Convoy Live Fire

Tuesday- PT at 5, Chow at 7, and then movement to convoy live fire.

You ever had the feeling that you are just not prepared to do something, well I got that feeling about convoy live fire. In comparison we did ARM/Reflexive fire for weeks, but we have practiced Convoy Operations for 1 day and we are doing a live fire exercise. Good times. We practiced the operation again this morning and moved out to the convoy live fire range. Again we did a dry run, blank run and then a live fire exercise. The way the exercise went, we moved in a convoy of maybe 7 humvees and two 5 ton troop carriers. Some barrier would block the road, forcing us to dismount the vehicles and engage the enemy. When we dismounted we would get online and fire rounds at pop-up targets. Once the enemy was destroyed we mounted vehicles again and moved out. Then at some point we would get hit with an IED (which was an artillery simulator tossed near the convoy, it makes a really big boom) and react accordingly. To my surprise, and to the dismay of the Cadre, we did this exercise really well and essentially we were allowed to relax a little that night. And then we started classes on land navigation. Since I was leaving early this week, I missed land navigation and would have to make it later.

ARM/ Reflexive Fire

Week 4

I was notified by my instructors that I would be allowed to go home on Wednesday of this week to attend my grandfather’s funeral. That would then I would have only two days of training and those two days were really cool. In week 4 we began FOB operations. A FOB is a Forward Operating Base where we would essentially live the next three weeks. We are operating FOB’s all over IRAQ and Afghanistan right now and this FOB is to act like those do in theater, equipped with guard towers, two gates (One of which that would serve as an entry control point) living and dining areas. In other words, Week 4 started my “Field” work for BOLC II. All training was done at the FOB unless it was done at a range of some type. Getting released at 5PM was not going to happen anymore, we work until training is done and several times that meant 12AM or later!!!

Monday- Wakeup 5, PT at our barracks and then we moved out to the FOB. From the FOB we moved to reflexive fire/ARM.

So I have been talking about Reflexive firing and ARM for 4 posts now. This was the live fire day for these drills. The way this course has been taught thus far, for every exercise, we do a dry fire with no ammunition, then a blank fire with blank rounds and then a live fire with live rounds. The first exercise was reflexive fire. The firer starts in the kneeling position, loads a magazine, asks permission to move and then moves to a low retaining wall. Once at the wall the firer fires 2 rounds to the left of the wall and two rounds above the wall. The firer then places the weapon on safe (very important!!!) and requests permission to move to the next obstacle which is a high wall. Once at the high wall, the firer fires two rounds at the side of the wall and two rounds above the wall. The firer places the weapon on safe and ask permission to move to the next obstacle which is a BIG window. (Our Cadre kept telling us not to die in the window by exposing ourselves, but its almost impossible with that size window) Once the firer get to the window, he/she fires two rounds through the window. At this time, the firer must reload magazines because he/she was given two 10 round magazines. Once the firer has reloaded he fires two more rounds through the window. The firer places the weapon on safe he/she asks permission to move to the last obstacle which is a door. When the firer reaches the door, he will do a facing movement into the door and firer 8 rounds through the doorway in controlled pairs while advancing forward. During this entire exercise there is a Cadre member walking with the firer correcting mistakes and keeping things safe.

The next exercise is ARM drills. Firers take up positions at the base of a firing line. There are approximately 30 firers on the line. There is a target in front of each firer that contains a red symbol, a green symbol, a yellow symbol, and a purple symbol. On command from the command tower, fires will engage targets of a designated color by the tower. In addition there are also “friendly targets” that should not be engaged. In our case, purple and yellow symbols should not be engaged. So if the tower said “Yellow…, Ready Up!” we would not fire at the target. We would yell, “FRIENDLY!” But if the tower said “Red…, Ready Up!” we would fire a controlled pair at the red target. After firing a given number of rounds at this firing line, we would then move to the next firing line and do a facing movement so that the target was at our right left or rear. This means that in order to engage the target, we would have to do a facing movement prior to engaging the target. So if the target was at our left, when the tower says “Red…, Ready Up” we would positively identify the target, turn left and then engage the target with a controlled pair. Remember I said there was a degree of danger to this and here is where it gets hairy. If your buddy to the left or fight of you accidentally fires while turning, you will take that round in the chest or back. Needless to say I was scared to death during the live fire of this exercise, especially when the target was at the rear and we had to do a full 180 degree turn to engage the target. We did this exercise with 60 rounds so there was a lot of time for error.

