Saturday, October 27, 2007

Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready

Ft. McCrady
So the whole point of training at Ft. McCrady was to get familiarization training for those just incase scenarios. Most of the people who come to Iraq are most likely not going to use it, but if they find themselves in the situation, hopefully they can revert back to the training to stay alive. So far I have not needed it. It's a good thing. Do I think it was a waste of time? No. I'm glad to go through it and get a new experience in my life.



Living Conditions.
So I have to tell you about the top of the line hotel accomodations they hooked us up with. The Ramada has nothing on what the Army can provide you.
Spacious living conditions.
My own personal space.
And a bathroom of.....well....it kinda makes you appreciate the one in the Arizona in Ocean Beach.
I had a bit of a flashback to the fonder days of when I first joined the Navy. Aww, Memory lane.
On to the training.
How much training can you get in two weeks to prepare you for war? As long as you have 14 plus hour days and good spirits then anything is doable. Do you end up prepared for war? Ehh? I can only say that its good enough for government work. I don't remember what paticular order everything happened but this is what they crammed into our hooah brains.
Weapons training.
I got small arms training. These are the guns that we walk around everywhere in Iraq with. A pistol and a rifle. My M-4 got alot of attention from like any NRA fanatic, well maybe because it lookes special with all the cool adapting abilities and it's not the normal weapon that gets issued out for military use. I had cute little nicknames given to me from the Drill Sargents, like J.I. Jane and mini Rambo. I still get random Army guys asking if they can take a look at it and then drool all over it. We got about a half a day on the big guns. We got to shoot about twenty rounds from each. It lasted like a half a second, but it was still fun. My favorite one to shoot off was the grenade launcher.

Combative First Aid training.
Look at how happy my dummy is that I relieved his chest from the pressure build up on his lungs. Who's next?




Land Navigation.
I am killer with a compass and a 8-coordinate grid map. My team was the first to hit all the way points and make it back in time and wait forever for the losers. They're the ones who are going to get their happy asses lost in the middle of the desert and die. J/K. Nobody is going to die. Just get lost forever.
Chemical and Biological Warfare training.
We got to see some pretty grumesome pictures of what happens when there's an outbreak. I just pray that I never have to experience this. Plus we had to learn how to don a gas mask in under 9 seconds. Right now I'm at about 45 seconds. Should I be concerned?

Urban Operations and Convoy Tactics.
In this topic we learned alot about how to bust down doors. We had to learn to deal with the Iraqi people. What to be aware of and how to communicate with out offending them. We had to set up routes on how to get into the city, where each vehicle is placed in the convoy, and what to do if we get hit by an IED.








Death by Power Point.
No military experience would be complete without trying to overload on the small attention capacity of the sailor's mind. Topics such as Law or War, Rules of Engagement, the UCMJ, Isolated Personnel Report, Culutral Awareness, Operational Security, and Anti-Terrorism Force Protection. Necessary to teach so we can keep our patriotic sailors out of the Judical system for doing something questionable in this Oh!-So-Fair war that we are fighting these days. It's kinda of ironic to read the headliner in the newspaper that says Military personnel charged for killing Iraqi people. Isn't that who we are at war with? I dunno.
After 14 days of intense, vigorous, lifesaving conditioning, WE were ready to be sent off to defend the Republicans accusations and make our momas proud. The Drill Sergeants have never drilled a finer group of Sailors who were now Soliders, ready to relieve the poor Army folks who really get screwed on deployments. I'm sorry but it's true. I'm glad I joined the Navy and not the Army.

