We are here in Germany and have settled into what the Army calls a normal Battle Rhythm. For the most part we are over our jet lag and have begun to have a regular daily schedule: PT, chow, training, chow again, off to bed, with some integration with the Brigade we are working with for JRMC.
The day in Germany starts with some PT, right now there is a small gym here, so Superman is happy and there are some tank trails to run on, so I am happy. I took my first good run this morning in about a week: Took a right at the parking lot, hit a tank trail and just kept going. I do have to say, there is one thing that is better than running along a machine gun range when the machine guns are rocking: Running next to a column of tanks or tank-like vehicles as they are driving by. First of all, you can hear them about mile away, it was a nice, quiet morning, then you can hear a distant rumble, then a good solid sustained rumble, then the ground starts to shake and the tanks come around the corner. There was probably a company or so of Bradley Fighting Vehicles (tank-like vehicles, armored personnel carriers, APCs) rumbling by me. Pretty cool, they were probably thinking “who is that dumb-ass out here running in the middle of nowhere?” and I was thinking “Bet they wish they were running with me right now.”
After PT, a quick shower then off to the Techno Café for breakfast. There are probably about 6 chow halls here on the FOB, most of them are run by a regular Army battalion mess section, except for one. The one that is not is run by three contracted German cooks and we call it the Techno Café. At every meal they play very loud, techno and trance type music and I have been told that it is typical German music and everyone here loves it. Now, being of German descent, I can’t really get into it, so I am not sure that everyone here in Germany loves it. But, the cooks seem to like it, and there is nobody else in the chow hall, so we can sit and eat without a pile of soldiers crowding up around us.
Each meal in the chow hall is a standard Army meal, mostly out of a box and easily prepared. OK food, not the best, not the worst I have had. The worst was our first month in Haiti (My SF Team was stuck supporting the Brigade Headquarters) when the brigade’s cooks cooked the same box of supper every night for a month: Chili and Rice, corn as the vegetable and a rock hard chocolate brownie for desert (13 years later, I still remember it). To this day, I have no desire to eat chili. Every night for a month, we would line up with the anticipation that the Army chow elves had delivered a different meal to us, just to be let down like a kid at Christmas that didn’t get quite what he wanted. After about a week, the cooks didn’t even bother to apologize, they just put it on the plate.
Nowadays, along with the standard Army meal comes a pile of help yourself supplements: Rice Krispie bars, Nutrigrain bars, Pop Tarts, Reeses Pieces, bags of cookies, fruit, just about anything sweet. SFC T (Smooth) asked me if I was happy with all of the sweets, I told him that yes, right now I am, but after a week of the same things, I may want to cut back. Of course, if I can keep knocking out a run in the mornings, I will endure.
This afternoon, we finally got to do some driving around and knock out some training on our standard battle drills. A battle drill is similar to a football play for a specific situation that comes up. Today we did our first three battle drills: React to Contact, React to an Ambush and React to an Obstacle. We did pretty well beings how this was the first day that we have actually worked with our vehicles and radios at the same time. Tomorrow, we will knock a few more of the more difficult battle drills and add a few different elements into the training. Should be interesting.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
On to Germany
The team has deployed to Hohenfels, Germany to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JRMC) to work with a US Brigade Combat Team (BCT) that is going to Iraq. We left FT Riley, KS on 13 AUG and arrived in Germany on the 14th. The actual movement was pretty uneventful (outside of a little excitement when our weapons cases didn’t show up with our baggage, but that was quickly sorted out: The German security service wanted to move the cases separately from the rest of the luggage.) I am good with the extra security and all, just let me know BEFORE all of the luggage is gone and they are shutting down the baggage claim area.
JRMC is a training event based around a US BCT using external evaluators and realistic OPFOR. Most everyone in the Army has been to a training center like this before, either at FT Irwin, CA (National Training Center) or at FT Polk, LA (Joint Readiness Training Center). This one just happens to be in a foreign country.
We draw vehicles, radios and other equipment tomorrow, then we will start team level training until all of the official training events start up.
TEAM NOTE: SFC C will not be deploying with us to Iraq, he has some back issues and ended up with some stress fractures in his foot. SFC C is a great soldier, total team player and will be a solid asset to his next unit, we are all sad to see him go.
We also had to leave MSG P (Sweetface) behind while his stomach gets checked out. He should join back up with us when we click our heels together, say "there is no place like home, there is no place like home, there is no place like home" and get back to KS.
Two new team names have been assigned:
MAJ L will now be known as Superman. On several occasions, he has swooped in at the last minute and executed a super human feat. First on the night .50 caliber machine gun range, we had to have two firers qualify with the weapon. MAJ L was the first qualifier, and SFC T was supposed to be the second, unfortunately, SFC T was having an off night with the system. On the last possible firing order, MAJ L coached up SFC T well enough that he qualified. His next superhuman feat was as we were traveling to Germany. Somehow he managed to talk an innocent travel agent into upgrading some of our tickets from coach to first class for the flight from Detroit to Germany, huge difference.
