Getting Short I Guess

Wow it's hard to believe that we've been mobilized for over 9 weeks and have been here for just over two months. This week was the transition week and that meant except for the M240B Machine Gun Range which was a makeup range, we have been spreadout all over the place doing various training. All the officers and senior NCO's have been working on Microsoft Training (Word, Excel, Power Point and Access) since that is a key skill for us to have in the box. I guess that I am not able to just breeze through all the training since I am a Star Office user at Sun and don't tend to do much microsoft at home. The remainder of our logistics crew were receiving Ammunition Training to include, tracking, ordering, handling and storing. Additionally they spent time at the Ammunition Supply Point (ASP) and the Ammunition Holding Area (AHA). Several started some of their Material Handling Equipment (MHE) forklift training. Before you know it we will be out of here and in the box doing what we are supposed to do supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom as advisors to the Iraqi Army. Today for PT we did a 4 mile road march with full battle rattle except for the helmet. It was a great way to end the week in terms of PT.

Tomorrow we have our Task Force Formation where the Soldiers get promoted, receive any awards and the Old Man (TF Commander) gets a chance to speak to the troops. Right after that we will be doing some crew drills and walking through the various scenarios that more than likely occur during next weeks Mounted Combat Patrol (MCP). We will be creating and updating some of our crew drills so when conduct the practical exercises and the life fire on Thursday we will be ready to react correctly. After that we are free until early Monday morning, so it will be a decent weekend in terms of time off. Most of us will be staying on post since only one or two folks rented a car for the weekend.

I just got back from our Task Force meeting and when I stepped outside after the meeting I was greeted to a rip roaring Kansas thunderstorm with all the works, lightening, thunder wind, heavy rain and about 2 inches of water standing in the road. I forgot what these thunderstorms are like since we never get these in California at least not in the bay area. To top that off there is a tornado warning about 15 miles from here, I haven't seen Dorothy or the wicked witch of the west yet so that must be good then!

Here's a shout out to my friends at Sun especially those in ACF who have to be working long and hard this weekend since it's quarter end and that usually means the culmination of 5-6 weeks with no weekends off in order to get all the orders out the door and to the customers, in order to make those targeted revenue numbers!

M240B Machine Gun Range

Today was our makeup day for the M240B MG, since we had the power outage issue over a week ago. This is definitely a weapon that I need in my arsenal, especially for the commute home from when I have to go to the Newark campus. Those hybrids driving 55 in the left hand lane would definitely be a thing of the past after a 10-15 round burst! ;>) Each of us got a can of 200 rounds (7.62MM) and the targets were between 500 and 800 meters in front of us. They were pop up targets which means when you hit them they drop and after the allotted time another target pops up. The 800 meter target was inop (ie. it would not fall) so we had to make due with the other targets in our lane. Both my First Sergeant SFC Bernier and I knocked down all of our targets and we really had a great time. The OC's were our spotters and they coached us and told us what we needed to do to properly engage the targets. After our entire track fired about 65 soldiers we headed back to clean the machine guns and it goes by quickly when you have an entire team of folks each working on cleaning a part. Tonite they gave us the proposed scheduled date for the Advance Party to deploy to theater. I for security reasons am unable to say when that is, but it should give us enough time to work with our counterparts who are currently in theater to grease the skids before our main body arrives on site.

Can't believe that in seven days and a wakeup my family will be here during my four day Easter Pass. The Task Force has a four day pass which for us will be the last chance to say goodbye to our families before we go wheels up into harms way. Most of the Soldiers will be going home, but several like myself have opted for the family to come out here. Having been stationed here for 4 1/2 years from June 87-Jan 92 it made sense to have them come out here. Carmen has not been here since we PCS'd to Illinois in Jan 92, Ascension barely remembers Ft. Riley and Javier was born here and baptized here on post. Additionally with Carmen being a Kansas State University grad, she wanted to see her alma mater plus give the kids a chance to see the heartland. Both Carmen and I have fond memories of Kansas and if it wasn't for the winter weather, I maybe would have taken that job offer from Pepsi Cola in Kansas City when I left the service. I have really missed all three of them these past two months and am looking forward to being together with them for the four day weekend. Obviously neither Carmen nor I are looking forward to our goodbye since this will be the second time that we will have gone through this, the last time was in Dec. 90 when the Big Red Once left for Saudi as part of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Back then Ascension was only 4 years old and Carmen was pregnant with Javier and finishing up on her final semester at K-State.

