Guns and Ammo

Hey Everyone,

Sorry again for the delay in posting. The honeymoon here at Ft. Dix is officially over. The luster of being in a new environment, with new people, learning new things has tarnished. Up until my last post we were learning things like driving, medical treatement, and operational theory. That was replaced with weapons training, troop movements, large group engagements, small squad tactics, grenades and claymore mines, detainee operations, searches (people and vehicles), and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detection, identification, and avoidance. I'll try to delve a little into each subject to catch everyone up...

For the first couple of days after the Combat Life Saver class, we spent most of our time shooting. The first day we zero'd in our rifles with iron sights and then, for those of us with optics on our rifles, we sighted in our Close Combat Optics (CCO or 'red dot' optics). Its was a miserable, cold, windy day. I volunteered to help out on the range and serve as an assistant to the range master. I basically spent most of the day making sure no one killed me, their battle buddy, OR themselves. Once it was my turn to shoot with ironsights, my head was throbbing from sitting outside all day in the wind. I could barely see straight. It took me a while, but finally I got my rifle sighted in and came in from the cold...only to turn right around to sight in my optic. The CCO is an excellent piece of equipment for my M4 Carbine Rifle. Its not a scope as it has no magnification. It basically serves as a digital representation of your front sight post on the rifle. The only difference is that there is no parallax (if you don't know what that is just look it up). Basically, no matter what your position relative to the rifle, if that red dot is on target, you're on target. That part was much more fun for me and I ended the day on a positive note.
The next day was spent on the rifle qualification range. The weather was MUCH better and so was the task. Unlike the Air Force who uses paper targets, the Army uses 300 meter ranges with pop up targets. It was excellent! We fired at targets one at a time and targets that popped up in multiples. It was a great time and I qualified to Army standards.
Following the long range engagements with rifle, we moved to close fire exercises. Basically this covers shooting the rifle anywhere from 5m to 25m from your target and in a much quicker fashion than the long range. This range also included shooting while moving foward and back and side-to-side. I think EVERYONE enjoyed this range because it was more like the movies and it was hard to miss the target! I made it fun and used my CCO to make some rapid 'double tap' head shots. Once again, the day was going great and everyone was in a pretty good mood...until later that evening...
LOW LIGHT FIRE!!! When we found out that we'd be qualifiying in low light firing, we were all excited. But once we got there most of us changed our minds about this particular range. When we arrived, it was still early evening and the range was well lit. The cadre dragged ass as well as some Army dudes who were firing with us. By the time the first group went to fire the sun had set and it was quickly getting dark. By the time I fired, it was PITCH black. I couldn't see a thing. Once in a while the tracer fire from my rifle would hit in front of my target and I would be blinded by the light so that I REALLY wouldn't see the next target. I think my final count was 3 hits of 30 targets. I felt it was a complete waste of time. I let it roll off my back though because the next day was 9mm pistol qualification.
So I get out on the range ready to kick some ass with the pistol. I own a pistol very similar to the 9mm we use in the military and have had a great instructor teach me how to shoot. And if I don't say so myself, I'm a pretty damn good shot with a pistol. So the day comes and here I am; standing on the line ready to hit some more of those great pop up targets. The targets begin and I make quick work of the first 4 or 5. Then JAM! I rack the slide, and continue to fire. One round goes down range, and 'CLICK'...another jam...stovepipe jam! I rack and squeeze again and miss. Then ANOTHER jam. A pair of targets come up and I have a hard time getting the spent shell out of the chamber and I don't even get a shot off. I'm pissed! The range is done and I've had like 8-9 misfires or jams. I look at the pistol afterward and notice that there isn't a single drop of oil on the weapon. I KNEW I'd cleaned it before...didn't I? Well the answer to that is that I cleaned MY PERSONAL pistol at home before I left, not my service pistol. So basically I was shooting a piece that hadn't had a drop of lube on it in 4 years. I still hit 23 of30, AND qualified, but it wasn't the day I was looking for.
That about covers it for actual firing on the range for accuracy. Tomorrow I will fill you in on the second half of our training but now I'll just type a few words about how things are going here.
We haven't had a day off since we started. Everyday we are presented with a new set of tasks we have to master that we've NEVER seen before. Each day starts around 0530and ends late. And to top it off, we can't have a beer or go to a restaruant or just put on a pair of jeans and watch t.v. to blow off steam. We are in uniform 24 hours a day. If I want to go to the laundry room on the first floor, I have to be in proper PT uniform with shirt tucked in, shoes and socks on. To eat chow, its full uniform. To go down the hall at 0200 to take a leak...you guessed it...uniform. Its not a big deal for a week or two, but as I said at the start of this blog, the luster is beginning to wear. The routine is getting to everyone and most of us just want to get through it now and go home. Its the sum total of all the training, close quarters living, missing family and friends, being away from home, and lack of any 'down time' that is wearing me out. I'm ready to get this done and come home!!! I'm hoping that this is as bad as it gets. I suspect that in the next couple of days, we will turn the corner. As of today we only have 9 days left. I think after tomorrow we will start seeing the finish line and spirits will rise. Oh, one more thing. Did I mention the food sux? Eating at the chow hall sux! I hate waiting in line for food at EVERY meal. And here at Ft Dix, we have a 'youth challenge' program in the dorms across the street. Its basically a teenager boot camp for troubled teens. There's gotta be a couple of hundred of them. They don't give anyone problems, but guess where they eat? You guessed it...at OUR chow hall! So if you're on your way to the healthy line to get some turkey instead of the standard burger and fried chicken with fries, and you get stuck behind those bastards, you are SOL. It will be about a half an hour wait in line. So what do you do? You go for the chili hamburger that causes you to stink up the room for all your close living mates. But the joke is on you because they ate WITH you and made the same decision. So now, everyone in your room who wanted to get a good 'healthy' meal opted to go to the quick line rather than get stuck standing behind 'high school musical' and now the entire room smells like a sewer from the collective gas! Not a pretty picture I know, but hey, I had to vent...so to speak. Anyway, my parting message this eveing is this: Cherish your bed. Cherish your space. Don't take for granted the quiet in your home or the clean air in your bedroom. Use that kitchen of yours to prepare a great meal tonite! There are some of us who'd pay quite some price for any one of those things if even for only one night! -OUT-