SFC T will now be known as Smooth. Some of the ways SFC T handles situations make it seem like he is moving very smoothly. On the converse of that, when he does something that is kind of humorous, it is pointed out that whatever he did was not so smooth. Case and point: Our bus driver in Germany stopped at a McDonald’s for lunch on the way from the airport to Hohenfels Training Area. The rest of the team manages to order basic McDonald’s food, broken German, broken English, broken McDonaldish and we got pretty much what we wanted. SFC T, after flying all nightt, riding on a bus for 4 hours and being immersed in the intricate German culture of a McDonalds, could only manage to point to the picture on the menu and wait for the cashier to confirm his order. Pretty Smooth.
JRMC is a training event based around a US BCT using external evaluators and realistic OPFOR. Most everyone in the Army has been to a training center like this before, either at FT Irwin, CA (National Training Center) or at FT Polk, LA (Joint Readiness Training Center). This one just happens to be in a foreign country.
We draw vehicles, radios and other equipment tomorrow, then we will start team level training until all of the official training events start up.
TEAM NOTE: SFC C will not be deploying with us to Iraq, he has some back issues and ended up with some stress fractures in his foot. SFC C is a great soldier, total team player and will be a solid asset to his next unit, we are all sad to see him go.
We also had to leave MSG P (Sweetface) behind while his stomach gets checked out. He should join back up with us when we click our heels together, say "there is no place like home, there is no place like home, there is no place like home" and get back to KS.
Two new team names have been assigned:
MAJ L will now be known as Superman. On several occasions, he has swooped in at the last minute and executed a super human feat. First on the night .50 caliber machine gun range, we had to have two firers qualify with the weapon. MAJ L was the first qualifier, and SFC T was supposed to be the second, unfortunately, SFC T was having an off night with the system. On the last possible firing order, MAJ L coached up SFC T well enough that he qualified. His next superhuman feat was as we were traveling to Germany. Somehow he managed to talk an innocent travel agent into upgrading some of our tickets from coach to first class for the flight from Detroit to Germany, huge difference.
SFC T will now be known as Smooth. Some of the ways SFC T handles situations make it seem like he is moving very smoothly. On the converse of that, when he does something that is kind of humorous, it is pointed out that whatever he did was not so smooth. Case and point: Our bus driver in Germany stopped at a McDonald’s for lunch on the way from the airport to Hohenfels Training Area. The rest of the team manages to order basic McDonald’s food, broken German, broken English, broken McDonaldish and we got pretty much what we wanted. SFC T, after flying all nightt, riding on a bus for 4 hours and being immersed in the intricate German culture of a McDonalds, could only manage to point to the picture on the menu and wait for the cashier to confirm his order. Pretty Smooth.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Little Weekend Break
We had our first real weekend this past weekend, and we took advantage of it. Most of the guys flew home a few of us went to KC. I went to KC for two days - - The big events were a KC Royals baseball game against the Boston Red Sox and a visit to the National WW I museum.
There were 5 guys from the New England area that really wanted to go see the Red Sox play, so I tagged along. To be honest, I can watch baseball games live, it is fun to be part of the crowd and all, but on TV, no joy. As far as the game went, I was pulling for the Royals, my brother in law Wade is a fan, I think that rubbed off on me. My favorite American League baseball teams in order are: The Texas Rangers (used to live down there), the NY Yankees (gotta love Derek Jeter going headfirst into the seats for a foul ball), the KC Royals and the Red Sox (from my Boston Marathon adventure). Tim Wakefield was pitching against the Royals, so there was a bonus for me. Wakefield is the same age as me (43) and is one of the last knuckleballers in the game. He was on, and the Royals couldn't get a bat on his pitches. The Royals went down, but they tried hard and hustled. We were sitting on the 3d base side, so there were a lot of Red Sox fans there and the guys from New England got to hang out with folks from where they were from. Pretty cool.
I started the next day off with a nice run through Memorial Park in KC and back into some of the neighborhoods behind the Crown Center, about 7 miles worth. When you think of KC, you don't really think of hills, but there were some good ones there, they didn't really rival the Sisters on FT Bragg, but they did a number on me. I have been running at FT Riley, but the only course that we have is pancake flat, down by the Kansas river. The hills woke me up. I ran by a bust of GEN Pershing and through Memorial Park, pretty cool. Lots of folks don't know this but GEN Pershing was a military instructor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, my Alma mater, so it was a extra special for me.
