There is a REAL war going on.

Before I get to the main point of this post, it rained today. IT RAINED! I am so happy not to see the sun its frightening. Today was a usual day, PT at six, Chow at 7, then we did Advanced Rifle Marksmanship (ARM) Training consisting of reflexive firing movements and firing around obstacles. It was actually pretty fun!

While doing some of the ARM training my platoon spoke to a Sergeant/Instructor who has deployed 3 times and has seen much of the battlefield. This Instructor is an 11B (Infantry, The Queen of Battle, HOOOAH!!!) He has also lost troops, been hit by several IED's, survived a near-ambush (a "near" ambush is defined as an ambush in which the killing zone is within hand grenade range or 15M maximum) and has lived to tell about it. He told us many stories about things he saw over there (I wont go into detail, but there were some horrific stories told) and he also stated that wishes no one else has to go there.

It was at that point that I went into shock!

The horrific stories didnt shock me, I have heard those before. That statement (where he wishes no one else has to go there) shook me because when you talk to other people that have been over there, the response is different. They state things like, "it will be good for you" or "its good to have combat experience". I don't know if the people that make statements similar to these are simply ignoring the Hell that is Iraq, or they have conditioned themselves to look past that Hell. In either case, I have been hearing a slanted story. I have been hearing only from those that have seen small segments of the battlefield. I am a Quartermaster Officer (QM), who generally talks to other QM's. Inherently, QM's dont get to see all the action up close, we get hit by IED's and mortars, but we don't do fighting door to door, street by street. This Sergeant (Staff Sergeant Actually) did every type of combat mission in theater. Everything from sector clearing, patrolling, fob security ops, etc. Anything you can name, he did it. And as a result, for the first time since I have been an Officer, I have seen the eyes of an individual who is tired of and beaten by war. A war being fought by hard men everyday while I sit here and complain about heat in Fort Sill, and you read my rants.

Its important that I first understand that it is my duty as an officer to lead these hard men into battle, and the immense responsibility that accompanies that task. The point of him telling war stories was to paint a picture that leadership is essential to saving lives over there, and when leadership fails people die in bad, bad ways.

It is equally important that you all remember that there is a REAL war going on. One where lives are lost, lives are broken, and lives are being altered forever. Iraq seems so far away, most of us are only connected to it through the media. Its so easy to forget the war, and its so easy to forget the sacrifice of those that serve. Please don't, keep us all in your prayers.

OMG ITS FREAKIN HOT

Ok, I am not sure what Oklahoma did to piss off the sun, but the sun is REALLY mad. This is literally the hottest weather I have ever had to endure. I mean, I have been in Arizona in June/July, Vegas three weeks ago, Okinawa, Japan in summer and I have never felt anything like this before. We were out at the Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) range conducting grouping and zeroing. The premise of the operation is simple, get 6 consecutive shots into a 4 CM circle to group and get 5 out 6 in a 4 CM, centered box to zero. Well no matter how simple it is, people are destined to have some trouble, which happened today. Some people took the better portion of the day (till 3:30 PM) to group and zero. Its OK, I love em anyway. We also had PT this morning like usual at 6. We had a 2 mile litter carry where we had to carry "injured" soldiers on a litter (envision a very flat cot) for 2 miles. It was a pretty good workout.

But back to this heat. We got to the range at about 9:30. By 10:30 we had our first heat casualty. At about 11:00am it was 97 degrees. Plus, were were wearing MOLLE gear (look it up, its cool stuff) Interceptor Body Armor (IBA- Adds at least 10-15lbs and about 5 degrees of heat) and wearing our Kevlar helmets. It was just damn hot. There are Sergeants/Instructors here that have deployed to Iraq when it was 130 degrees in the desert and they say this is worse. The humidity puts Fort Sill in a heat league of its own.

Oh, and carrying a rucksack, wearing the IBA, Kevlar and MOLLE gear reaffirmed that my ribs are not anywhere close to healed. Everytime I moved with that gear on, I wanted to scream. But anyway, enough whining for me, remember, ITS ALMOST FRIDAY!!!! (Thats what I tell myself to stay motivated even though the week just started) Good times ladies and gentleman, good times.

Am I Injured, Or am I hurt?

There is this saying in the army that if you are hurt, you can go on, but if you are injured you should get things checked out. Well I am probably injured right now, although no one knows it. On day 1 of combatives, I hurt my ribs. I cant describe really how it happened but I can describe what the injury is like. Every time to turn my body from left to right, my ribs pop, and I have a sharp pain. Not to mention the fact that it seems to be bulging a little from my body. On day 3 of combatives, I am sure I had a minor separation of my left shoulder. It sucks right now.

However, given how bad I want to get this crap over with and how much I hate making excuses, I rolled on that mat, and did PT for all 5 days hurt/injured whatever. I didnt and wont go to sick call because I may be recycled and have to go through this stuff again. So, my decision is made. I am going to suck it up and drive on. I have decided that I am only a little hurt. Wish me luck.