Gotta go to bed, with wakeup at 0515 and PT at 0600 and sleeping very little plus wearing the full battle rattle all day long, I am tired and feel my 47 years! I will try to upload some of the photos from todays range tomorrow evening while I wash my laundry.

Break Out the Cigars!

Today I had to go before the Military Medical Review Board (MMRB) for my hearing. The MMRB is a board comprising of 5 officers with the president of the board being a Colonel. They review a Soldiers medical paperwork to see if based on the existing medical condition that Soldier is able to 1) remain in his or her current military occupation skill (MOS), 2) remain in the military but will have to change occupations, or 3) requires followup medical care to resolve medical issue, or will be required to go before a Medical Evaluation Board which can medically discharge the Soldier depending on his/her condition. I had to go before the board due to my hearing loss which in the past 11 months has gotten worse. I went in, they asked me a couple of questions and I told them that as of last March I had been seeing a hearing specialist due to my hearing loss and the ringing (tinitus) in my ears, but that I was capable of doing my job here and over in the box. Additionally I was getting hearing aides for both ears sometime this month or early April. I was told to leave and about 2 minutes later was told to report back and they told me that I was fit for duty in my current MOS, and with that good news was still deployable! So tonite myself and one of the other Battalion Commanders will be sitting outside by the basketball court enjoying a nice cigar from the Dominican Republic and a beverage of our choice.
I am finishing up on some internet Microsoft Courses that we are required to take, I am having a hard time since I do Star Office at Sun and though very similar some of the key strokes and locations of certain items is different. There are 3 courses for Word, 3 for Excel, 2 for Powerpoint and 4 for Access.

Last night I had to give the bad news to three of the officers that have been serving under me for the past 3-5 months that they had been transferred to another staff position and although they would continue to train with the current teams in our battalion, once they arrived in theater they will fall under another group. I guess that the folks in theater are still reviewing the positions and the Soldiers resumes and military training and making changes up to the last minute.

Well that's it for now, as I am heading off to the gym to lift some weights and do some cardio workout, since this morning at PT we did lots of muscle failure drills with pushups and situps.

I Finally Love Sundays!

I have always hated Sundays because for me it was sitting on a bus going back to college thinking about what I homework I should have done that weekend at home instead of blowing it off and finally facing the ugly truth that I would have to pull an all-nighter to hand it on at 0800 hrs on Monday. But it's been different here at Riley. I actually get to sleep in until 0815 and then it's off to the races as I try to shower dress and run like hell to catch the van which takes us Catholics to church for 0900 hrs service. The Lutheran's and LDS have their services later in the morning. After that it's chill out time which means catch up on reading, hit the PX (Post Exchange) or listen to some soccer games from Spain. Yesterday while I was sitting in my room updating some reports in the early evening the smell of a BBQ with mesquite sort of wafered into my room and when I stuck my head out the door it was a "hey sir do you want some food, we have plenty of it".

Although these Soldiers are logisticians, some of them can cook! SSG Noriega who is an OEF vet was grilling some chipotle chicken, SFC Dempsey who upon arriving here bought a kickass gas grill was grilling some brats and some burgers that had oyster sauce and I believe either habanero o cayenne pepper which brought plenty of tears to our eyes. A couple of other soldiers made some other entrees and between a quick run to the shoppette to pickup some salads and plenty of liquid beverages a great time was had by all. It was the perfect ending to a long week of training, and it really brought the Soldiers closer together ,great weather in the low 80's, food and drink!! I have already told SFC Dempsey that his first assignment in theater will be to find/scrounge/pilfer a grill for the crew so that we can have some's every once in awhile while enjoying all that great food and everyones favorite some non-alcoholic beer! This morning in our first class the discussion during the breaks was about the BBQ last night and when was the next one.

Well that's it for now time to close it up and hit the sack because 0515 is only about five and a half hours away, and us old timers need some rest because we can't live only on alcohol and cigars!

Combat Life Saver (CLS) Training

These past three days we have had Combat Life Saver (CLS) training. For some of us this was the third time in less than 2 years we have received this training. I received it in July 2005 as part of the ANA (Afghan National Army) Training. Last September we received this training at Fort Hunter Liggett and now here at Ft. Riley. The four day training was done in two days and we really focused on the 2 or 3 things that we would need to do to keep a fellow soldier alive until a medic or surgeon could treat him. As mentioned in the class with the body armor saving soldiers lives, most of the injuries that occur are in the limbs, so stopping the bleeding and sucking chest wounds are important. Additionally clearing the airway was emphasized and taught. We also learned how to prevent the lung from collapsing due to a sucking chest wound. Everyones favorite part was inserting the IV into your battle buddy's arm. This time we inserted an IV block and then the IV, unlike last time I did not spill any of my battle buddy's blood when sticking him. I only saw one soldier who was being stuck pass out.

