The End Is Near

Norman and "Doc"

Wax rounds meet arm

Wax rounds meet leg

My driver hard at work

Our last training mission

We're at the end of our training and they saved the best for last. This week we did close combat marksmanship and urban operations. Close combat consisted of shooting 25 meters or less at bad guys. We practiced walking, turning, acquiring our target and quickly engaging. It was broken up into two different areas. The first one was on the range and everyone had a lane. The idea was to get everyone to identify the enemy target and two tap them with our M-4, drop our M-4 to the side and draw our M-9 and two tap the second target. We did this during several scenarios and not one person had a negligent discharge. I was nervous when we first started. The Air Force would never trust this many people on a range spinning around and firing at the same time.

The second half was an area set up with a building with windows, barricades, and a truck. We ran this area in pairs and started in a low crawl position. The range person would yell at us to get up and we had to run to the building and position ourselves to the inside of the windows. Then we took a defensive position and fired four shots at targets 100 meters out. Then we changed sides and fired left handed the same way. We did this at the barricades and then across the hood of the truck. It was quite the rush because they had smoke and mini explosions going off all the while. This would get us ready for our next section.

Our last section was urban operations. We learned how to clear a structure in teams of 4 or 5. The capstone to the day was clearing a house with a couple of "bad" guys holding up somewhere inside. Did I mention we got to shoot wax rounds at the bad guys? Unfortunately they were shooting at us too. Our first round went as expected and we got shot up pretty good. I have to give the privates that were playing the bad guys credit. They could shoot! I got pegged in the leg 5 times while running from the top of a stair well into a room across the hall. Thank God for body armor because they were going for crotch shots. I love my groin protector. And I'm sure Jill is thankful for it too.

Our second run went much better now that we knew what to expect. There was still some hesitation from some team members that didn't want to get shot, but a little colorful persuasion from other team members helped them find the motivation they were lacking. I took a couple hits in the arm before I took out one of the bad guys hiding in a closet. We walked away a little bruised, but educated on the importance of clearing all areas of a structure. Now all we have left is clean up and turn in. It will be nice to slow down for a few days. Which means in a few days I get to go home and see my family. It's been harder than I expected to be away from them. I don't know how people do this on a regular basis. I know Jill and I don't always see eye to eye on everything, but I appreciate every minute I have with her and the kids.

This will probably be my last post until I get in country. I have to see what the Internet situation is like there and that will determine how often I post. I'm glad I could keep everyone that followed along entertained and hopefully you got an idea of what my time at Ft. Riley has been like. I appreciate the Army and everything they do, but holy crap I am glad that I am blue!