New Perspective

This last week in the field has put a new perspective on A LOT of things. The three main things we did were the Gas Chamber, MOUT, and Convoy Operations. The Gas Chamber is what it sounds like, we get exposed to CS Nerve Gas. The second is MOUT, Military Operation in Urban Territories. We do a lot of clearing buildings and house to house searches. Then we did Convoy Operations were we simulate convoys that are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan with IED's and the like. 

The reason that this all a 'new perspective' is that as a civilian you hear about everything that goes on in the military and our current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to actually put it to practice, to simulate your convoy being hit by an IED and taking care of casualties, returning fire, getting a medevac. Also being part of a team that clears buildings. Kicking in doors is cool and all, but its pretty scary knowing you are kicking in this door and have no idea about the inside of the house. I have A LOT more respect for our troops now that I have done a FEW things that they have. Even with a four man team, and being locked and loaded with your weapon ready to go, entering that house not knowing what awaits you  is an unpleasant feeling to say the least. CS gas sucks big time. It burns like a horrible sunburn that someone is slapping. Then when you take off your mask and the gas chokes you all you can think of is getting out of the room. We have one more week of the field and then we are done! Time to go to bed, an early morning awaits me!

High Speed

So I finished my first week in the field and am getting ready for week number two. The first week was really interesting. We did a lot of Warrior Tasks which included familiarization with the M16 and M9 which included functions test and disassembly and reassembly of both. Using the sincgar radio (the one you see in the movies, but not the big back pack ones like in WWII, the ones in Vietnam) how to call in a 9-line medevac  www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/First_Aid/9-line-medevac-request.shtml 

So basically a 9-line would work like this, I pick up the radio and say this (or something very similar): Me: "Dustoff 3 alpha this is Bulldog 6 requesting a medevac"

Evac: "This is Dustoff 3 alpha go ahead Bulldog 6"

Me: "Line 1: NH387234839483 Line 2: 40205.8 Bulldog 6 Line 3: 2 Alpha break 1 Delta Line 4: Bravo break Delta Line 5: Alpha 2 Break Bravo 1 Line 6: Echo Line 7: Charlie Line 8: Alpha"

That is how medevacs are called in. Notice no line 9 because there was no threat of nuclear biological or chemical agents. We also did day and night land navigation which including learning to read a map (and not the kind you get a wall-mart) and doing Mounted (vehicle) land navigation with a GPS (not your car gps, its a lot different)

We had no running water, so no showers. And 5 days of doing training in 101-106 degree heat can make for some stinky soldiers. But it was okay, we are in a FOB (forward operating base) so it simulates being deployed in a non-industrialized area. So imagine what the TV show MASH looked like and its a pretty good description. We eat standing up, or on bleachers if you are lucky enough to get a spot. We get two 'hots' a day and an MRE. The hot meals aren't hot. For breakfast we get cold scrambled eggs, cold sausage, a dinner roll from the previous night and orange drink, not juice, drink. Then for lunch we get an MRE (meals ready to eat, also known as meals rejected by ethiopians) some of them are HORRIBLE, but some are not to bad. I had one that was 'vegetable omelet' it was basically a sponge with egg flavoring. It was hard to eat. But the rest have been okay. We drink a TON of water. I am starting to get sick of it so I bought flavoring packets. Hope that helps this week.

I labeled this post "high speed" it is a term we use to describe people. It means you go above and beyond, or you do really well. Like special forces and rangers are definitely high speed. But normal soldiers can be high speed too. I have been doing my best to be high speed. Luckily I have a good Battle Buddy who also wants to be high speed. For instance on day and night land navigation you only have to get 3 of the 4 points. Well me and my battle (short for battle buddy, just basically an accountability partner) got all 4 points on both when a lot of people only did 3 and went home. It took a lot longer, had a lot more walking associated with it. But it felt a lot better doing it 100%. I also qualified as Expert on the M9 as well. So I have been trying to do the best I can and all but my PT test I have been doing really well. But hopefully that will change and I will do better on my next PT test so I will really be 'High Speed'

This week coming up we do convoys and we are going to have to plan the convoys, plan the routes, plan for all the alternatives and execute it. There will be Opfor (opposing force, or the bad guys) who will ambush us, we will also have to deal with IED's. So we are going to be simulating a lot of combat. Plus we are going to the Gas chamber to be exposed to some CS gas. Not looking forward to the gas...

All in all it has been a good experience in the field. But carrying around 40 pounds of gear plus a weapon at all times gets to sucking in the heat. But it could be a lot worse so I am not complaining. But its off to bed for now I gotta be in formation at 0430.

Goodbye nursing, hello sniper...

Yesterday was a great day, not only is it friday but I also qualified as "Expert" on the M16A2 rifle. Which is the highest you can get. For those of you who are unfamiliar this is that rifle:

  

  

The picture is actually me field stripping my M16.  It was really cool to learn how to do all that, and really interesting because you need no tools, and you can strip it and put it back together so quickly. After we learned this we went over some basic marksmanship and techniques. I guess I was paying attention because it helped. When we qualified with them we had 40 targets that would pop-up randomly, some as close as 50 meters and some as far as 300. A figure 300 meters away is but a speck! But I hit everyone of them which was surprising cause I could barely even see them. So when we were in a kneeling position it was very difficult to put the sight at center mass and keep it steady. You naturally will move the rifle because of your muscles, then you will move it because you breathe, so when aiming that far maximum muscle control and breathing is so important. It took quite a bit of concentration. We had some soldiers complain about shooting because we are healthcare providers. But they tell us from day one that we are a soldier first, a warrior second, and officer third, and a healthcare provider fourth. And that that is how it HAS to be. You can never switch your roles and begin to think any other way. Yes we are here to save people, but the first people we save are AMERICAN soldiers. If that means having to take up arms and defend then thats what you do. We defend, protect, heal, comfort, save soldiers. To do this adequately may take many different approaches, you may start IV's, perform life saving measures, just hold a hand, or even grab a weapon and set up a defensive position. All of those are ways of taking care of soldiers and thats what we are here for. "Ready to fight, trained to save"

Sorry if that was a bit of a soap box but it really got under my skin when people were saying that. You joined the United States Army, not the peace corps. 

