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.