captains and above moved to the “high rises,” which are two story buildings with single rooms with twin beds (that share toilets and showers). While not like the Hilton, Renaissance or Four Seasons, it’s like the lap of luxury when compared to where we were last month battling two-inch cockroaches on the way to the shower.
Everything is damp down here. A piece of paper that is not in an air conditioned room is always soggy. When putting on the BDUs in the morning, it always seems as if they are wetter than when you took them off the night before, despite hanging them up “to dry.”
Food and Drink
We have at least one MRE (meal ready to eat) a day, sometimes two and occasionally three. After two months of MREs, they are becoming, well, how should I say, not the food of choice. Don’t get me wrong, MREs are better than what they were in the 1980s and early 90s, it’s just that for some reason, despite the apparent variety of types of meals, they have a tendency to taste the same.
We typically eat two “A” or “B” meals a day, meaning hot meals (breakfast and dinner). An “A” meal is one served in the chow hall and a “B” meal is one that is brought to us in the field.
One could say that we have hearty breakfasts. The breakfast is virtually the same every day: scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, some form of meat (bacon, sausage, keubasa), grits, pancakes, oatmeal, packaged cereals, and fruit (banana, apple, or canned fruit). Most people don’t eat everything (but some do). Virtually everything is dripping with butter (even the oatmeal). I can’t eat the regular breakfasts often, they slow me down too much.
Dinners vary. They usually have a choice among two entrees, with one being some chicken product. Most dinners have at least one deep fried entrée. Dessert is a slice of pie or when we’re in the field some sort of Little Debbie product. When we’re not in the field, the drink selection is good: soda, juice, water, powerade, coffee, milk (chocolate or white—but no skim!).
Speaking of drinks, we drink a lot. I mean a lot! Not the booze (we’ve been under a no alcohol policy since getting here—not that we’d have much time to enjoy the local spirits anyway). Each soldier easily consumes 6-10 quarts of water a day. When it’s really hot, there can be an issue with soldiers drinking too much water (>12 quarts) in that in can have a significantly negative effect (electrolyte level?). During some of the light infantry lanes, uniforms are as drenched as much as if they were in a downpour. Uniforms drip, eyes sting with sweat, and it is not uncommon (as with myself) for soldiers to develop heat rashes and blisters (from wet clothes rubbing).
Typical Day
The typical day has evolved over time. Initially, when in the garrison environment, the days would start some time between 0400 and 0430. There would be some sort of leader meeting followed by physical training at 0500 or 0530 that would last around an hour or so. Training would often begin either at 0700 or 0800 and end either late afternoon or early evening. As the commander, I would go to a battalion command and staff call meeting that started some time between 1900-2100. These meetings, lasting 1 ½ - 2 hours) would be followed by company meetings where I would put out information from the battalion meeting and go over the next day or two’s schedule. It was not uncommon for me to get in bed between 2400-0130.
The training schedule changed frequently. On active duty, we always tried to lock in 5 weeks training and in the national guard, three months (because of the infrequency in which we would meet). Here at the mobilization station, trying to lock in anything more than 72 hours was a mistake because of the frequency by which there would be changes to the schedule. There would be various “mandatory” classes pop up for selected individuals or sections in which we would get 2 days notice. In one case, I was notified at 1730 for a class starting at 0700 the next day. Locations of events changed, start time times changed and event topics changed. All of which I’m sure there was a good reason for the change, but it created a very difficult situation for planning and logistic purposes (e.g., arranging transportation, meals and setting up makeup training for training that had to be completed prior to leaving the mobilization station).
When in the field, the day typically would start with a 0500 or so wake up. After breakfast, most training would last the entire day with a break in the late afternoon. Many events would have a night component to them so that the training would last until 2200-2300 or so.
Uniforms
Our experience with uniforms is a funny one. During the week prior to leaving Wisconsin, I received a lot of “one-liner jokes” from co-workers and friends about why we were wearing our BDUs (the standard green, brown, black, and tan camouflage uniforms) when we got mobilized instead of some desert uniform. I anticipated that in the first week or two of arriving at the mobilization station that we would receive our DCUs (Desert Camouflage Uniform) or ACUs (a digital pattern uniform that the Army is just beginning to field). As a result I only brought down to the mobilization station two serviceable uniforms--that was a mistake.