The highlight of the day I was the National WW I museum (admission is free for active duty and retired military) http://www.libertymemorialmuseum.org/ and spent the whole day there. What an awesome museum! The folks in KC have a great resource and memorial of a very important time in the world's history. The museum is an underground museum, you go through some huge, heavy bronze doors into the museum. I thought that added to the environment of the museum, most of WW I was fought in trenches and the underground effect created by the museum reminded me of that. There is some very good architecture above the museum, the tower gives a good view of KC and there are two halls that flank the tower, one is a exhibit of the artwork that came from the soldiers in WW I and the other holds a very impressive mural painted to commemorate the end of the war.
If you really sit down and think about it. this was the war that woke up several of the conflicts we are still dealing with today. I read a column by Thomas Friedman a few years back that postulated that the end of the Cold War was really the end of WW II. I think he missed it by a war, and it is not quite over yet. A lot of the conflicts that the world is facing today are a result of the colonial practices or from the artificial borders that were established in the Mid East and Africa. In my opinion, WW I also marked the beginning of Arab Nationalism. There were a lot of things to think about as I went through the museum.
After the museum, we had pizza at Minsky's Pizza, a KC original pizza then headed back to FT Riley. This week we are getting ready for our trip to Germany where we will take part in a Joint Readiness Maneuver Center rotation, working with an Army Brigade Combat Team (BCT) that is getting ready to go to Iraq. They aren't the BCT we will be working with, but I am sure it will be a good training experience for everyone involved.
There were 5 guys from the New England area that really wanted to go see the Red Sox play, so I tagged along. To be honest, I can watch baseball games live, it is fun to be part of the crowd and all, but on TV, no joy. As far as the game went, I was pulling for the Royals, my brother in law Wade is a fan, I think that rubbed off on me. My favorite American League baseball teams in order are: The Texas Rangers (used to live down there), the NY Yankees (gotta love Derek Jeter going headfirst into the seats for a foul ball), the KC Royals and the Red Sox (from my Boston Marathon adventure). Tim Wakefield was pitching against the Royals, so there was a bonus for me. Wakefield is the same age as me (43) and is one of the last knuckleballers in the game. He was on, and the Royals couldn't get a bat on his pitches. The Royals went down, but they tried hard and hustled. We were sitting on the 3d base side, so there were a lot of Red Sox fans there and the guys from New England got to hang out with folks from where they were from. Pretty cool.
I started the next day off with a nice run through Memorial Park in KC and back into some of the neighborhoods behind the Crown Center, about 7 miles worth. When you think of KC, you don't really think of hills, but there were some good ones there, they didn't really rival the Sisters on FT Bragg, but they did a number on me. I have been running at FT Riley, but the only course that we have is pancake flat, down by the Kansas river. The hills woke me up. I ran by a bust of GEN Pershing and through Memorial Park, pretty cool. Lots of folks don't know this but GEN Pershing was a military instructor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, my Alma mater, so it was a extra special for me.
The highlight of the day I was the National WW I museum (admission is free for active duty and retired military) http://www.libertymemorialmuseum.org/ and spent the whole day there. What an awesome museum! The folks in KC have a great resource and memorial of a very important time in the world's history. The museum is an underground museum, you go through some huge, heavy bronze doors into the museum. I thought that added to the environment of the museum, most of WW I was fought in trenches and the underground effect created by the museum reminded me of that. There is some very good architecture above the museum, the tower gives a good view of KC and there are two halls that flank the tower, one is a exhibit of the artwork that came from the soldiers in WW I and the other holds a very impressive mural painted to commemorate the end of the war.
If you really sit down and think about it. this was the war that woke up several of the conflicts we are still dealing with today. I read a column by Thomas Friedman a few years back that postulated that the end of the Cold War was really the end of WW II. I think he missed it by a war, and it is not quite over yet. A lot of the conflicts that the world is facing today are a result of the colonial practices or from the artificial borders that were established in the Mid East and Africa. In my opinion, WW I also marked the beginning of Arab Nationalism. There were a lot of things to think about as I went through the museum.
After the museum, we had pizza at Minsky's Pizza, a KC original pizza then headed back to FT Riley. This week we are getting ready for our trip to Germany where we will take part in a Joint Readiness Maneuver Center rotation, working with an Army Brigade Combat Team (BCT) that is getting ready to go to Iraq. They aren't the BCT we will be working with, but I am sure it will be a good training experience for everyone involved.
G Family note: Fantasy Football season has started. For those of you that aren't G family members, this is the beginning of the competition between me and my brother in law Wade (I think my other brother in law Mark may join us this year). Wade did extensive research into our Fantasy Football history and reminded me that he has beaten me a couple more years than I have beaten him (7-5 or 8-6 I think?).
