BOOM! (Basic Training) Day 44

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. His writing at times can be a bit difficult to determine his words... bare with me, I do my best, especially with army terms.

Today was grenade day. We took off after breakfast to the grenade range. After safety training and a few practice throws we were all given a “go” or “no go” by going through the motions and tossing a dummy grenade in front of an instructor. They were looking to make sure we did everything correctly and that we threw it far enough. I got a “go”, so after everyone finished, all the “GOs” walked to the live range. I was a little nervous while standing in line. We were behind a wall with a roof, so we couldn’t see the range. We could just hear the loud BOOM, BOOM. All my nerves went away when it was my turn. They gave me a live grenade and I ran out to my assigned bunker. The instructor was there told me to prepare and then throw. I hucked that thing as far as I could and ducked behind the concrete wall…BOOM!!! It’s pretty impressive! We then had to take off and get back to the original cover. After that we got to watch the next person throw through a window and see the blast. Pretty cool! Once about half of us finished, they paused for a bit and had us run up the road back to our gear. When they resumed I was amazed that I could feel the blast even though we were about 400 meters away and there were trees between us. Pretty powerful stuff.

We had MREs for lunch along with a Powerade & power bar from the gut truck. It’s funny as soon as people start opening their MREs the bartering process starts “Hey, I’ll trade you a poppy seed cake for your pretzels” or “I got this…anyone want to trade…what you got?”

We then went on to actually qualify with hand grenades. To do this we had to go to 7 different stations and throw dummy grenades (using the proper technique) at various targets and from various positions. (standing, kneeling, prone). The last station had us identify 5 variety of grenades by looking at samples. I was able to get  “go” on all the stations, so I’ll get an expert pin. Woohoo!

After transport back we took a heat dump and ate dinner, then cleaned the bay. We have staff duty as well as fireguard, so almost everyone has a shift. I can’t remember the last time I had uninterrupted sleep. It’s getting very annoying.

Overheard Quote: “Why are you so consistently fucked up?” (the 1st Sergeant yelling at PVT Home School today).

Pvt. Cock

Is Pvt. Home School who I think it is?

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - 08:04 AM

Shot & Boom! (Basic Training) Day 41

A guy from our company firing one of the practice grenades from the M203

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. His writing at times can be a bit difficult to determine his words... bare with me, I do my best, especially with army terms.

This morning we had another GAR (group ability run). I decided to move up to “B” group. Last time in “C” group I barely broke a sweat. This time in “B” group I was drenched in sweat. (and rain from earlier). It was a much faster pace and longer distance. It pushed me a lot harder; in fact I ended up at the back of the group (not counting the ones that fell out). 

After breakfast we went to a range where we learned all about the AT4 “A fully contained, light weight, man-portable, right shoulder fired anti-armor weapon”. Kinda like a portable rocket launcher. Everyone has a chance to shoot small tracer rounds from them for practice at some old tanks on the range. That was pretty cool, but what was really cool came next. Our best shooter in qualifying for our platoon and another platoon actually got to shoot the real thing. The other platoon's guy shot & hit the tank. When our guy shot, he hit the tank too...that was pretty cool!

After that we ate lunch (MRE) and then got transported to another range. This range was for the M203 (It’s a grenade launcher that can attach to a M16 rifle). We learned all about it and then everyone had a chance to fire 8 dummy grenades. When they hit the ground they gave a puff of orange smoke. Still pretty cool.

They picked the best shooters from the other two platoons and they got to shoot the real thing. The DSs were joking telling everyone to duck after they shoot because shrapnel may come back at us. The first guy shot & BOOM!!! (big bang). Right after the hit, a DS behind the bleachers threw a bunch of pebbles on the metal roof. Everyone almost pissed themselves and ducked for cover. It was pretty funny.

After that we had about an hour and a half to kill before transportation. The strangest thing happened. All the DSs, the 1^st Sergeant, and the Captain hung out in front of everyone and started asking everyone for good jokes. When the privates started running out of jokes, the DSs wanted us to start doing impersonations of the DSs. It was pretty funny. It then turned into funny stories from the DSs. Very laid back and a lot of laughter. 

