Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Out Come the Big Guns
Today was great!!! We got to play with the big toys. Out came the 249 S.A.W, 240B, and 50 cal machine guns. We spent the morning learning each weapon system inside and out. I can break down a 240 and have it back together and function checked in a minute 30 seconds. Not too bad for an Air Force guy. We have these weapons mounted on our Humvees so it's nice to know how to use them and take care of them. After we spent enough time on those we moved our focus to the AK family. That is pretty common weapon system over there so we needed to be familiar with those too. The afternoon was time set a side for the gunners and assistant gunners to go play in the simulator. I'm an assistant gunner so I got to go have fun. I felt really comfortable with the 240B. The sights on the 50 cal take some getting used to. After I got the hang of it I was splashing targets at 900 meters. Hopefully all of this training will help because tomorrow we spend the day and night out on the range qualifying. This will also be a first because we will convoy out to the range. The staff has already said they will try to ambush us and hit us with I.E.Ds. We had our I.E.D class yesterday, so it's all coming together. Our instructor was very informative. He used clear roads before mounted combat patrols went out so he has some experience with the subject. He doesn't have a lot of love for the people that place them strangely enough...funny how that works.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Another day on the range
Now that the M-4 qualification was a success it was time to move onto the M-9. I use the term success loosely. Nobody got shot and everyone qualified, even if some people needed their magazines over loaded to do it. I was more worried about the M-9 because pistols usually tend to be harder. Normally not everyone shoots with a pistol, just the M-16 or the M-4.
The course was pleasantly different with pop up life like targets. In the Air Force paper targets are the norm. The targets pop up in ranges from 5 to 25 meters. In the qualifying round they actually line us up in our lane and have us move in on our targets shooting as we progress. It was really cool, but kind of unnerving at the same time because you have no idea what the skill level is of the people shooting beside you. It ended well with over 150 people qualifying in less than 4 hours.
The rest of the week was spent learning about detainees. We had some classroom time and then we got to practice our newly learned skills in a mock Afghani village scenario with an interpreter. It was a very eye opening experience.
It’s amazing to think I have been here for over a month now. I look back at what I’ve learned and feel confident about the progress our team has made in some areas. I also see how we have regressed in other areas. I am doing my best to keep us all on the same sheet of music. We are over half way done and I look forward to the challenges the Army has for me. I really look forward to shooting the 240, 249, MK-19, and the 50 cal at vehicles out on the range. I get paid to blow things up. I love this job!
The course was pleasantly different with pop up life like targets. In the Air Force paper targets are the norm. The targets pop up in ranges from 5 to 25 meters. In the qualifying round they actually line us up in our lane and have us move in on our targets shooting as we progress. It was really cool, but kind of unnerving at the same time because you have no idea what the skill level is of the people shooting beside you. It ended well with over 150 people qualifying in less than 4 hours.
The rest of the week was spent learning about detainees. We had some classroom time and then we got to practice our newly learned skills in a mock Afghani village scenario with an interpreter. It was a very eye opening experience.
It’s amazing to think I have been here for over a month now. I look back at what I’ve learned and feel confident about the progress our team has made in some areas. I also see how we have regressed in other areas. I am doing my best to keep us all on the same sheet of music. We are over half way done and I look forward to the challenges the Army has for me. I really look forward to shooting the 240, 249, MK-19, and the 50 cal at vehicles out on the range. I get paid to blow things up. I love this job!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Getting Army Qualified
This week was all about qualifying with our weapons the M-4 and the M-9. We learned everything we need to know about the how they function and how to care for them. We also concentrated on shooting fundamentals. Everything was really great except the class size. They really squeezed us in and that made it difficult when we bore sighted our M-4s with our PEQ-2 and M-68.
The day before we hit the range we all had to shoot on the simulator to check our grouping. It’s all computerized and was like a very expensive arcade game. You have to get your grouping within a certain area to make sure our fundamentals are strong. Some people had breathing issues and others had pull issues. I got a good grouping with the first round and felt pretty confident going to the range.
We had to qualify day fire and night fire with the M-4 so that was first on the range schedule. Any time I get to go to the range and fire I feel guilty for getting paid. I could have spent the whole day on the line. I was in the first group to zero in and got done pretty quickly. I zeroed with iron sights first and then with my M-68.From the zero line I got to go up the hill to the qualification line.