BUT, I have won the league one time (got the check to prove it), came in second one time, and finished in the top 7 (in the money) another year. He has a sixth place finish or something un-impressive like that to his credit. Whenever he starts barking about him beating me in a few years, I point out I have the Lombardi trophy on my shelf, along with a couple of good playoff victories to my credit. Kind of like a team that has never been to the Super Bowl or won the Super Bowl claiming that their regular season record is more important than hauling in the hardware. Not sure how the deployment will affect my performance this year, but I am feeling pretty confident. If anyone is interested in joining the Fantasy Football league we are in drop me a note on here or send me an email at FRGOTT2@yahoo.com or contact our league commissioner Tim at: Tslippin@cox.net.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
A Little More Training
The past couple of days have been pretty good training for the team. After the excitement of the ranges we settled into some classroom stuff and a little bit of driving training.
The classroom stuff has been specialty training for the different disciplines on the team ranging from Advanced Communications for SSG W to Logistics Training for CPT P and SFC R, Advanced Coallition Effects for SFC T and MAJ D and digital battlefield training for me, MAJ L and MSG P. Throw in some more medical training and for SFC J and military intelligence training for CPT F and SFC C and we have pretty much the whole team covered. Most of the guys are letting me know the training is ok, nothing they weren't expecting or out of their ability sets, so that is a good thing.
The digital battlefield (aka: Blue Force Tracking (if you go to Wikipedia and type in blue force tracking it gives a pretty good run down of what we have. Here is the link to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Force_Tracking) training can be confusing, mostly because it is something new to me (once again, old LTC, new trick) but it is very important to understand, it makes communications on the battlefield very fast and allows instant tracking of battlefield assets. In the stone ages when I was a LT tramping around Panama we had no idea GPS navigation was out there, the map and compass were skills to be mastered. If you ask my mom, she will tell you I rarely mastered those. Luckily I had some very good NCOs that could keep track of our locations as we were moving along (We were never really lost: My definition of lost is they never find you). Navigation got a little easier by Haiti and Bosnia time, we had Global Positioning Systems and I kind of knew how to use them. Now, everything is digital, if you understand a computer game, you can understand this. Luckily, I have played a few of those. Tomorrow is another day of digital battlefield training, should be a hoot.
We also had a day and nights worth of HMMWV driving. The HMMWVs we are driving are not your grandpa's HMMWVs - the first generation of HMMWVs weighed about 7,000 lbs. The monsters we are driving now weigh just shy of 13,000 lbs and are armored like crazy. The doors alone weigh over 450 lbs, pretty incredible. Nothing but armor, bullet proof glass, engine, radios and one bad ass air conditioner, which was quite a pleasant suprise - - nothing like opening up your vehicle on a 105 degree day and being met with a blast of cold air. They drove pretty well, SFC R let me know that I drove like his grandma and I should speed it up a little bit. I let him know that I come from a long line of poor drivers, once I get used to the vehicle, my bad driving habits and poor automotive genetics will come out and me driving too slow won't be a problem.
The classroom stuff has been specialty training for the different disciplines on the team ranging from Advanced Communications for SSG W to Logistics Training for CPT P and SFC R, Advanced Coallition Effects for SFC T and MAJ D and digital battlefield training for me, MAJ L and MSG P. Throw in some more medical training and for SFC J and military intelligence training for CPT F and SFC C and we have pretty much the whole team covered. Most of the guys are letting me know the training is ok, nothing they weren't expecting or out of their ability sets, so that is a good thing.
The digital battlefield (aka: Blue Force Tracking (if you go to Wikipedia and type in blue force tracking it gives a pretty good run down of what we have. Here is the link to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Force_Tracking) training can be confusing, mostly because it is something new to me (once again, old LTC, new trick) but it is very important to understand, it makes communications on the battlefield very fast and allows instant tracking of battlefield assets. In the stone ages when I was a LT tramping around Panama we had no idea GPS navigation was out there, the map and compass were skills to be mastered. If you ask my mom, she will tell you I rarely mastered those. Luckily I had some very good NCOs that could keep track of our locations as we were moving along (We were never really lost: My definition of lost is they never find you). Navigation got a little easier by Haiti and Bosnia time, we had Global Positioning Systems and I kind of knew how to use them. Now, everything is digital, if you understand a computer game, you can understand this. Luckily, I have played a few of those. Tomorrow is another day of digital battlefield training, should be a hoot.
We also had a day and nights worth of HMMWV driving. The HMMWVs we are driving are not your grandpa's HMMWVs - the first generation of HMMWVs weighed about 7,000 lbs. The monsters we are driving now weigh just shy of 13,000 lbs and are armored like crazy. The doors alone weigh over 450 lbs, pretty incredible. Nothing but armor, bullet proof glass, engine, radios and one bad ass air conditioner, which was quite a pleasant suprise - - nothing like opening up your vehicle on a 105 degree day and being met with a blast of cold air. They drove pretty well, SFC R let me know that I drove like his grandma and I should speed it up a little bit. I let him know that I come from a long line of poor drivers, once I get used to the vehicle, my bad driving habits and poor automotive genetics will come out and me driving too slow won't be a problem.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Finally something I recognize, sort of, kind of, maybe . . . .