Smooth Operator!!!

Hey Y'all,

I know its been a while since my last post, but we've been very busy lately. I've done much since my last post but I'll just fill you in on the exciting stuff. Some of the class were tasked as needing drivers training for their deployment; not because we needed remedial driving training but because we needed to learn how to -drive up-armored humvees! They are NOT like those gas guzzling highway hogs you see on the roads here in the states...no...These humvees have a TON of armor and bullet proof glass on them and are acutually designed with warfare in mind rather than driving to the mall for a latte and some designer shoes before heading out to sushi on a friday night. Once we learned the finer points of driving these heavy machines, we got the opportunity to get qualified on driving them on the US Army's definition of sushi on a Friday night: At midnight, off road, in a forest, on a narrow trail WITH NIGHT VISION GOGGLES!!! It was AWESOME! And we only had a couple of drivers lose their bearings and try to pit their humvee against a pine tree. Now these vehicles are tough, but even they are no match for a huge pine tree! Anyway, there wasn't too much damage done and I'm happy to say that me and my homies from room 339 all performed flawless manuevers during the mission. Night vision takes some getting used to in order to move properly. Your focus is limited under 10 feet, and your depth perception is reduced from the NVG lenses. I found that the way to correct for these changes is to drive faster and just relax. After a few mins, we were cruising along with no problems and loving every minute of it.