As it turns out, after having been here for two months, we still haven’t received our all our new uniforms. Somewhere between ½-⅓ of our battalion is either missing their tops or bottoms (we received the initial shipment at the end of July). Our IBAs (body armor) is one color (ACU pattern), the ammo and first pouches another color (DCU pattern) and our uniform and helmet color is yet another (BDU pattern)—although, some people have the ACU or DCU pattern for the helmet. This situation is particularly funny if one understands how the Army has historically stressed the importance of uniformity among its soldiers. We really look like a motley crew as part of the new “come as you are” army. Thankfully, these differences are just cosmetic and none of our soldiers are wearing uniforms that jeopardize safety.
Equipment
This is another interesting area. We’ve received a lot of “gee wiz” equipment, the most important of which we’ve had the opportunity to train on. We’ve obtained the new M4’s (the replacement for the M16), Close Combat Optics, PAQ4’s, TVS5’s, PVS14’s, M1114’s (up-armored HMMWVs, most of which we’ll get in country), ASAS-Lite, and a whole bunch more—too numerous to mention.
However, we’ve wasted hundreds if not thousands of thousands of man hours in unnecessarily dealing with equipment issues. It all started back in Wisconsin when we received our first equipment ODD (which is a “go to war” equipment listing). The list didn’t make any sense. For example, we had to inventory and pack up 60 sets of woodland green camouflage nets. Not only is that not the right color, very few units actually use camouflage nets in the Middle East. There were numerous other examples, such as packing equipment that is no longer used (e.g., AN-GRA 39’s) and been replaced by other equipment that we also packed. After packing and leaving this equipment for shipment, we received several subsequent “improved” equipment listings that required shipments back and forth between the mobilization station and Wisconsin. The end result is that we currently have a better overall equipment listing, with only a few quirks (e.g., 1 TA-312, which is a phone that requires to be hooked up with other similar phones in order to talk—which begs the question, what does one do with one phone?). But an unfortunate waste of time and money in the process of getting us to the point where we are now.
With regard to the newer equipment we received, it generally is a morale booster once the soldiers have the opportunity to train on it and feel comfortable with what it can do. It would have been nice to receive some of these items of equipment earlier in order to train on them more (not all equipment that we’ve received has been trained on), especially the lower dollar value items.
I’ve asked my 1SG to interject a little here:
I fully agree with my Commander, I lived next door to him and dined in the same chow hall, I just could not of said it as poetically. This has been a huge learning curve for me. I was a line Company First Sergeant with a different unit before taking this current job for this deployment. The inner workings, all the moving parts and the new names and faces are something to behold. Learning my new soldiers, their personalities, abilities, strengths and weaknesses, how they reacted to the heat and stress and the thought of what the lord has planned for their future and what they brought with them to Mississippi, from knowledge gained from the military and civilian world to family problems with wives, girlfriends and kids. We have several soldiers that are leaving home for the first time (other than their time at basic training). It was tough, going through the training with the soldiers during the day and then doing the meetings and planning at night, I don’t know how my commander kept the pace he did. But by crawling though the dirt and being just as soaked from sweat and stinky as the soldiers we learned a lot from each other. I have a new respect for these soldiers, yes they act like teenagers when they play with the IPODS and video games, but many are still teenagers. But they can put on the game face when need be.
In looking back, it’s been a busy, fast-paced summer. My work day typically ranges from 14-20 hours, seven days a week. We did get July 4th off, but to be honest, I slept half of the day.
The training overall has been good. I’ve had some quarrels with some of the specific training (especially as it specifically relates to my company) or the quality of a few instructors, but I’m generally pleased: we’ve had a decent amount of trigger time, a lot of physically demanding training, and good team building time. I’ll go into some of the specifics shortly.
Living Conditions
I’m frequently asked, “what’s it like down there?” Well, it doesn’t take much to realize that it’s hot and muggy in Southern Mississippi during the summer. The days are typically in the mid-90s with high humidity. We wear “full battle rattle” most of the time, which means BDUs (long sleeve, long pants dark camouflage clothes), wool socks, boots, Kevlar helmet, Kevlar vest (with armor plates), weapon magazines, weapon(s), pouches, etc.