The last day we did two scenarios where we would have to put to practice what we learned the past two days. In the first scenario they replicated a mess hall being hit by mortar fire (mortar round simulator included). There was smoke coming out of the building, lights were out, chairs strewn all over the floor and four Soldiers who had been moulaged up with various injuries laying on the floor. We located them, if bleeding severely we stopped the bleeding and then moved them out of the building to the casualty collection point (CCP), where we continued administering first aid while calling in a medevac. The second scenario we were moving in our four rifle teams to an objective and first got attacked by an enemy vehicle shooting their machine gun. Then we set up a traffic control point and the rest of the soldiers went into the woodline to search for the enemy mortar site that had shelled the dining facility earlier. While attacking we got several soldiers hit and then while assaulting the final objective, yours truly was killed and so was my battle buddy. Although the mortar site was taken by our team, the cost was high and the casualties had to be treated by the survivors. We finished up, cleaned our weapons and then took the bus back to turn in our weapons for what remained of the weekend. I like most dozed off for a few well deserved minutes of shuteye.

This event marked for us the end of the 40/11 (40 individual and 11 collective) tasks required for us to deploy to the box. The remaining time will be to train us in the areas that we will be working in during our deployment. For our Soldiers it will be in the area of logistics.

Urban Operations Training

Yesterday we did phase two of urban operations. We had a two hour class on how room to room searches were conducted. After that we went out outside to practice clearing rooms with our four man team. SFC Bernier, CW4 Sample, MAJ Buck and myself must have done at least 15 of these iterations each time learning from our previous mistakes and rotating positions 1-4. After lunch we went out to the urban ops location and maneuvered our way down the street crossing dangerous intersections and spaces, what you could normally cover in about one minute walking took us a lot longer and by the time we finished we were drenched in sweat. Later that afternoon after some additional glasshouse scenarios (chalked exterior room lines on the ground) we finally got to clear out some rooms and totally screwed it up the first time! SSG Flowers one of our OC's who was observing our room clearing basically chewed up our behinds pretty damn good, but for the right reasons. He had been doing this his last tour in Iraq and had seen these room and building clearings go south in a heartbeat and just wanted to make sure we didn't do some of the same mistakes he saw fellow soldiers do over there.

Rained Out or is it Shorted Out at the Range??

Yesterday it took a while to get going again after that short but enjoyable weekend. After picking up our weapons from the arms room we moved out to our language lab where we continued to learn Iraqi especially the tactical iraqi with scenarios that we will be using in Iraq. The lab is one where you listen to what is being said and then you get to use the head microphone and repeat the phrase and after several phrases you get a practical exercise where you get to use all of those phrases. The soldiers enjoy it and there are several in our group who are able to learn Iraqi quickly and are constantly letting us know what is the word or phrase of the day. After language training we had some downtime to work on our weapons and then in the afternoon we moved out to the DARWARS training that was being offered to us. DARWARS is a computer based training that uses real life scenarios from Iraq and allows us to train on convoy training and other aspects of patrolling. There is interaction between all four of the soldiers in a HMMWV and other HMMWV's, so that the vehicle commander could communicate with the gunner or other vehicles via radio as to what is happening and what needs to be done next. The exercises are filmed and you can see what happened and learn what we did right or wrong. We did three scenarios and lost a vehicle on one of them when it was hit by RPG's. Another scenario one of our convoys was hit by a VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device). Unfortunately time flew by too quickly and it was 1630 hrs before you knew it and it was time to head back to the barracks. We will be able to get onto these again with our soldiers later this week and next week, and the soldiers really want to do this again!

This morning we had about 2 hours of combatives (hand to hand) combat and I can truly say is that this afternoon I feel all of my 47 years old! We reviewed some of the holds previously taught to us, the four choke holds and then did a 90 second hand to hand with each soldier in our group, and then rotated and fought another one, this went on until each of us took on the 6 other members of our team. Being one of the lighter ones in the group it was interesting to be rolling around the floor with guys that weigh 50-60 pounds more than I. We continued changing groups and learning new holds and evasive manuevers. By the end of the session we were sweating big time but at least we had smiles on our faces.

