Deployment Update, Week 11
Comments: 0 - Date: August 3rd, 2008 - Categories: Deployment
Like last week, this week was extremely busy. We didn’t get this past weekend off either, meaning I’m sitting here typing this on Sunday night when I’d rather be going to sleep early. That doesn’t bode well for continuing the regular updates in the field, though I still like to think I’ll be able to keep after them. For now, the story continues.
Monday was death by powerpoint all day. The military has various briefs that are required yearly (if not more often), such as reviewing the sexual harassment policy. In fact, you get most of these briefs any time you do something: change commands, go on deployment, go on AT, etc. There’s also a requirement to go through some of them yourself (in addition to the classroom brief) online. They are so overdone that they quickly become jokes, and the entire point of presenting them is defeated by showing them so often that nobody takes them seriously any more. Sexual harassment is bad, we get it. The only thing accomplished by telling us this two or three times a year is that any time someone makes a rude sexual comment, everyone invokes the most hilarious parts of the brief. This, of course, spawns more off-color jokes, in a self-perpetuating cycle that makes a mockery of a serious subject. But I’ve gotten away from my main point which is that we went through all of these things again on Monday, and I suspect I will see them again before the end of the deployment.
On Tuesday we had a day long class on the SINCGARS radio system. It’s not at all a user friendly radio system (this may be intentional), but all US and allied forces use it, and it gets the job done. For these reasons, the training was invaluable, if dry.
Our unit was issued our own fleet of Humvees on Wednesday. I didn’t realize that we’d be receiving our own vehicles during our stay here, but it makes sense. We’ll need something to drive when we’re doing convoy training ops and staying out at the mock FOB (Forward Operating Base—more on that when it happens in a few weeks). So now we have a fleet of six trucks that we use to get around any time we’re not marching to places.
Remember how nice I said the training trucks were? The ones we got for our daily use are not. They don’t have AC, they have all sorts of minor mechanical problems that are just not bad enough to put them out of commission, and they’re really beat up. To simulate the limited visibility in the up-armored Humvees, ours have large sheets of plywood attached to the doors and windows. Between the hillbilly doors, belching smoke, and loud rattling engines, the whole effect is like something out of The Grapes of Wrath, with our jalopies bouncing across the countryside.
We had a series of presentations on IEDs on Thursday. It was some pretty basic stuff which I think most people in our unit have seen before. We’ll be going a lot more in depth, considering our mission of working around IEDs on a regular basis, so I’m not sure how valuable these presentations were. I got the impression that they were simply using the briefs to fill time because we didn’t have anything relevant to do until later in the day.
Thursday evening is when we were finally issued our weapons, and went through a basic weapons handling class. Unlike in my previous training, we haven’t been regularly training with our weapons (though we will in the future), and we don’t have to stand a watch as they’re all kept in the armory. Also we were issued the M-4 carbine rather than the M-16 (though we still received the M-9 side arm). The primary difference is the length. The M-4 is a lot shorter, and is issued to those who need the firepower but don’t need the hassle of a long barrel when they’re jumping in and out of Humvees all day.
Another way of looking at it: they only issue M-4’s to people who they think are going to have to use them.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday was the Combat Life Saver (CLS) course. This is something that I would have assumed everyone gets before going in theater, but from what I’ve heard, it’s only in the past year or so that it’s been a universal training evolution. Previously, there were regular infantry guys who got basic first aid, and medics. The CLS certified people are half way between a regular medic, and the grunt who slept through first aid. It’s become a regular part of training, however, so now all the mobilized reservists are CLS certified before they go overseas.
The course was alternately grisly and fun. Grisly because of all the photos and discussions of massive battlefield trauma presented in the class. Unfortunately, it gets you thinking about all the worst case scenarios and everything that can go wrong in theater. On the other hand, it was fun because I got to do stuff that I would not otherwise ever do, like give someone an IV.
We had to both give and receive an IV. My partner and I both screwed up on the first try (although for different reasons), and had to go again on the second arm where we were successful, if somewhat bloody. (The first time he stuck me, he glanced off the vein and went into the muscle. Quite painful. The first time I stuck him, I didn’t go in far enough to successfully insert the catheter, which kinked when I tried to slide it forward. Probably painful, too, though I didn’t feel a thing.) That was the highlight of the course so far. Tomorrow we have the final exercise where we do a field patrol, get “attacked” and have to call in a medevac and secure the site. Like the IV, it should be fun.
As I continue with this training, I’ll only be getting busier. We’ve settled into a routine and that alone makes the remaining time seem manageable, even if the day to day activities vary widely.
-Ted