On a side note, we went to a karaoke place last night and there were a ton of soldiers there (we don't go out in uniform but you can tell who is who by the haircuts) someone played Toby Keiths "American Soldier" As you can imagine the place erupted with soldiers singing. It was pretty emotional...

 

HOOAH!

Hooah (hü-ä or who-ah) is a U.S. Army battle cry. It is used by US Army soldiers "Referring to or meaning anything and everything except no."

We say this a lot. Everything is hooah this and hooah that. "You all ready to take a break?" "hooah!" "Did you get that paper work done?" "hooah!" "Where are all my nurse corps soldiers?" "HOOAH!" (in group unison) "Hooah?" "Hooah!" Almost every response is hooah. APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) today didnt go as expected. I ran my two-mile to slow. But that was a common problem, everyone said that they ran a lot slower than expected. I will be fine when I re-test. Just gotta keep working. Oh and during my push-up event a fire ant was biting my left pinky... I guess thats what "Army Strong" means. It hurt, but I wasn't allowed to stop or to pick my hand up to move it or anything or else I would have failed that event. 

I have had a couple of request about a mailing address. It has to be labeled exactly as follows:

2Lt. Grant Young

2250 Stanley Road

Unit # 464

Ft. Sam Houston, TX 78234-6404

I get to sleep in till 0430 tomorrow morning! Formation and PT isn't until 0530. That feels so late now! 

18 hour days...

These 18 hour days are getting old very quickly. But I really can't complain too much, it could be much much worse. It has cooled down a bit, but with that came some humidity. I like the 103 degree dry heat much more than the 96 degree humid heat! We are still having a lot of in-processing nightmares. There is a ton of paperwork and redoing paperwork. Kinda frustrating but hey I am getting paid to fill out papers. The first half of our Company took the APFT today. A lot failed, they mostly said they just couldn't breathe during the run because of the heat and humidity. I am sure I will have this same problem but hopefully I can push through it. The Cadre (instructors) said they expect over 1/3 of us not to pass... thanks for the confidence Cadre. We had a lot of classroom time today. A lot of military stuff like leadership, authority, making and receiving opords and opplans (operation orders and operation plans) It isn't too bad but it is a lil harder for us who are not prior service. There are TONS of acronyms to learn. Everything is a three letter abbreviation or some form of short hand. It takes a while to get used to all of them, and you have to constantly pay attention because it is literally like a foriegn language sometimes. This is all for now, gotta get some sleep because my APFT is bright and early (actually its not very bright at 4am!)

Hurry up and wait!

You always hear how the Army is 'hurry up and wait' well thats very, VERY true. If we aren't wait walking from one side of the post to the other in full ACU's, backpacks, and camelbacks in 103 degree heat then we are sitting in a room with a handful of paper work marinating in our own sweat that we just accumulated. We are continually told to 'acclimatize' which is a completely made up word I think. Basically we need exposure to the Category 5 heat so we don't get a heat stroke or heat exhaustion. By the way there are only 5 levels for the heat category, way to go all out Texas! Everything is really cool though, free all you can eat food at the DFAC (dining facility) tax free everything at the PX (post exchange kinda like a wal-mart with a mall) 

My APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) is Tuesday at 0430. It shouldn't be too bad, but its still 80 degrees at 0400 so the heat may effect my times. Oh well. We were assigned our Platoons today. We will be in these for the duration of OBC. I am in 6th Platoon 4th Squad Bravo Team. So that means to REALLY identify me it takes like a paragraph because I am 2Lt. Young with Alpha Company at 187th Medical Battalion 6th Platoon 4th Squad Bravo Team. And after writing all that I am exhausted. So I am going to bed. Gotta be up at 0400! 

First day musings

First of all, Texas is hot. And I don't mean hot like 'man I cant believe its 93 degrees' I mean hot like this: 

Yeah that was taken at 7 o' clock at night too! Thats the for real temperature, the 'feels like' is 110-112. blah. But its not too bad because it isnt full of that good ole Tennessee humidity (not yet anyway) 

The Army has put us up in a La Quinta Inn for now. Supposedly till August 1st. Who knows what we are doing after that. I don't have a roommate, and neither does anyone else, which is really interesting cause I have two beds. Or as I like to refer to them as a place to sleep and a place to throw all my junk onto. (no more floor mom) Today has been a bunch of nothing really. Got our lodging assignments, a welcome packet, and was told to be back in PT uniform at 4:15. No, not 4:15 in the afternoon, the A.M. version... 0415! I have no idea what they want to do with us at that early, or why we need to be in PT uniform, but I fear it. 

I did meet some cool people today though, some RN's, some medical support people. One guy has been here before so he was our tour guide through downtown at the river walk and the Alamo. And for all us TN natives, they people I was with was really surprised to know how much we know about Davey Crockett. Some of them had never even heard of him. Ha, it was drilled into our heads as children. "Davey, Davey Crockett, King of the wild frontier..." you know you know the song! 

I have a wonderful view from my hotel room though!

Oh how nice!

Well thats it for now, there hasn't been much to post about. I am sure tomorrow will be full of adventure!