Later this morning we had classroom and then handson urban training, where we learn how to clear out rooms, how to properly hold our weapons, move trying to engage our targets and how to transition between our M-4 to our M9 pistol. Outside we practiced clearing these rooms in so called glass houses and it was an eye opener as to what each of us has to do and how much in sync all four of us have to be in order to properly clear out a room. We will be doing more of this tomorrow and then will be able to put these lessons learned at the MOUT Mobile Operations Urban Terrain. This afternoon we were supposed to go to the M240B machine gun range, but there were power issues at the range just like last week when we were at the same range for the 50 Cal. This time they were unable to get the power back on and decided to cancel the range so we did various whitespace training and cleaned our weapons again, since most were wet from the rain this morning. Although I am sore I will be heading out to the gym tonite to lift and get my 45 minutes of cardio, which keeps me in a good mood!

St. Patricks Day and the Weekend!

Saturday finally arrived and after completing the Blue Force Tracker (BFT) we turned in our weapons and most of the team headed off to Manhattan Kansas for dinner and then some St. Patricks revelry in Aggieville. I and my Sergeant Major had to attend a nutrition class that was given to our Soldiers who are overweight. The info was interesting and I believe that most of us learned a few new things about nutrition. I got back to the barracks, changed and headed out with LTC Dutton and Major Buck to go to the Little Apple Brewery and Restaurant. There must have been at least 15 officers and enlisted Soldiers most of us were Quartermaster (QM) Officers and logisticians. I finally got to meet the IRR QM clique, there must be 8 QM officers who were brought back on active duty from the Individual Reinforcement Reserves (IRR) and they all inprocessed and did some refresher training at Ft. Lee and Ft. Jackson and have become good friends. The microbrew was great and I have a special stout they were making for St. Patricks day. After dinner a most went on to Aggieville to O'Malleys and tossed down some more Guinness and then us old guys left where as the young Captains I believe closed down O'Malleys!

Sunday was refit day, sleep in, then off to church, the commissary to buy some groceries and some of us went out for a late lunch/early dinner at Famous Daves which is an excellent BBQ restaurant that serves up some great smoked meats, ribs, brisket and a lot more. We all agreed that it seems that our refit day is way too short and before you know it, Monday rolls around and it's time to pickup our weapons and begin training all over again. The days here seems to be one large non-stop day and everyday seems like ground hog day!

Mass Casualty Exercise

Yesterday the Observer Controllers (OC's) gave all of us a big surprise. While we were moving to one of our classes, they hit us with a simulated mortar attack which was then followed up by a suicide bomber blowing himself up (simulated of course). With those two incidents occurring within seconds of each other, the mass casualty exercise was off and running. 7 of the 13 soldiers in our team were either injured or killed in the blasts and those of us who were not injured had to secure the perimeter and begin to administer first aid to the casualties who were given cards so us first responders knew what injuries they had. It took us a while to absorb what had just occurred and then begin to administer first aid and triage the injured at the casualty collection point. To add realism we were given our first aid backpacks and combat life saver (CLS) bags and were able to use the various items such as tourniquets, bandages, splints, IV's etc on the injured soldiers. The injured soldiers were then moved via stretchers and one and two man lifts to the ambulance collection point. The whole exercise lasted about 90 minutes and many of us were somewhat tired after hauling patients on the stretchers while wearing our full battle rattle. We definitely have our work cut out for us in this area and we will be attending CLS next week, for some of us it will be our third CLS in the past 2 years but practice makes perfect.

Today and tomorrow we have class on the Blue Force Tracker (BFT), this is a system that the Army and the other services have to better manage the battlefield by tracking and receiving up to date information by units and vehicles on the battlefield. See URL below for a short article on what it is and the capabilities of the system:

http://www.quad-a.org/chapters/Drum/blue_force_tracker_and_army_avia.htm

Today we learned how to set it up and how to create and submit info that is required for tracking the battle. Tomorrow will be the actual exercise and most of us are looking forward to seeing what this system is capable of.

Once we are done it will be turn in our weapons and get off post ASAP as we will be heading to Manhattan's Aggieville to celebrate Saint Patricks Day! I'm not Irish but who can pass up the chance for some corn beef and cabbage washed down with a couple of Guiness's on tap. It's been three weeks since I last left post, since I was sicker than a dog with bronchitis for almost two weeks and definitely need to get out with the guys.