Week 2 RECAP

I have been doing a horrible job keeping this thing up to date. Kinda sucks when you are busy all the time. Week 2 was all about death by power point and combatives. The week went like this; Wake-Up was around 5, Physical Training (PT) at 6. Chow at 7. Classroom classes on weapon systems from 8:30-11:30, chow from 11:30-12:30. Combatives from 1-5pm. The classes were kinda boring but combatives was not. Most people were pretty amped up for day 1 of combatives, but that zeal wore down as the week progressed, people got sore, tired and injuries mounted. Not to mention we were doing some pretty good PT every morning of the week as well. I started at 100% and by day 4 I was operating at 40% at best. I saw at least 3 serious injuries of other people, a broken clavicle, a shoulder dislocation and a muscle tear in the shoulder. In addition to that stuff, we received a writing assignment from our platoon mentor to give a bio about ourselves. Luckily, I had already written some type of bio for this blog so that wasnt hard. In addition, I led PT twice and had to do risk assessments and PT outlines for that. We also put together out gear all week, and some students had to give those death by powerpoint classes mentioned above (to include me). All in all it was a long tough week. I partied hard to celebrate the end of it all.

BOLC II has just begun for real

So I just got my ass kicked for 4 hours in combatives and I literally hurt everywhere. And this will go on for 4 more days. Holy crap, on Friday, I am going to be in hell. It was more fun than the boredom of last week, but damn. We went over some basic moves and positions and then sparred for dominant body positions. Although I did pretty well, I went up against a guy named "Mule"(yes, really its Mule, he is about 6'2 and weighs around 225. We work out together and he can do reps of 315 with ease on bench. Needless to say, he's huge.) at the very end and I got crumpled. I also sparred with one of the instructors, and I achieved several dominant body positions but was unable to finish him off. So all in all good day, but I need some ice bad!

Week One - Hurry Up And Wait

I have never been so bored during a military training event in my life. Because BOLC II is the first step in most officer's careers, there is much emphasis placed on the in-processing process. It took literally 5 days to fill out maybe 10 forms, get shots, take a PT test, and hear everybody and their momma come speak to us. Here is how it broke down.

Sunday: In processing paperwork all day.

Monday:
Wake-up 0415
First Formation: 0515
0530- 0700- PT (A 1 mile "jog" around the PT test area, nothing major because we have the all important PT test coming up.)
0700- 0800- Personal Hygiene and Breakfast ( Let me stop and say I am on the BOLC II diet. Which means every time we are supposed to eat, if something else is going on at the same time, you dont really have time to eat that meal. I missed this meal because over 200 males share about 6 bathrooms to shower in. Great Start.
0800- 1100 AG In Processing ( Holy Shit!!! it took approximately 3 hours to fill out two forms on life insurance. Two forms that I completed prior to my arrival here. I wasted three hours of my life, and I got the HURRY UP AND WAIT response when I tried to get out of it. Good Times)
1100-1200- Lunch ( My first "meal" on post. It was actually alright too.)
1300-1600 CIF Issue ( This is where you get all your military gear for the training period. Again there are 235 people that must get gear, and things are done alphabetically, so lets just say I hate being a "Smith" sometimes.)
1600 Move back to company area and are pretty much done for the day. Too Easy!

Tuesday:
Wakeup 0415
First formation 0445
0500-0700- Blood Draw/ TB Test (I didnt get my blood drawn, just the TB test, again the "Smith"thing comes to bite me again.)
0700-0800- Breafast ( I actually ate this time)
0800- 1130- Blood Draw/ Dental Exam/ Optometry- (waste of TIME!!!! and took forever)
1145- Lunch
1300- Finance Brief ( the only brief I actually needed because my pay is all jacked up)
1500- Company Commander and 1st Sgt Brief ( I was told about 20 times that I am here to improve leadership and to not do anything stupid. Sure I wont!!!!!)
1700- Chow and the day is OVER!!!!!!

Wednesday:
Wakeup 0415
0500- PT (Physical Training test for all you non-mil folk) Test ( I killed it, TOO EASY. But since I weigh 196 and I am 5'11, I had to be taped (tape measured) for body fat composition. The army has labeled me a "fat boy" which is hysterical if you have ever seen me. I passed the body fat test as well with a couple "why is he being taped" comments from the people conducting the test.
0700- Chow ( I missed it because I was being taped. Of course they want the fat boys to miss chow)
0800- Pee Pee test (OK HUGE waste of time, not because I hate the pee test, but a urinalysis test for 235 Lieutenants should have more people administering and observing. The way they did it here, it took 5 hours)
1130 -Chow (some missed because of the Pee test, again the BOLC II diet)
1300- Commo Class ( Maybe worthless for some, useful for others)
1500- Briefings
1700- Chow ( Missed this one because of a cleaning detail. After this one I went to the commissary and went grocery shopping. THEY WONT STARVE ME DAMNIT!!!)

Thursday:
I wont go hour by hour, just know PT then medical all damn day. But there was an interesting development. Someone stole a computer monitor out of the computer lab in our barracks, so now its closed to us. I then went out to get a wireless internet card. Oh and I had to miss dinner chow because of that monitor. Damn Thieves.

Friday:
OMG 8 hours of briefs after PT!

So in conclusion, this week has been pretty boring with all of the preliminary stuff, but getting off at 5 or so has been nice. Next week should be better.