Army ranges are much different than Air Force ranges on so many levels. I got to do things on the Army range that would have shut down an Air Force range. And the language is much more colorful on an Army range. The target system is different too, but in a good way. We got to shoot at life like pop up targets that ranged from 50-300 meters in three different firing positions. I felt pretty good about shooting on a range I wasn’t familiar with and scored sharp shooter. I was done with day fire. Unfortunately, being in the first group means you have to wait for the rest of the people to go through. I was on the bench by 1000 and I was there until the last person qualified at 1530. It took the last person 11 times to finally get a qualifying score. After everyone was done we came back to Camp Funston to eat and get ready for night fire.
We headed back out to the range at 2000 to get night qualification done. Again, I got into the first firing group. Night firing was unlike anything I had ever done before. The targets popped up with a blinking light on the top. We wore our N.O.D.S (night vision) and lined up the laser on the targets and fired. There wasn’t any looking through a scope or sights. I could have used this system deer hunting several years ago! By 0030 everyone was qualified and we headed back to the dorms. It was a long day and we had formation at 0730 followed by a full day of classroom lecture. This was one of the hardest days to date to stay awake.
The class was Basic Fire Support which was very interesting. We learned the radio procedures for ground artillery and airstrikes. We got to play with another video game and call in fire to bomb strategic interactive targets. Zac would have loved it because it actually blows up your target and destroys it. Not your average day working in a pharmacy so I’m still having fun playing Army.
The day before we hit the range we all had to shoot on the simulator to check our grouping. It’s all computerized and was like a very expensive arcade game. You have to get your grouping within a certain area to make sure our fundamentals are strong. Some people had breathing issues and others had pull issues. I got a good grouping with the first round and felt pretty confident going to the range.
We had to qualify day fire and night fire with the M-4 so that was first on the range schedule. Any time I get to go to the range and fire I feel guilty for getting paid. I could have spent the whole day on the line. I was in the first group to zero in and got done pretty quickly. I zeroed with iron sights first and then with my M-68.From the zero line I got to go up the hill to the qualification line.
Army ranges are much different than Air Force ranges on so many levels. I got to do things on the Army range that would have shut down an Air Force range. And the language is much more colorful on an Army range. The target system is different too, but in a good way. We got to shoot at life like pop up targets that ranged from 50-300 meters in three different firing positions. I felt pretty good about shooting on a range I wasn’t familiar with and scored sharp shooter. I was done with day fire. Unfortunately, being in the first group means you have to wait for the rest of the people to go through. I was on the bench by 1000 and I was there until the last person qualified at 1530. It took the last person 11 times to finally get a qualifying score. After everyone was done we came back to Camp Funston to eat and get ready for night fire.
We headed back out to the range at 2000 to get night qualification done. Again, I got into the first firing group. Night firing was unlike anything I had ever done before. The targets popped up with a blinking light on the top. We wore our N.O.D.S (night vision) and lined up the laser on the targets and fired. There wasn’t any looking through a scope or sights. I could have used this system deer hunting several years ago! By 0030 everyone was qualified and we headed back to the dorms. It was a long day and we had formation at 0730 followed by a full day of classroom lecture. This was one of the hardest days to date to stay awake.
The class was Basic Fire Support which was very interesting. We learned the radio procedures for ground artillery and airstrikes. We got to play with another video game and call in fire to bomb strategic interactive targets. Zac would have loved it because it actually blows up your target and destroys it. Not your average day working in a pharmacy so I’m still having fun playing Army.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
To be continued...
I will catch up either Thursday or Friday. We have been busy this week firing and time is not a friend. Stay tuned for recap of this week...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Camp Mike Spann
We are falling like flies. Having forty guys in one bay means you share everything. We call it the CDC. If you have ever taken your children to daycare you know they can’t go a week without getting sick. Whatever “it” is “it” starts off as a cough and then settles in your chest. It’s very stubborn as it took me two weeks to feel normal again after I got it. I lived on Nyquil and Dayquil. This morning we had three people go to sick call and we have five people that are getting over “it”. I’m just glad I got it early and got it out of the way. That would be miserable out on the range.
Our training covers a lot of information, which is good for us. Unfortunately, it is not good when you are trying to blog about it. There are some things that are not sensitive and can be shared. I try to hit the high points without crossing the line. The last couple days I have been in a military intelligence class (I can already hear the jokes) and most of that is classified so I’m not able to tell you about it. I can tell you it was some really cool stuff and I have more toys to play with.