RANGE WEEK! We have spent the last two days, nights and mornings (nothing like firing at 4 AM! I am sure the fine residents of FT Riley and the greater Manhattan area appreciate a machine gun range at 4 AM) on the pistol (M-9), rifle (M-4), grenade launcher (M-203) and machine gun ranges (M-240B and M-2) ranges. I am relatively familiar with the M-9 and M-4 pistol and rifle, but I have to confess I haven't fired either of them in over 6 years (since right before Afghanistan). We went through some basic marksmanship instruction (PMI), did some bore-sigthing (aligning the barrel of the weapon with the sighting systems) and did a few simulations. Most of it came back to me slowly, kind of like riding a bike I guess, you never really forget. I was having a few basic training flashbacks mixed with happier range times in my former life (we weren't so concerned about wearing all of our body armor to each range, rarely wore our helmets on the ranges and may have not been so determined that everyone stay on line when we were firing).
The PMI woke me back up and introduced me to the new sighting systems that the Army has developed to make things easier for the soldier, I kind of dig them. When I was in my former life, we were still using the iron sights that are on the weapon, now they use a optical system that once zeroed to the firer makes it very easy to get a good sight picture and hard to miss. Pretty much alls you have to do is put the red dot in the sight on the target and squeeze the trigger. The night sight uses a laser and night vision devices to fire. In the old days, we just kind of winged it, which never really worked, now night firing is pretty cool, put the laser on the target (which you see with your NVGs) and squeeze the trigger. Imagine the targets surprise . . . I was very impressed with what we were using, a far cry better than what I grew up with in the Army.
I did OK with the M-9 and M-4 ranges, we were using pop up targets, which are more realistic as far as shooting go, but are questionable as far as actually scoring how well you are shooting. For example, I know I hit most of my M-9 targets, but because the targets could have been beaten up, going back down at the end of the time period or chock full of holes the computer may not have given me credit for a hit. No big deal, I was pretty satisfied. The M-4 range was about the same, once I got my rifle and sights zeroed to my eyes, I was on it. The targets ranged anywhere from 50 meters out to 300 meters, I was able to hit the 300 a couple of times, but I have decided that if there is a target for me out around 300 meters, I will let him get a little closer to me before I take care of it, just to make sure.
The night M-4 range was pretty cool, lasers, rifles, Night Vision Devices, every kids dream. Put the laser on the target and squeeze the trigger. When I was growing up in the Army night firing was pretty much just a guess, try to put the round in general direction that you thought the enemy was coming from ( ". . . use the force Luke, the force . . ." ) and let it go, if you don't hit him, you might scare him enough. Now, you see the target with your Night Vision Device, put the laser dot on the target and well, you know . . . Pretty slick system.
Machine guns are fuuuuuuuuunnn. The other weapon system I actually recognized was the M-2 .50 caliber machine gun, this system has been around the Army since just after World War I and is one of the most accurate weapons around, also easily the funnest one to fire, nothing like a weapon that will make a 14,000 pound vehicle rock when it fires. Me and my primary gunner SFC R were teamed up and shot the heck out of the weapon, about 600 rounds apiece in the daytime fire. Because this weapon will not be our vehicle's primary weapon system, we were just familiarizing with the weapon, so we had a good time. Old fashioned iron sights, no cool optics, no lasers, just the friendly front and rear sight posts and a lot of ammo. I was getting pretty good at it, SFC R was definately ON with it, he even helped MAJ L qualify in his lane a little bit. Teamwork on the range.
The M-240B was fun, but not as much fun as the M-2. Like most everything here, new weapon, cool new sight paired up with a LTC that has never seen it before. The first half of my turn on the range I was trying to figure it all out, last half, those rounds were dancing all over the targets. SFC R once again was ON with the M-240B. He is my vehicle's gunner and that is the weapon we will have on the vehicle, so I am pretty comfortable with his abilities in that regard. Now if I can get as good with the radios as he is with the weapon, we will be in business.
TEAM NOTE: We have decided to assign each other nicknames based on our personalities, the only catch is you can't name yourself (because your ego will get in the way) and the nickname has to start with the letter S. So far, only a couple of us have been given nicknames:
MSG P: Sweet Face. He was thrilled to earn this one. When were getting on a bus for some event, he was telling a silly private/basic training story from when he worked as a Drill Sergeant, the female bus driver was listening to the story and said "I can't believe someone with such a sweet face did something like that . . . ". Immediate nomination and approval.