After ARM we moved back to the FOB to began practicing for convoy operations. We ate chow at 5PM, but when chow was done, we continued work on convoy operations. This was the first time we were doing actual training after chow. During convoy operations we were learning about what to do in the event we take fire, get hit by an IED, or what happens if we are impeded in any way while on a convoy. We practiced really late because the next day we were scheduled to do a convoy live fire operation. Fun Stuff!

Friday of Week 3

This was an interesting day because it started at 0330. We had a 5 mile ruck march scheduled for a 4am step-off time. This ruck march had to be done in 2 hours (no faster/no slower) and had to be tactical. That makes this an extremely grueling ruck march because it is so slow! I have found over time that fast ruck marches hurt much less than slow ones because you generally take more steps in slow ones and each step hurts. We were doing the march with 35lb rucks which is standard for all cross gender training courses in the Army. I however, in preparation for Air Assault school, rucked with a 55lb ruck. I also was priveledged to be the one that set the pace for the march.

Once the ruck march was done, we did more reflexive firing drills and Advanced Rifle Marksmanship drills. I am starting to believe that reflexive firing and ARM are the real basis of this course, I guess I will find out next week. After ARM, we began prepping for room clearing and Urban Combat. In today’s battlefield, the most dangerous aspect of the battlefield is urban combat. It is highly dangerous because the enemy has many avenues of approach, many places to hide, and many casualty causing agents that can be used in buildings. All in all, this was a very simple day, and a simple week, except for the news of my grandfather’s passing.

I am alive

Ok so I have sucked so horrible the last three weeks keeping this thing updated, so I am going to catch everyone up in the next three or 4 posts.

The end of week 3.

On Wednesday of week 3 we had PT at 6 am and the moved out to basic rifle marksmanship familiarization training. Basically, we went to a firing range and aimed at a 75M, 150M and 300M pop-up targets. When a firer hits one of the targets a computer tells you where on the target the round hit. The purpose of this is to help a firer understand where on the target they are most likely to hit during qualification. I seem to aim high ( I like head shots). I hit all 36 of the pop up targets, which generally means I will fire well at qualification. We will find out tomorrow.

It was at this time where my training went on the back burner, to a family issue. I received a call at 11:21 PM from my brother that informed me that my Grandfather had died. I had known for a week that he was really sick, so the news wasn't horrible unexpected, but it shook me. In an already sleep deprived environment, I didnt sleep at all that night. I spent most of the night contemplating why my Grandfather and I were not that close, and remembering the time we did spend together. BAD NIGHT TO SAY THE LEAST

So the next day, I went to formation at 5:50 thinking that I should tell my platoon mentor what had happened and take a day off. LOL, I actually thought that could happen for just a second! Then I came to my senses and thought " This is the Army, there are no days off" So I went to PT, and attended all training for that day. I was told I needed a emergency call from the Red Cross in order to go home, so I began getting that lined up. If you remember from the paragraph above, this is rifle qualification day. Each firer gets to fire twice and I shot 31 and 34 (out of 40). This means that I shot "Sharpshooter" I have been firing "Expert" over the last few years (hitting 36 or better) but under the circumstances, I cant complain. From there we came back to the barracks area and began to do more reflexive firing drills. We seem to do these drills anytime we have a free moment. Reflexive firing and Advanced Rifle Marksmanship is practicing firing from the standing position, around buildings, walls, and barriers, as well as firing on the move. We practice it a lot because we will be doing these drills with live rounds at the beginning of the next week, and if these drills are done incorrectly, a person could easily kill the man standing next to you. It is very important to do this right!