I found out some good information about where I will be heading in Afghanistan. I will be calling Camp Mike Spann home for the next six months. I have been in email contact with the person I am replacing and it sounds ok. The FOB is small and it’s in northern Afghanistan. I will be a RTO or a radio guy. It makes me glad I paid attention in com class. I did some research on it and the person it was named after. Mike Spann was the first person killed in the Afghanistan invasion. He was a former Marine Captain and a CIA guy. If you Google Arlington National cemetery Mike Spann you will find a story about a true American hero.
Our training covers a lot of information, which is good for us. Unfortunately, it is not good when you are trying to blog about it. There are some things that are not sensitive and can be shared. I try to hit the high points without crossing the line. The last couple days I have been in a military intelligence class (I can already hear the jokes) and most of that is classified so I’m not able to tell you about it. I can tell you it was some really cool stuff and I have more toys to play with.
I found out some good information about where I will be heading in Afghanistan. I will be calling Camp Mike Spann home for the next six months. I have been in email contact with the person I am replacing and it sounds ok. The FOB is small and it’s in northern Afghanistan. I will be a RTO or a radio guy. It makes me glad I paid attention in com class. I did some research on it and the person it was named after. Mike Spann was the first person killed in the Afghanistan invasion. He was a former Marine Captain and a CIA guy. If you Google Arlington National cemetery Mike Spann you will find a story about a true American hero.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Driver's Training 101
I came to this training knowing that the Army has a different way of doing things. Since I have been here I have been reminded of this several times and that’s okay. Thanks to my wife, the info I gathered before departing Elmo has prepared me. It would be easy for me to get wrapped around the axle about the training schedule, but in some cases you just have to go along with it. This week was not any different.
We came back from our four day pass and jumped into driving training. It was broken up into a morning session and an evening session. During the morning session we learned about the 1151, or the up armored humvee. It may look big from the outside, but gear up a 6’2”, 200lb guy and shove him in a seat and it gets tight really quick. After we learned the ins and outs we took our turn with the HEAT. That stands for a roll over simulator somehow. We get strapped into the simulator and get spun around a couple times and end up upside down. The goal is to undo your seat belt, right yourself and open the door and get out. Being tall helped because I wedged my head against the roof to hold myself in place. I was always one of the first ones out. After that fun we got to go out on the tank trails and drive for awhile. I got to drive through a pretty good sized creek. I was thinking about Zac the whole time. Everyone managed to get through the daytime driving okay and we were released until 1900 that night. We all returned after our small hiatus to get acquainted with our NODS (night vision goggles) to take our night drive. We had a lot of fun with that training and then came the waiting. We drove the same trails, but it took 2 hours longer than the day drive. Nobody drove off the trails so I consider it a successful night anyway. And what do we get for a successful night of driving? We got a long walk home to the dorms. And as strange as it may sound it’s getting easier to carry around that extra gear weight.
We came back from our four day pass and jumped into driving training. It was broken up into a morning session and an evening session. During the morning session we learned about the 1151, or the up armored humvee. It may look big from the outside, but gear up a 6’2”, 200lb guy and shove him in a seat and it gets tight really quick. After we learned the ins and outs we took our turn with the HEAT. That stands for a roll over simulator somehow. We get strapped into the simulator and get spun around a couple times and end up upside down. The goal is to undo your seat belt, right yourself and open the door and get out. Being tall helped because I wedged my head against the roof to hold myself in place. I was always one of the first ones out. After that fun we got to go out on the tank trails and drive for awhile. I got to drive through a pretty good sized creek. I was thinking about Zac the whole time. Everyone managed to get through the daytime driving okay and we were released until 1900 that night. We all returned after our small hiatus to get acquainted with our NODS (night vision goggles) to take our night drive. We had a lot of fun with that training and then came the waiting. We drove the same trails, but it took 2 hours longer than the day drive. Nobody drove off the trails so I consider it a successful night anyway. And what do we get for a successful night of driving? We got a long walk home to the dorms. And as strange as it may sound it’s getting easier to carry around that extra gear weight.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Four Day pass
I am back. We all survived our first four day pass. I got to see most of my family. I got to meet my nephew and niece for the first time. My brother and I took his Mustang out for a spin. We have to make that a tradition, Brian. I ate some great food (thanks for the cookies, Jamie). I had an awesome weekend. I miss Jill and the kids terribly, but it was nice to go home. Mom and Dad thank you for everything. You’re the best. I only wish I would've been able to catch up with the Schwenkers. Hopefully next time. Now it’s time to get back into the training mindset. It’s back to business at 0600 tomorrow.
P.S. Thanks for the text, sweetheart. Six more weeks.
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