Me: Sweet Tooth. Some of the team has noticed that I kind of like chocolate, and most anything else that involves sugar (thanks mom and dad for passing that gene down to me). Nomination based on bad diet and chow hall selections (hey, if they take the time to cook it, someone has to eat it) and approved.
Working on the restof the nicknames, a few folks have names floating around and are in the process of nomination and approval, we should have this done by the time we get back from Germany. More to follow.
The PMI woke me back up and introduced me to the new sighting systems that the Army has developed to make things easier for the soldier, I kind of dig them. When I was in my former life, we were still using the iron sights that are on the weapon, now they use a optical system that once zeroed to the firer makes it very easy to get a good sight picture and hard to miss. Pretty much alls you have to do is put the red dot in the sight on the target and squeeze the trigger. The night sight uses a laser and night vision devices to fire. In the old days, we just kind of winged it, which never really worked, now night firing is pretty cool, put the laser on the target (which you see with your NVGs) and squeeze the trigger. Imagine the targets surprise . . . I was very impressed with what we were using, a far cry better than what I grew up with in the Army.
I did OK with the M-9 and M-4 ranges, we were using pop up targets, which are more realistic as far as shooting go, but are questionable as far as actually scoring how well you are shooting. For example, I know I hit most of my M-9 targets, but because the targets could have been beaten up, going back down at the end of the time period or chock full of holes the computer may not have given me credit for a hit. No big deal, I was pretty satisfied. The M-4 range was about the same, once I got my rifle and sights zeroed to my eyes, I was on it. The targets ranged anywhere from 50 meters out to 300 meters, I was able to hit the 300 a couple of times, but I have decided that if there is a target for me out around 300 meters, I will let him get a little closer to me before I take care of it, just to make sure.
The night M-4 range was pretty cool, lasers, rifles, Night Vision Devices, every kids dream. Put the laser on the target and squeeze the trigger. When I was growing up in the Army night firing was pretty much just a guess, try to put the round in general direction that you thought the enemy was coming from ( ". . . use the force Luke, the force . . ." ) and let it go, if you don't hit him, you might scare him enough. Now, you see the target with your Night Vision Device, put the laser dot on the target and well, you know . . . Pretty slick system.
Machine guns are fuuuuuuuuunnn. The other weapon system I actually recognized was the M-2 .50 caliber machine gun, this system has been around the Army since just after World War I and is one of the most accurate weapons around, also easily the funnest one to fire, nothing like a weapon that will make a 14,000 pound vehicle rock when it fires. Me and my primary gunner SFC R were teamed up and shot the heck out of the weapon, about 600 rounds apiece in the daytime fire. Because this weapon will not be our vehicle's primary weapon system, we were just familiarizing with the weapon, so we had a good time. Old fashioned iron sights, no cool optics, no lasers, just the friendly front and rear sight posts and a lot of ammo. I was getting pretty good at it, SFC R was definately ON with it, he even helped MAJ L qualify in his lane a little bit. Teamwork on the range.
The M-240B was fun, but not as much fun as the M-2. Like most everything here, new weapon, cool new sight paired up with a LTC that has never seen it before. The first half of my turn on the range I was trying to figure it all out, last half, those rounds were dancing all over the targets. SFC R once again was ON with the M-240B. He is my vehicle's gunner and that is the weapon we will have on the vehicle, so I am pretty comfortable with his abilities in that regard. Now if I can get as good with the radios as he is with the weapon, we will be in business.
TEAM NOTE: We have decided to assign each other nicknames based on our personalities, the only catch is you can't name yourself (because your ego will get in the way) and the nickname has to start with the letter S. So far, only a couple of us have been given nicknames:
MSG P: Sweet Face. He was thrilled to earn this one. When were getting on a bus for some event, he was telling a silly private/basic training story from when he worked as a Drill Sergeant, the female bus driver was listening to the story and said "I can't believe someone with such a sweet face did something like that . . . ". Immediate nomination and approval.
Me: Sweet Tooth. Some of the team has noticed that I kind of like chocolate, and most anything else that involves sugar (thanks mom and dad for passing that gene down to me). Nomination based on bad diet and chow hall selections (hey, if they take the time to cook it, someone has to eat it) and approved.
Working on the restof the nicknames, a few folks have names floating around and are in the process of nomination and approval, we should have this done by the time we get back from Germany. More to follow.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
More Training
For the past week and a half or so, we have been doing a series of classes designed to get us back up to speed with the equipment and techniques we will be seeing during our mission.
For those of you unfamiliar with our mission (our's as in the team that I am on mission) we are going to be combat advisers for an Iraqi National Police Brigade. We will be working very closely with our Iraqi counterparts as they work to establish security in their corner of Iraq. We will also be working closely with a US Brigade Combat Team and it's Battalions as they work with the Iraqi's to secure Iraq. The overall goal is to transition the mission to Iraqi's, so we will be coaching and advising them to assume the overall mission.