Friday, October 26, 2007

I think shortening the English language down to one word might actually be the way to improving communications

I got to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina on a Friday night. We left a little earlier than expected. I was hoping to leave on Sunday so I could party my last weekend in San Diego. The military has a way of raining on my parade sometimes. When I got there I found out that we were actually staying on a little base called Ft. McCrady 3o miles away from Ft. Jackson in the middle of no where. We were so far away we couldn't even get delivery to this base. I know I tried because I got sick of the galley food. Galley meaning cafeteria for you civilian folks and D-Fac for you Army folks. They made sure that we weren't running away anywhere, cause if we did we were running for a long time.
Ft. McCrady wasn't that bad. Maybe because I was only there two weeks and it was so long ago that all the bad memories have slipped away or maybe since I've been here in Baghdad there are things that I dealt with that were a whole lot worse til I think, Ft. McCrady wasn't that bad. On the first Sunday we were there our brand new staff of Drill Instructors were introdued to us and gave us the schedule of events that were going to be striked down upon us to transform us from our cushiony Sailor lifestyle into the oh-crap!-Why-I-did-I-join-the-Army lifestyle. The Army thinks that it's perfectly normal to want to carry around sixty extra pounds of crap on their back every where, especially while marching and singing cadence. For some reason I don't think it's a lifestyle I'm going to incorporate into my personal life.
In our first briefing we found out what the meaning of Hooah was.
Hooah (hü-ä or who-ah) adj. U.S. Army slang term. Referring to or meaning anything and everything except no. Generally used when at a lost for words. "Hooah" can also be used as a question, usually as a tag question, as in "We're going to win this war, hooah?". The most appropriate response is with the exclamation "hooah!" Or it can be used in place of profanity when being given bullshit orders or receiving an ass chewing.
Other popular usages of hooah include:
-Heard, Understood, and Acknowledged
-Good copy
-Roger, solid copy, good, great, message received
-Glad to meet you
-Welcome
-Thank you
-Go to the next slide
-All right!
-Yes
-Squared away (He's pretty hooah.)
-You've taken the corect action
-I don't know the answer, but I'll check on it; I haven't the foggiest idea
-I am not listening
-That is really neat, I want one too.
-That is enough of your drivel; sit down!
-Stop sniveling!
-You've got to be kidding me!
-I don't know what that means, but I'm too embarrassed to ask for clarification
-What? (With a tone)
-Hardcore, tough
-I don't know what you said but I want you to think I was paying attention.
-I disagree but I'll do it anyway.
-I want you to think I care.
-I want to show you I can act motivated.
-Amen!
At first I faught conforming to using the word Hooah! But then I realized that I could be understood and not have to explain myself with one simple word. HooAH! Life was great. And the best thing about it, I could be cursing somebody out and they wouldn't take any offense to it. I got my frustrations out and they just excepted what I had to say. Hooah!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Ok I know this is long over due......about 4 months maybe 5

So I finally got off my butt, and I got this blog made. My excuse is that I've been in hidding for national security reasons or I got kidnapped by the talban. Choose which ever one that makes your imagination run wild. It's been interesting being here. It is my second time over here and I'd have to say shame on me. But I'm gonna start from the begining and fill everyone in on my time here.
It all started in a little town of San Diego. A year ago I decided to volunteer again to come over here to the hell-hole. Reasons, there are many but mainly to get my life on track to what I want in the future. Ironically I know, go to war to get my life on track? Well in my mind it makes sense. I got in a little bit of debt while going to school, so coming here offers a good way to pay it off and save money. Plus there's great career advancement opertunities that is opened by coming here.
7 plus months after I had made the decision to come to the land of opertunity, I finally left. In the mean time I partied my ass off and ate all the wonderful food that I wouldn't experience for a year. Thank you to all my wonderful friends in San Diego for the good times and the fun memories.
I spent a week in San Diego to process into operation "Get Your Arse to War". It was mostly going through medical and making sure that you were fit for war. I being combat trained had no problem with that. I am a fine grade "A" quality combative specimen. Thank you. {At this point in the war I think they'll take anyone who is silly enough to sign up} . Then after that they sent me to Ft. Jackson South Carolina. That's were I got my Hooah! training. They made a solider out of me. At this point I'm going to leave you with the cliff hanger.......What went on at Ft. Jackson? How do they turn a Salior into a Soldier? And what does Hooah! really mean? Stay tuned and all your dire questions will be answered as the Desert Drama continues by yours truly.