31 January 2007

Make a Soldier outta you...

Surprisingly enough, we're done early on Day 2. Yesterday, we spent the majority of the day with uniform issue and high speed combat equipment issue. We were issued Army Combat Uniforms (the new digital design), body armor, elbow/knee pads for urban ops, camel back canteen (back pack canteen), personal first aid kit with the newest in trauma treatment, M16 rifles, 9mm pistols, socks, 2 sets of boots (bringing my personal inventory to 4 sets of desert combat boots), silk long johns, wick-away shirts for under the uniform, newest in kevlar helmets and night vision goggles, ballistic goggles for day patrol, tons more stuff and a wonderful fleece jacket that come in more than handy on these latest very cold Carolina days and nights.

Today we focused on combat life saving and marksmanship. There is a huge difference between qualifying with my weapons in just a regular uniform as opposed to qualifying with 65lbs of armor and a helmet. Our combat life saver training consisted of quick and efficient ways to manage bleeding, wound treatment, wounded evacuation, and battlefield tracheotomies (sp?) for soldiers wounded in the neck, face and head from roadside bombs. Depressing academics, but deadly serious stuff. We also accomplished Army by-the-numbers physical training. For as messed up as the Army is, they really do try to be organized. We march to and from academics and to chow...been 16+ years since I last had to "form up" to go anywhere. It's all coming back. Tomorrow is medical stand down day for dental and medical required items prior to going in to country.

They are estimating that we will finish our training on Feb 9 and be wheels up to Kuwait on Saturday 10 Feb. Cetainly no languishing. I am fortunate to be training with some top notch professional military personnel and our drill instructors wil be certain we are combat ready by the time we depart.

1 comment:

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