After dinner we had to pack for our FTX tomorrow. FTX = Field Training Exercise…aka camping army style. Not really excited for it. We are going to have to a do a number of drills and exercises. Make our camp and worst of all pull security all night with a battle buddy. (Every hour one stays awake & one sleeps, then switch). I can’t imagine the food is going to great either. MREs and maybe duty food. MREs don’t really fill you up, they just tide you over until the next meal. Not sure how much time I’ll have to write…we’ll see how it goes.

Random DS Quote: “This is the first time you guys have impressed me. You must make your boyfriends happy.” (DS A-Hole after watching all of us suck down our milkshakes the other day.)

The practice grenades let a little orange smoke out when they hit

so you can see where your shot went

Eagle Tower (Basic Training) Day 14

 A pic of a 2nd platoon soldier going down Eagle Tower

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. His writing at times can be a bit difficult to determine his words... bare with me, I do my best, especially with army terms.

Today we all got dressed up and slung on our backpacks and vest for the march to Eagle Tower. It’s not too far away, perhaps a couple of miles or so. When we got there we ate breakfast and then the company broke into the four platoons. Two of the other platoons started repelling down Eagle Tower. My platoon went to another station to keep us busy. We learned how to load a magazine of bullets in our rifles and how to check for problems when the gun doesn't fire. We were given a magazine of blanks and some that were designed to jam the rifle. It was interesting for the first few times, but after an hour it gets pretty boring. We then switched to practicing throwing a grenade. We used dummy grenades and threw them at a target (picture yourself standing in a line throwing something like a rock into the sand...over and over). After that we switched to get ready to repel. We all got harnessed up and then practiced on a mini version of eagle tower. (It was only 10' tall…a midget Eagle Tower if you will) When we finished, we headed over to Eagle Tower and waited in line. When I was about 10 people back all of sudden it started pouring down rain. They cancelled the rest of the event because of this. I didn't get to do it. We had to march back in the rain, then we all got to take showers that weren't timed (yahoo!) we just had enough time needed to be back in formation. 

The rest of the day was kind of strange, because the plan was for us to still be at Eagle Tower. The DSs gave us some informal classes on staff, we ate dinner outside in the courtyard because it was already set-up for us to eat at Eagle Tower.

The end of the night was our 3 DSs gathering everyone around and explaining why they joined the Army. Then they had each of us state why we joined. After that it was a Q & A session that lasted for a long time. It was interesting to hear their stories and have them act more like people instead of just yelling and swearing all the time.

Mail came tonight, everyone had to put on their protective eye gear and sit in a semi-circle around the DS. He would then read the name of who the letter was to. When the person would sound off, he would throw the letter in that general direction.  Envelopes were flying everywhere. A few "lucky" ones even got hit right in the forehead. It was pretty funny. No mail for me yet. The rule is 5 push-ups for each letter & 15 push-ups for every heart on the letters. LOL. Even though I didn't get any mail, I still ended up doing push-ups. When getting our protective eyewear I forgot to put my dog tags (they have my locker key on them) back down my shirt. 

Since I've been here the DSs have stated that basic training has changed a lot, and it is still changing every cycle. They said too many people were getting hurt because the generations coming into basic now are soft.… too many video games & sitting in front of the TV. The DSs also can't touch anyone unless they ask permission first. They can't even call anyone names. But they can get their point across.  Instead of saying "you're an idiot" it could be "you're acting like an idiot" with some more colorful language of course.

Random DS Quote: "How does 1st Platoon do everything?" response from the Platoon, "Sexy Drill Sergeant"

In formation for "Concurrent Training" (I'm the one in the front)

 A DS showing us how to conduct SPORTS to clear a malfunction. 

 A pic of our platoon "striking a pose". 

Some of my platoon throwing mock grenades.
 

A photo of our platoon in concurrent training 
with Eagle Tower in the background

 A DS explaining the steps involved to throw a grenade
 

Me in front "Striking a Pose"

Hew

talking about everyone with the ds and sitting in a circle reminded me of stripes with john candy lol!

Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 03:42 PM


FS SPC Miller

Haha yea, "I figured I would join before I got drafted"

Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - 12:20 PM