Now for the part you've all (Nina) been waiting for: Combat Life Saver class. If you are not familiar what this class I'll give you a quick run down. It basically teaches battlefield medical techniques. Our main goal is to get an injured team mate off the battlefield and on to a Medivac chopper or humvee as quickly as possible, as stable as possible, and with a heart beat (very important that they have a heartbeat). This includes, but is not limited to, providing effective treatment under fire, performing assessment of any variety of battlefield injuries, moving the causality to a safe area, and administering appropriate medical care to prolong their life until higher medical personnel can treat them. Believe it or not, the vast majority of actual deaths in combat are not preventable my ANY means. Basically this means that an injury could take place right outside the operating room, and the wounds would be too great to repair. On the flip side of that coin, about 98% of traumatic battlefield injuries that would have killed a solider in WWII are now prevented by medicine and in particular battlefield medicine. Basically, about 98% of trauma on the battlefield can be treated and lives saved. So now to the good part: Hands ON!!! Some of the tasks we learned this week included: treating a sucking chest wound with entry and exit wounds, identifying the symptoms of head trauma, treating a traumatic pneumothorax (collapsed lung), inserting a nasal pharangeal airway device to assist labored breathing (you gotta see this one to believe it: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1818750), applying a tourniquet to nearly EVERY part of the body including the neck, splinting fractured limbs, how to treat traumatic amputations, and the one everyone has been looking forward to...Inserting an IV and establishing a saline lock. I was pretty worried about this one since we were informed that each and every one of us would have to a) get stuck by our buddy and b) stick our buddy in return for the favor. Some short history: One of my earliest memories was of going to the doctor with my mom and sisters to get some immunizations. I remember the nurse saying "who should we start with" and my mom looking at me and saying something like "you're a brave boy aren't you Trave?". I responded to this by making my mom give chase to my ass for about 10 mins as I ran for my life throughout the waiting room (much to the other patient's delight and my mom's embarrassment). Now, skipping to the present, I can honestly say that getting a shot doesn't bother me too much...but I still don't like to watch. Now I'm here and you're telling me that some dude who's had about ONE FULL HOUR of instruction and ONE practice attempt on a dummy arm is going to shove a 18 gauge needle into my arm and advance a catheder? Worried was an understatement...although I didn't show it. NEVER let them see you sweat right? So I grabbed my bunkmate Chris (aka Steve-o, Jeff, and Gulf Alpha Yankee) and promptly said, "you stick me first, but just remember that whatever you do to me I'm gonna return to you!!!" I still couldn't look, but he did a great job and got it right the first time...on his THIRD ATTEMPT. I swear my arm looks like a heroin addict. Suprisingly, though, even while he had the needle in and the medic was helping him 'fish' for my vein under the skin, it didn't hurt too much. The third attempt was smooth, and once Chris got into the vein, he was a total pro. He didn't even drop another drop of my blood...just like we practiced...it just took him some time to warm up!!! So now its my turn and I've got bad intentions. Actually, I was impressed that he got it so quick and wanted to 'step to the plate' and prove I had the stones to do it as well. Since I'd never done anything like this before, I didn't talk much smack like I usually do, just in case it was ME who saw some blood an passed out. Also, considering that someone in the class passed out the day while watching the 'nose tube installation', I figured my odds were about 65-35 that I'd man up and make this thing work. So what do you think? Y'all know me pretty well right? Well here it goes: I set up the IV bag. Laid out the tube and cleared the line. Swabbed the IV site with Iodine in a circular motion and cleaned off the vein with alcohol. Opened up the needle 'east to west'. And then I went right in! I figured since Chris stuck me three times, I could concentrate less on the pain I may inflict on him and worry more about just getting it right the first time regardless of how it felt. I mean no matter what, the only person who would feel it would be Chris! As soon as I went in, I got a flash of blood in the needle, which meant I hit the vein. Then I lowered the angle of the needle and pressed about 1/8 of an inch more into the vein. Everything was going well so I just grabbed the catheder, and pushed it into the vein to the hilt! I then grabbed the IV line, and while I held the vein above the IV site, I screwed the catheder to the IV. Once I taped it down, that was IT! I turned on the saline flow and it was over!!! ONE STICK ONE KILL!!! If you look at the picture, you'll notice that I didn't spill a single drop of blood...the dark color is iodine. It was clinical clean! I got a serious rush once it was over and felt so proud of the job I did. I consider this a great accomplishment in my life. I was nervous about the whole thing, but overcame it, believed in myself and performed flawlessly. And from what Chris said, it didn't even hurt. I rode that wave for the rest of the day. It was a good day at fort Dix...but not for my left arm. I did it Nina!!! And I didn't even pass out and take the patient and table with me! Goodnight Cleveland...you've been great! I'm OUT!!!

Forget the Hummer...Enter the MRAP!!!