Our team is doing very well working together and we all look out for each other. Right now there are 13 of us and since we are team 25 our nickname is "two bits"! Besides myself, there is a Major, three Captains, one Lieutenant and 7 enlisted soldiers, all but two are E-7's. All of us are logisticians with quartermaster, transportation or maintenance backgrounds. Three of the officers were in the IRR and called up for this deployment, the remainder either are from the 104th or were cross-levelled from another unit. Our backgrounds are diverse as can be, IT manager, postal worker, chemical engineer, truck driver, warehouse worker, college student, HR manager, etc.

Things are picking up on the deployment side of the mob, as the final advance party list is still being reviewed and once approved then the date(s) will be announced for them to move out and hit the ground before the main body does. I should be on the advance party but have been selected to stay back with the main body since the TF Commander and most of the other senior folks are on the Advance Party so I get to stay back and command the main body for our movement to theater later. The final positions that soldiers are slotted for are in the final stage of approval and it looks like there are several changes, I have been lucky as I am still going to where I was originally told, though for a while it looked like I was going elsewhere. That's all for today, I have to finish up some reports and then call home and speak to Carmen and the kids via webcam.

M-2 Range

Yesterday our track went out to the M-2, 50 Caliber Range and the weather cooperated once again. We either fired on the fan fire range or fired on the qualification tables. The soldiers enjoyed and it was nice to see some of the younger soldiers getting a chance to fire the 50 Cal. As part of the concurrent training we received some great hands on training on foreign weapons. We were able to handle disassemble, assemble and do functions checks on the, AKM rifle, the PKM machine gun, Dragonov Sniper Rifle and the RPG. Later in the evening some of the soldiers were able to fire on the night qualification range unfortunately the range was cut short when there was a power failure and it was unable to be fixed and we left at 1245 am for the barracks.

I have to run and eat dinner before we headoff to clean the machine guns this evening.

Hello From Ft. Riley

Greetings from Ft. Riley Kansas. It has now been 6 weeks since I have arrived here to begin Post Mobilization Training. We conducted our home station mob at the site where I have been assigned to as a reservist, Parks RFTA in Dublin CA. We flew out late on the 28th and left a temperate California to a snowy and cold Ft. Riley.

As a Task Force Battalion Commander I have the responsibility to ensure that the soldiers under my command receive the necessary combat skills,survival training and refresher training in their military occupation. Most of the Soldiers are from the logistics field. We are part of Task Force Desert Wolf, which is the name that our task force has been given. Most of us are from the 104th Division (IT) which is headquartered in Vancouver Washington. The Division is known as the "Timberwolves" and our patch has a wolf on it. The Soldiers are from the 12 western United States.

The first three weeks here we conducted Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) which is where we are issued all our equipment, examined for medical, security clearance and other categories to see if we are deployable. Additionally we have to sit through a ton of briefings and unfortunately some are death by powerpoint! I knew that I was getting old as my hearing hasn't been that great and the last Army Physical Exam I had my hearing downgraded from a 1 (Best) to a 2 (Some Loss). To my surprise my hearing has deteriorated and according to them I am now a 3 and have to go before a Medical Review Board, plus I will be receiving some hearing aids. I have been recommended as a retain on active duty and am eligible for deployment.

In these past three weeks we have been conducting combat and survival training. We have received drivers training and have been licensed for the HMMWV both the standard and up armored HMMWV's which are the ones that we will be using in the box. Part of that training was the HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer (HEAT). This simulates the dreaded rollover of the HMMWV and we after landing upside down have to get out of the vehicle and provide medical assistance to any injured soldiers. The soldiers really enjoyed this training and according to what we have been told, we will be receiving more of this training when we arrive in the box.

Last week we have most of our ranges beginning with Primary Marksmanship Instruction (PMI) on the M4 rifle and the M9. I qualified as sharpshooter for both the M4 and the M9, which made me very happy. Additionally we provided security escort in HMMWV's to the buses that transport us to various places. We train 6 days a week and usually turn in our weapons late on Saturday and get to enjoy Sundays off and then either pickup our weapons late on Sunday or first thing on Monday.

Language and culture training has been a mixed bag, the culture training has been well received, but the language training has been in the lab on computers and then we get a chance to meet with Iraqi's and use interpreters in various scenarios that may take place in the box. Tomorrow we will be firing the M2 50 Cal Machine Gun after having received hands on training today, that should be interesting.

The weather has finally broken and today we were in the 70's and should remain that way for the next 10 days, this is a great change to the cold weather that we had in early February where temps got as low as 1 with windchills down to -15.

That's all for tonight, I have to prepare my gear for the range tomorrow and submit some of the usual daily reports. COL TS out!!