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.