The team that I am on is based on the tried and true SF team: 11 guys, with various specialties. There is me, a LTC as the leader, an executive officer, MAJ D, an operations officer MAJ L, an Intelligence Officer, CPT F, two logisticians CPT P and SFC R, two operations NCOs SFC C and SFC T and a Commo guy, SSG W. We have been together for a few weeks and are forming pretty well as a team. (there are pictures of most of us in the IV Training section of the blog)
The training that we have done so far: First Aid, Commo, some vehicle training (nothing intense), an intro to all of the radios we are going to be using in theater, some admin classes (how to deal with the press), culture, language and now we have started up our weapons training.
The first thing that popped into my mind when we started off most of our training is "wow, the Army has changed a whole lot since I was a Battalion Executive Officer." the next thing was "Hmmm, most of this equipment is new to me" and my final thought was "how am I going to learn all of this before we go to Iraq?". A couple of examples: When I was leaving my battalion at FT Bragg in 2002, we were on some of the first generations of radios, last week we were training on the fourth generation of a radio system, I can find the ON switch, recognize the hand mike, and the antennae looks about the same, that is about it. That was just one radio. When they broke out the other 3 radios, I was quickly overcome. I am thinking we will get some more hands on training before we get into Iraq.
During the vehicle introduction we were introduced to the latest generation of HMMWVs, we had HMMWVs when I was an XO, but nothing like this. The first thing they emphasized was the vehicles weight - - when I was an XO they were around 9-10,000 pounds, now with all of the armor and turret on them, that is up around 13,000 pounds. I think the steering wheel was about the same and the lightswitch, that was about it. Bigger engine, bigger transmission, beefier suspension, more powerful brakes and a whole lot of armor plating. We will actually drive them next week, I can imagine they handle a lot different that anything else.
All in all, it is an eye opener for me. SFC C has been taking pictures, I will hit him up for the shots and hang them on the blog in a few days.
For those of you unfamiliar with our mission (our's as in the team that I am on mission) we are going to be combat advisers for an Iraqi National Police Brigade. We will be working very closely with our Iraqi counterparts as they work to establish security in their corner of Iraq. We will also be working closely with a US Brigade Combat Team and it's Battalions as they work with the Iraqi's to secure Iraq. The overall goal is to transition the mission to Iraqi's, so we will be coaching and advising them to assume the overall mission.
The team that I am on is based on the tried and true SF team: 11 guys, with various specialties. There is me, a LTC as the leader, an executive officer, MAJ D, an operations officer MAJ L, an Intelligence Officer, CPT F, two logisticians CPT P and SFC R, two operations NCOs SFC C and SFC T and a Commo guy, SSG W. We have been together for a few weeks and are forming pretty well as a team. (there are pictures of most of us in the IV Training section of the blog)
The training that we have done so far: First Aid, Commo, some vehicle training (nothing intense), an intro to all of the radios we are going to be using in theater, some admin classes (how to deal with the press), culture, language and now we have started up our weapons training.
The first thing that popped into my mind when we started off most of our training is "wow, the Army has changed a whole lot since I was a Battalion Executive Officer." the next thing was "Hmmm, most of this equipment is new to me" and my final thought was "how am I going to learn all of this before we go to Iraq?". A couple of examples: When I was leaving my battalion at FT Bragg in 2002, we were on some of the first generations of radios, last week we were training on the fourth generation of a radio system, I can find the ON switch, recognize the hand mike, and the antennae looks about the same, that is about it. That was just one radio. When they broke out the other 3 radios, I was quickly overcome. I am thinking we will get some more hands on training before we get into Iraq.
During the vehicle introduction we were introduced to the latest generation of HMMWVs, we had HMMWVs when I was an XO, but nothing like this. The first thing they emphasized was the vehicles weight - - when I was an XO they were around 9-10,000 pounds, now with all of the armor and turret on them, that is up around 13,000 pounds. I think the steering wheel was about the same and the lightswitch, that was about it. Bigger engine, bigger transmission, beefier suspension, more powerful brakes and a whole lot of armor plating. We will actually drive them next week, I can imagine they handle a lot different that anything else.
All in all, it is an eye opener for me. SFC C has been taking pictures, I will hit him up for the shots and hang them on the blog in a few days.
Friday, July 25, 2008
NPTT Update - Two Generals Talking
We had the opportunity to talk to two Iraqi National Police generals today, I really had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. Because it made me miss physical training (my favorite part of any day) I was a bit on the grumpy side going into the Video Teleconference (VTC), but left the VTC in a pretty good mood.
One of the things that the training unit is big on is VTCs with folks in theater, this morning we had a VTC with the Iraqi general in charge of the National Police and one of his division commanders. Yesterday, we (all of the NPTT commanders in our class) were given a list of about 20 canned questions that the folks working with the generals thought we should ask the generals, most of them were softball type questions - how is your training going, how are your operations going, do you like working with Americans - we pretty much ignored them.