During my first month at the mobilization station, I split my time between FOB (Forward Operating Base) Hurricane and cockroach-infested, run-down billets with no air conditioning. The FOB contained tents that slept around 25 or soldiers with wood floors. Overall, not too bad. The ground outside the tents was made out of gravel that was somewhat arduous to walk around on. My troops had better conditions when we were in billets at the mobilization station. Most had somewhat modern billets, with air conditioning, which was helpful. During my second month here, First Sergeants and Captains and above moved to the “high rises,” which are two story buildings with single rooms with twin beds (that share toilets and showers). While not like the Hilton, Renaissance or Four Seasons, it’s like the lap of luxury when compared to where we were last month battling two-inch cockroaches on the way to the shower.
Everything is damp down here. A piece of paper that is not in an air conditioned room is always soggy. When putting on the BDUs in the morning, it always seems as if they are wetter than when you took them off the night before, despite hanging them up “to dry.”
Food and Drink
We have at least one MRE (meal ready to eat) a day, sometimes two and occasionally three. After two months of MREs, they are becoming, well, how should I say, not the food of choice. Don’t get me wrong, MREs are better than what they were in the 1980s and early 90s, it’s just that for some reason, despite the apparent variety of types of meals, they have a tendency to taste the same.
We typically eat two “A” or “B” meals a day, meaning hot meals (breakfast and dinner). An “A” meal is one served in the chow hall and a “B” meal is one that is brought to us in the field.
One could say that we have hearty breakfasts. The breakfast is virtually the same every day: scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, some form of meat (bacon, sausage, keubasa), grits, pancakes, oatmeal, packaged cereals, and fruit (banana, apple, or canned fruit). Most people don’t eat everything (but some do). Virtually everything is dripping with butter (even the oatmeal). I can’t eat the regular breakfasts often, they slow me down too much.
Dinners vary. They usually have a choice among two entrees, with one being some chicken product. Most dinners have at least one deep fried entrée. Dessert is a slice of pie or when we’re in the field some sort of Little Debbie product. When we’re not in the field, the drink selection is good: soda, juice, water, powerade, coffee, milk (chocolate or white—but no skim!).
Speaking of drinks, we drink a lot. I mean a lot! Not the booze (we’ve been under a no alcohol policy since getting here—not that we’d have much time to enjoy the local spirits anyway). Each soldier easily consumes 6-10 quarts of water a day. When it’s really hot, there can be an issue with soldiers drinking too much water (>12 quarts) in that in can have a significantly negative effect (electrolyte level?). During some of the light infantry lanes, uniforms are as drenched as much as if they were in a downpour. Uniforms drip, eyes sting with sweat, and it is not uncommon (as with myself) for soldiers to develop heat rashes and blisters (from wet clothes rubbing).
Typical Day
The typical day has evolved over time. Initially, when in the garrison environment, the days would start some time between 0400 and 0430. There would be some sort of leader meeting followed by physical training at 0500 or 0530 that would last around an hour or so. Training would often begin either at 0700 or 0800 and end either late afternoon or early evening. As the commander, I would go to a battalion command and staff call meeting that started some time between 1900-2100. These meetings, lasting 1 ½ - 2 hours) would be followed by company meetings where I would put out information from the battalion meeting and go over the next day or two’s schedule. It was not uncommon for me to get in bed between 2400-0130.
The training schedule changed frequently. On active duty, we always tried to lock in 5 weeks training and in the national guard, three months (because of the infrequency in which we would meet). Here at the mobilization station, trying to lock in anything more than 72 hours was a mistake because of the frequency by which there would be changes to the schedule. There would be various “mandatory” classes pop up for selected individuals or sections in which we would get 2 days notice. In one case, I was notified at 1730 for a class starting at 0700 the next day. Locations of events changed, start time times changed and event topics changed. All of which I’m sure there was a good reason for the change, but it created a very difficult situation for planning and logistic purposes (e.g., arranging transportation, meals and setting up makeup training for training that had to be completed prior to leaving the mobilization station).
