Our First Patrol Mission

Waiting to roll out on our mission

MK-19 training rounds
Those little specks are targets to shoot at

This is how we shot the MK-19

This is Lt. Minick's bunk. He went out of town for the weekend. We re-decorated for him.

This week started with our final day at the range, but with a twist. It was worked into a mission we had to plan. Our day started with a a trip to the range to shoot the MK-19 and then on to two different villages. One village was friendly and one was not. Very typical of what we could see on our summer vacation. We did our mission brief and loaded up to head to the range, our first destination. I was the truck commander for truck 3. I have a driver (that I hand chose myself) and a gunner. It's alot different than taking a trip to Wal-mart. I keep in contact with all the other trucks, check speed and distance, watch for I.E.D's, call in med evacs, I.E.D's, and dismount if needed. Jill would be so proud of my multitasking skills. We made it to the range without getting hit, so everyone could relax for awhile.

Our time at the range was the shortest of any ranges, but it was still fun. We got to get acquainted with a grenade launcher and shoot practice rounds at targets form 400-800 meters. That went really quick and then it was alot of waiting for our turn to head down the road to our villages. The call came and we mounted up to roll.

We didn't even get 100 meters out of the parking lot and we came up on an I.E.D. After clearing it with E.O.D. we moved on to the friendly village. It didn't seem that friendly to me. It got alot more friendly when our gunners started pointing their weapons at them. There were still people on phones making things very realistic and we knew we were going to drive into something. Two more I.E.Ds later and we were in the next village. We hooked up with some ANA troops and dismounted to check things out. I felt better knowing my gunner was keeping an eye on me. We gathered our intel and headed down the road and that's when it hit the fan. The truck in front of me got hit by an I.E.D and we started taking fire from both sides. The "insurgents" were shooting at us with paint balls. My driver took one right in the windshield. My gunner took out two bad guys and we pulled up and defended the blown up truck and ended up taking out the rest of the bad guys. Our mission Endexed and we rolled back to Camp Funston.

It was an educational trip and a taste of what we will be seeing in the weeks to come. Unfortunately the rest of the week is classroom and will be very boring. Bring on the coffee!