So its been pretty busy here at Ft. Dix. After a couple of exciting days, things have slowed down. We're all convinced that someone here is trying to slowly kill us via powerpoint presentations. We call it 'Death by Powerpoint'. Yesterday actually started out okay. We began around 1100 with the MRAP introduction. If you've never seen the MRAP, it is the vehicle in the pic at the top of this post. The MRAP was designed to replace the Hummer in areas that are prone to IED's and VBIED's. Basically, they are heavy armor vehicles hand built on dumptruck frames. They have 4inch bulletproof glass windows and VERY thick steel armor. They also have a v-shaped bottom to deflect the blast of an IED. The MRAP's have a very good track record with IED's. According to our instructor, there has not been ONE death involving an MRAP and an IED explosion. They have been hit many times, but everyone has been safe inside. We saw a video of an MRAP taking a direct hit and it didn't even stop rolling; and after studying the pic above you can imagine why. Its 54000 lbs of steel and weapons. Oh, and one note for my friend Steve...its made by international! Its like a Scout on juice!!! After the MRAP familiarization (no they wouldn't let us drive it...YET), we moved on to radio training. Usually I would have found this fun, but the system we learned was very easy considering my SATCOM backgroud...but trust me, some folks had a very tough evening with it. We finished radio training around 2200 and had to rush home for a 0630 show time this morning...which brings me to powerpoint...
Today was the toughest day yet. We are beginning Hummer training...and yes we DO get to drive the Hummer. We started at 0700 with powerpoints on how to drive. We were taught things like, "The fuel gauge gives you a reading on how much fuel is in the gas tank", and "Turn on the front headlights after dark". That's about the extent of the training today. Problem was that we have to get 40 hours of training to get Hummer qualified!!! That's like at least 4X as much training as I got in H.S. driver training at good ol' Prosper High. The powerpoint lasted from 0700 to about 1530. The hard part was staying awake. The last 20 mins of class were spent actually outside going over the vehicles. Now tomorrow we are gonna get a chance to actually get in and drive those bad boys and I'm frothing at the bit! We get to drive them on road, off road, AND we get to drive them at night with night vision goggles in black out mode...now THAT will be a good post! Sorry folks but aside from the picture, this post is pretty tame. One story of note: Today in the Combat Lifesaver Course, someone passed out while getting an IV and cracked his head on the ground. Had to get 5 staples in his noodle. We will be doing that class next week and I have to admit, I'm NOT looking forward to that in any way...but I'm sure Y'ALL will be waiting at the keyboard all week to hear about my scared ass!!! -OUT-

Forecast: Lots of HEAT!!!