When in the field, the day typically would start with a 0500 or so wake up. After breakfast, most training would last the entire day with a break in the late afternoon. Many events would have a night component to them so that the training would last until 2200-2300 or so.
Uniforms
Our experience with uniforms is a funny one. During the week prior to leaving Wisconsin, I received a lot of “one-liner jokes” from co-workers and friends about why we were wearing our BDUs (the standard green, brown, black, and tan camouflage uniforms) when we got mobilized instead of some desert uniform. I anticipated that in the first week or two of arriving at the mobilization station that we would receive our DCUs (Desert Camouflage Uniform) or ACUs (a digital pattern uniform that the Army is just beginning to field). As a result I only brought down to the mobilization station two serviceable uniforms--that was a mistake.
As it turns out, after having been here for two months, we still haven’t received our all our new uniforms. Somewhere between ½-⅓ of our battalion is either missing their tops or bottoms (we received the initial shipment at the end of July). Our IBAs (body armor) is one color (ACU pattern), the ammo and first pouches another color (DCU pattern) and our uniform and helmet color is yet another (BDU pattern)—although, some people have the ACU or DCU pattern for the helmet. This situation is particularly funny if one understands how the Army has historically stressed the importance of uniformity among its soldiers. We really look like a motley crew as part of the new “come as you are” army. Thankfully, these differences are just cosmetic and none of our soldiers are wearing uniforms that jeopardize safety.
Equipment
This is another interesting area. We’ve received a lot of “gee wiz” equipment, the most important of which we’ve had the opportunity to train on. We’ve obtained the new M4’s (the replacement for the M16), Close Combat Optics, PAQ4’s, TVS5’s, PVS14’s, M1114’s (up-armored HMMWVs, most of which we’ll get in country), ASAS-Lite, and a whole bunch more—too numerous to mention.
However, we’ve wasted hundreds if not thousands of thousands of man hours in unnecessarily dealing with equipment issues. It all started back in Wisconsin when we received our first equipment ODD (which is a “go to war” equipment listing). The list didn’t make any sense. For example, we had to inventory and pack up 60 sets of woodland green camouflage nets. Not only is that not the right color, very few units actually use camouflage nets in the Middle East. There were numerous other examples, such as packing equipment that is no longer used (e.g., AN-GRA 39’s) and been replaced by other equipment that we also packed. After packing and leaving this equipment for shipment, we received several subsequent “improved” equipment listings that required shipments back and forth between the mobilization station and Wisconsin. The end result is that we currently have a better overall equipment listing, with only a few quirks (e.g., 1 TA-312, which is a phone that requires to be hooked up with other similar phones in order to talk—which begs the question, what does one do with one phone?). But an unfortunate waste of time and money in the process of getting us to the point where we are now.
With regard to the newer equipment we received, it generally is a morale booster once the soldiers have the opportunity to train on it and feel comfortable with what it can do. It would have been nice to receive some of these items of equipment earlier in order to train on them more (not all equipment that we’ve received has been trained on), especially the lower dollar value items.
I’ve asked my 1SG to interject a little here:
I fully agree with my Commander, I lived next door to him and dined in the same chow hall, I just could not of said it as poetically. This has been a huge learning curve for me. I was a line Company First Sergeant with a different unit before taking this current job for this deployment. The inner workings, all the moving parts and the new names and faces are something to behold. Learning my new soldiers, their personalities, abilities, strengths and weaknesses, how they reacted to the heat and stress and the thought of what the lord has planned for their future and what they brought with them to Mississippi, from knowledge gained from the military and civilian world to family problems with wives, girlfriends and kids. We have several soldiers that are leaving home for the first time (other than their time at basic training). It was tough, going through the training with the soldiers during the day and then doing the meetings and planning at night, I don’t know how my commander kept the pace he did. But by crawling though the dirt and being just as soaked from sweat and stinky as the soldiers we learned a lot from each other. I have a new respect for these soldiers, yes they act like teenagers when they play with the IPODS and video games, but many are still teenagers. But they can put on the game face when need be.
