Another Week

This last week has been a busy one. High OPTEMPO, as we say in the Military, meaning Operational Tempo. The Training went on for 12 to 18 hours. It mainly consisted of Convoy Training and was topped off Saturday with a Live Fire (live rounds). There I was fortunate enough to send 7 magazines down the barrel of my M4 at pop up targets. For the most part of the training I was a Vehicle Commander, and then I was a Turret Gunner. I liked pulling the different positions in the Convoy. It gave me several angles to everything going on. Patrolling by convoy is something new to me. Way back when every thing was Dismounted Patrolling, which is a science, that I have seen almost in art form. Mounted Patrolling is more restricted in movement, but, covers more space. Over all it was a learning experience, my time went quickly and we all had fun. The only thing is I would like to do more and expand on it.

All through out the training there was interaction with Civilians On the Battlefield, COB’s. You may have seen that sort of thing on the news. It makes it more interesting and a better learning experience. It’s actually Civilians being paid by the Army to play the part. They get paid and we have better training…It’s a win win situation. Now the thing that has been aggravating is the weather. Mother Nature has taken a turn here in Wisconsin. Wednesday was sunny, and warm. Wearing the Body Armor, Helmet, gloves and knee pads inside a buttoned up Vehicle was rather stuffy. Sweat soaked my Uniform and rolled out from underneath my helmet. The next day was relief…on the extreme side. It turned windy and cold…Then it started to rain. I better not forget the sleet and snow. That was brief though. On the night run there was ice forming on our windshield. Friday we didn’t do any Convoy Training, but, there was a wind chill of 23 degree’s Fahrenheit. Saturday was more rain falling intermittently through out the day. I was trying to knock down pop up targets while wearing rain covered goggles over my Oakley Ballistic Glasses. While at the halt, I pulled my goggles off in order to see the things better. I have long eye lashes (Girls eat your heart out) and while wearing the combination of ballistic glasses and goggles they press against them. It’s uncomfortable. I suppose I’ll have to deal with that.

I spent a part of the morning crawling in the wet sand and mud. Doing the low crawl you have to have the side of your helmet against the ground. Now, I know better, but, I failed to tighten my chin strap enough. The metal mount for the Night Vision cut me across the bridge of my nose. It was minor, but, if you never get cut, scraped or bruised, you’r not training.

The day I went in the Army, nearly 20 years ago, I had a zit right on the same spot. I was miserable. It hurt like the Dickens (the Dickens must have been an extreme family; every thing is like the Dickens). Right before my Service Photo was taken I was told to step through a door and stand still, where two guys pumped boosters into both of my arms. My nose hurt worse than my shot filled arms. Then I had a Green Coat put over me and a Garrison cap slapped on my head. I was sat down in front of bright lights and a big flash. My nose hurt, my eyes watered. You can’t see the zit in the picture, but can see the look on my face.

On to other things…

The Appalachianist