Relevance

Overall I have learned a lot of basic military skills which, even if I don’t actually have to exercise them, my level of knowledge will hopefully keep me from looking like an idiot when I enter “Army world” in Afghanistan.
The major themes of the course have become very clear: immediate first aid response, identifying and/or avoiding IEDs, and weapons familiarization. I am assuming this is a reflection of the reality of the wars these days.
On that note, one of the instructors in the combat lifesaver course told the class today that someone from the class in April had just been involved in an IED blast and lost a leg right after getting in country.
Being tucked away here, living and breathing the military life as I prepare to deploy, I have realized a few things (apart from the fact that I don’t like it). I have had an awareness that I generally haven’t talked about/thought about how soldiers, sailors, and airmen are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan every day. Even if a day goes by without a death, someone was having a close call, getting a limb blown off or getting their brain sloshed in their skull. Not that we forget, but it doesn’t seem like it is a prominent thing, because it doesn’t have that much relevance to our everyday lives. That’s not a profound insight but this sure is becoming relevant in my little world…

A month down (almost)

I think I have been here about four days shy of a full month. It’s gone by pretty fast when I think about it that way. I last left off my narrative before the road march. The march was about 4 miles on the road, two columns of USAF personnel in full battle rattle (I forgot my camera, but there wasn’t much to see anyway). We did the four miles in a touch over one hour. No one fell out and no one complained, but the next day about five or six people were limping from muscle pain and/or blisters. In the afternoon we completed HEAT training. HEAT stands for HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer, or, how to get out of an upside down Humvee. They wouldn’t let me take pictures but it is basically a Humvee cab that rotates 360 degrees. They strap four people in, spin you around several times and finish it up at 180 degrees. You have to egress (milspeak for “get out”; also “utilize” = use, “secure” = get, “personnel” = people, “ya trackin’ = do you understand, and I still don’t know what “hooah” means) from the cab as quickly as possible, making sure you quickly collect all four crew members and all of your rubber possessions, like a rubber laptop, rubber M16s, and rubber ammo cans. In real life you would be knocked unconscious by the real laptop, the real M16s, and the real ammo cans and you would burn to death, so the training seems pointless, but they claimed (and I quote) that it “increases your chance of surviving a Humvee rollover by 250%.” I’m not sure where they got that statistic, but I like it.

Looks just like Iraq, doesn't it?

This was our test-- a patrol through the woods and we get surpised by a guy dressed as an Arab carrying an RPG and an AK 47. Our task? To search him, put him in flex cuffs, and maintain 360 degree security, and then bring him back to base. I was lucky enough to be the ranking guy, so I was squad leader and didn't have to do the body search. They found a 9mm pistol, by the way.

By the way, this meadow was absolutely beautiful with red flowers, green grass... great day to be outside.

Grappling?

Class on how to search, cuff, and tag a detainee. They were actually pretty decent about the whole thing, without dehumanizing jokes and lots of reminders to be humane and firm but not harmful.

Front Toward Enemy

Today I actually enjoyed the training. It was very low key, I was in a small group and the instructors were efficient, professional, and pleasant. The classes covered detainee search and restraint, use of a radio system that is no longer actually used (no matter), and HOW TO DEPLOY CLAYMORE MINES! I thought that was funny too. Struck me as an odd mix of classes, but it was a beautiful day and we got to walk around in the tick infested woods for a few hours.