The VTC started off with an introduction of the two generals, they both seemed to be nice guys, very happy to be talking to us and very happy that we were going to be spending a year working with their units. They made it a point to say that even though we were leaving our families back in the US, we were coming to a family in Iraq and that we would be very welcome. I wasn't really paying attention to them until then (just like when I was an LT in the Infantry and knew everything I needed to know - - I was pretty sure I knew everything I needed to know about the NP, arrogance on my part, I guess, maybe I should listen to folks every now and then). After that, we used our limited Arabic on them and stumbled around with a few questions.
The generals pleasantly answered our questions, thanked us for trying to use their language and then asked us a whopper, that really made me think. "What do you know of the Iraqi National Police?" We gave up the book answer, 3 divisions, kind of like the army, but not really, focused on internal security, etc, etc. They took that answer a bit further and explained what the goal of the NP was: Eliminate the insurgencies in Iraq, not just one or two, but all of them. After that become a force that would work within the government of to promote stability in the nation and prevent what was currently happening from ever happening again. The way they were talking impressed me, they sounded very genuine and wanted to make a difference in their country.
We asked another question or two, they answered them until we asked a question about their training status. They launched on us. They gave a very detailed description of the training an Iraqi National Policeman goes through, starting from his initial selection, basic training and assignment to a unit. They emphasized their selection process, how they worked hard to root out undesirable elements before they could get in the NP and cause problems and were very candid about their shortfalls. They went to lengths to explain how they were having problems getting junior officers and how they were trying to fix that problem. I thought is was interesting (and admirable) how they talked about their organizations challenges and what they were doing to solve those challenges. One of the things that they talked openly about was that all of their units were engaged. In our Army, we rotate units in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan and have the luxury of training up for missions. Their units are conducting operations 6 days a week and have the 7th for training. Very different.
They also talked about how they were serving the people of Iraq, and how they were accepted in many of the neighborhoods that they were working in. They rattled off many of the successes that they have had to date and some of the statistics concerning their casualty rates and how they have declined dramatically over the past several months.
All in all, I was happy to have had the opportunity to hear from these gentlemen how they see things and the progress they are making.
One of the things that the training unit is big on is VTCs with folks in theater, this morning we had a VTC with the Iraqi general in charge of the National Police and one of his division commanders. Yesterday, we (all of the NPTT commanders in our class) were given a list of about 20 canned questions that the folks working with the generals thought we should ask the generals, most of them were softball type questions - how is your training going, how are your operations going, do you like working with Americans - we pretty much ignored them.
The VTC started off with an introduction of the two generals, they both seemed to be nice guys, very happy to be talking to us and very happy that we were going to be spending a year working with their units. They made it a point to say that even though we were leaving our families back in the US, we were coming to a family in Iraq and that we would be very welcome. I wasn't really paying attention to them until then (just like when I was an LT in the Infantry and knew everything I needed to know - - I was pretty sure I knew everything I needed to know about the NP, arrogance on my part, I guess, maybe I should listen to folks every now and then). After that, we used our limited Arabic on them and stumbled around with a few questions.
The generals pleasantly answered our questions, thanked us for trying to use their language and then asked us a whopper, that really made me think. "What do you know of the Iraqi National Police?" We gave up the book answer, 3 divisions, kind of like the army, but not really, focused on internal security, etc, etc. They took that answer a bit further and explained what the goal of the NP was: Eliminate the insurgencies in Iraq, not just one or two, but all of them. After that become a force that would work within the government of to promote stability in the nation and prevent what was currently happening from ever happening again. The way they were talking impressed me, they sounded very genuine and wanted to make a difference in their country.
We asked another question or two, they answered them until we asked a question about their training status. They launched on us. They gave a very detailed description of the training an Iraqi National Policeman goes through, starting from his initial selection, basic training and assignment to a unit. They emphasized their selection process, how they worked hard to root out undesirable elements before they could get in the NP and cause problems and were very candid about their shortfalls. They went to lengths to explain how they were having problems getting junior officers and how they were trying to fix that problem. I thought is was interesting (and admirable) how they talked about their organizations challenges and what they were doing to solve those challenges. One of the things that they talked openly about was that all of their units were engaged. In our Army, we rotate units in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan and have the luxury of training up for missions. Their units are conducting operations 6 days a week and have the 7th for training. Very different.
They also talked about how they were serving the people of Iraq, and how they were accepted in many of the neighborhoods that they were working in. They rattled off many of the successes that they have had to date and some of the statistics concerning their casualty rates and how they have declined dramatically over the past several months.
All in all, I was happy to have had the opportunity to hear from these gentlemen how they see things and the progress they are making.
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