Today started at 0500 with the normal routine: Shower, Shave, Eat and be on the bus at 0700. It was raining this morning so we got a chance to break out some of the thousands of dollars of gear the Army and Air Force purchased for us. I gotta say to all you tax payers that your money is being well spent (at least in THIS capacity). We are outfitted to accomplish our mission in any enviornment, in any country in the world; day or night. We have Gortex jackets and pants for the rain. We have an 8 piece exteme cold weather system. We have integrated hydration systems. We have multitools, ACH kevlar helmets, carbon fiber pistol holsters and magazine carriers. We have bullet proof vests that integrate with a load bearing vest (LBE) to carry EVERYTHING. Its not even that uncomfortable with ceramic plates installed. We have brand new weapons (M9 pistol and M4 rifle) with red dot sights...you get the picture. So anyway, after catching the bus we went over to have our flak vests fitted and issued. That took about an hour. Then back home to integrate all of our equipment. Each piece of gear we have pretty much works with another piece of gear. The flak vest attaches to the LBE. My camelback attaches to the LBE (pretty much EVERYTHING attaches to the LBE!!!). Goggles and shades attach to the helmet so you always look cool (proof of this is coming soon). I have a carbon fiber pistol holster that attaches to my leg with an attached two magazine holder that attaches to my riggers belt that can be dropped in an instant with a turn of a latch. I have a tactical three point rifle harness that attaches to my LBE with a quick release D ring in case I have to quickly sling it to draw my sidearm or vice versa. There are also a TON of little things that attach to the LBE like knives, rifle magazine holders, grenade holders etc...and for the most part its comfortable.
After getting that all squared away, we went out for HEAT training. This training covers what to do in the event your squad is in a rollover type accident and have to egress a damaged HMVVE. They basically have a vehicle mounted on a machine that can roll it 360 degrees. So we watch a powerpoint presentation for about an hour, do some battle drills, and then its time to get into full battle rattle (told you you'd see this again), grab an m16 mock-up and get spun upside down and right side up! Then the vehicle comes to a stop and you find yourself completely updown and strapped in! It probably doesn't sound like that difficult a thing to open the door and get out, but TRUST ME, it is! The process goes like this: As the vehicle starts to roll over, you have to quickly unstrap the .50 Cal gunner from his mount in the middle of the vehicle and make sure he gets his head below the gun turret (unless he'll lose his head and shoulders). You have to do this by having the rear two guys grab the .50 gunner and pull him down into a bear hug while supporting his roll. The two front seat guys grab the gunner's legs and hold on to him so he doesn't a) lose his head and b) go bouncing around the inside of the hummer like a ragdoll. Once the roll is complete, and you are upside down, you then have to open the door, brace your weight with your arm, unlatch your seatbelt (thus slamming your weight onto the roof), and try to get out. Keep in mind that while you are doing this, instructors are YELLING at you and using gun fire simulators to direct your actions and further distract you from what you are doing, and YOU are returning fire and trying not to get you or your team killed in doing so. Very intense and very confusing and very disorienting...and FUN!!! Challenging but FUN! It was hard work though and when it was all over, we felt a little more confident that we could handle ourselves in the combat enviorment.
The class went a little long so we missed evening chow. I ended up eating an MRE with extra hot sauce and now here I am; filling you in on what I just did all day and explaining why I'm so damn tired right now. Having said that, I'm gonna wrap this up for the night. Got a long, but easy day tomorrow. I don't have to show up until noon so I'm looking forward to sleeping in. Remember, if you're reading this and you're even somewhat interested in following along, subscribe to my blog so you can be notified when I make any new posts. -OUT-

It has started...

Okay everyone. I'm going to begin this blog and see how long I can keep up with it. Let me first start with some background:

If you don't already know, I'm tasked to deploy to Iraq in November 09. I am tasked to be a part of a US Army Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT). That will require me to first spend about 5 weeks training with the Army, which is where I am now...Fort Dix, NJ. My hope with this blog is to sort of document my training for the next 5 weeks and then continue blogging about my actual deployment. I figured this was a much better way to communicate with everyone than sending out a hundred emails every week. It will also save me some time since the Army has us skipping and hopping all over the place at their whim...which is why we all having to learn to 'embrace the dix'.
Okay, so that is a very short synopsis of what's going on and why I'm writing this. I will backfill a ton of information as this goes on but if you have any questions, hit me up at mrearl@gmail.com ...so now on with the first post.

I've been here since Saturday. Nothing much has happened yet. I've met some really cool people and some not-so-cool people. Overall its been good. We haven't done any Army specific training yet except to attend some counter-insurgency training (COIN...you WILL see this again) and some Army 101 classes (learning army rank structure, slang, acronyms etc...). These Army guys are good dudes. I enjoy listening to most of it because EVERY one of the instructors has been there and done it. I am suprised at how much I respect what they've done and the fact that they are teaching us with their experiences. Unfortunately, not everyone has that same respect and, on more than one occassion, I've been embarrassed with the way some of my Air Force bretheren have treated our Army instructors. Its like they think that since the person speaking is from the Army, what they're saying isn't valuable. The truth is that the info is INVALUABLE, and could end up saving someone's life. Of particular embarrassment to me is how many people can sit and joke after hearing a story of how someone was killed in action or blown up. Anyway, I could go on and on about that, but all I'll say is that I'm VERY impressed with the way these men have held up and their willingness to share these personal experiences with us to SAVE OUR ASSES! That's really about it for tonite. I'll have some more pics and stuff to talk about tomorrow. On the agenda tomorrow is HEAT training. It includes putting on ALL of our gear (full battle rattle...you will see this again) and sitting in a HMVVE simulator while they flip us upside down. Then we practice getting out...fun eh? Anyway kids, that's it for
tonite. -OUT-