Home on the Range

Thank my lucky stars, I survived five days of being surrounded by lawyers with loaded M16s.  Nobody got shot, and by the end of the week, all but one "qualified" by Army standards.  (Considering that during the prior DCC class, a 1LT shot herself in the foot, this was indeed an improvement).

I shot an M16A4 with a Close Combat Optic (CCO) that theoretically made it idiot-proof.

Simply point the little red dot on the thing you want to destroy and pull the trigger.  Theoretically, the bullet should whiz out of the rifle and fly straight downrange and destroy the target.  Theoretically.  Turns out there's a little bit more to it than that.....

The first morning, we spent several hours indoors, "zeroing" our weapons with a bore sight.  This tedious process just aligns the muzzle of the weapon with the sight.  Once we were aligned with the bore sight, we practiced dry firing (i.e., no bullets) in each of the four firing positions:  prone supported (lying on your belly with the barrel of the rifle resting on sandbags); prone unsupported (same thing, no sandbags); kneeling; and standing -- all while attempting to balance a dime on the muzzle of the rifle.  The trick is to keep your body absolutely still, time your breathing perfectly so that you are neither inhaling nor exhaling when you pull the trigger, and then pull the trigger slow and smooth.  I found firing a weapon a lot like golf ....... way too many things to remember before you get to have any fun!  Not to mention, the weapon weighs about 9 pounds, which gets really heavy to hold absolutely still, especially in the standing position.  By noon, we were out on the range for more "zeroing" -- this time by firing live bullets at a little piece of paper stapled to a target at 25 meters out.   Cadre told us that nobody was going to leave the range that day until everybody successfully zeroed their weapon.  No pressure.    No pressure at all.

Somehow, I managed to zero my weapon on my first try.  My first 5 shots clustered low on the silhouette, but just below the "bulls eye".  4 of my second 5 shots clustered in the bulls eye, with one stray shot up by his right shoulder.  The last of my 5 shots all clustered in the bulls eye.  The SSG assigned to my lane was surprised, to say the least.  He told me I had to take a picture of my target (below) and email it to Doug.  Of course, I eagerly complied.  :)

The next day, we went out to the LOMAH (Location of Miss And Hit) Range.  Each firing lane had a computer connected to it.  The targets were positioned at 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 meters, and each had a series of microphones under them, which supposedly sent information back to the computer about where the bullet hit (or missed) the target.   Each firer had a partner who watched the computer screen and coached based on where the shots were landing (high, low, left, right, etc.).  My first two times up, I was 40 for 40 each time (i.e., 100% of my bullets hit the target).  Shocked the crap out of me, that's for sure.  The third time up, we changed from static targets to pop-up targets, which was MUCH harder because you had to move the weapon around, steady it, and fire, all before the target popped back down into hiding.  (Personally, I think in the middle of combat, I should be able to tell the bad guys to just "hold still damnit!!" while I line up my shot .... apparently that's not all that realistic, so the Army insists we learn to shoot these silly pop up targets).  I didn't do so well on the pop-ups, only hitting 21 of the 40, completely letting all the air out of my party balloon. 

Wednesday was qualification day.   We were at a new range, with 8 pop-up targets in each lane at 50, 100, 175, 250 and 300 meters.  To qualify (and pass the course) we had to shoot a minimum of 23 out of 40.  We were given 20 rounds in the prone supported position, 10 at the prone unsupported position, and 10 at the kneeling position.  All of this wearing full "battle rattle" including:  the IBA (Interceptor Body Armor - 29 pounds); FLC Vest (Fighting Load Carrier - 12 pounds loaded); ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet - 4 pounds); and full camelback (7.5 pounds full).  Oh, and did I mention it was 92 degrees that day with no shade?  

 

Despite waddling around like a penguin in all that gear, and sweating off at least 10 pounds, I managed to qualify on my first try.  Apparently, I not only qualified, but hit 31 out of 40, which technically makes me a "sharpshooter" by Army standards.  (Hey Dad - I guess firing at those bales of hay when I was a kid actually paid off!).  As soon as I finished shooting, I had 15 minutes off to hydrate and eat, and then was pulled by Cadre to coach other students who were having trouble.  All in all that day, I spent about 9 hours in full battle rattle, in the sun, on the range, either shooting or coaching .... by the end of the day, I was completely exhausted.  I honestly do NOT know how Infantry guys do this every single day in 120+ degree heat in Iraq/Afghanistan.  Again, I am humbled by how hard this really is. 

Thursday we started the day with an awesome pre-dawn "Combat PT" session.  Wearing our IBA (29 lbs), we had to run around the track in teams, carrying our buddies on field stretchers, then run relay races carrying two 5 gallon water cans (about 40 lbs each), then run a relay race doing a buddy carry with partners.  Fun way to start a day!  The rest of the day, we cleaned our weapons.  I had no idea it could really take that long (or that many toxic chemicals) to clean a weapon that hadn't even fired 500 rounds!  Friday started at 0330 with a six-mile ruck march, loaded down with 20% of our body weight, plus full camelback, FLC vest, and carrying our weapon.  We've been doing lots of ruck marches all summer, so this wasn't a big deal, except that carrying the weapon added a new challenge.   The rest of the day was spent learning patrolling techniques, which essentially meant running around the PT field, dropping to our knees, and dragging our bellies/faces on the ground for hours.  More of that fun next week. 

After that fun-filled week, I think it goes without saying that I slept a lot this weekend.   One quick note about two important things I've been hammered over the head with during the past few weeks: (1)  Its impossible to appreciate how mentally and physically difficult it is to keep this pace and meet these challenges every single day.  I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it really is in real combat, outside of the safety-net of the training environment.  (2) One of the most important things I've gotten out of being in the Army for this short amount of time is an amazing boost of my confidence.  If you had told me a month ago that I'd walk through a snake-infested swamp at 0400 in the dark and not have a meltdown, or fire an M16 and actually hit the target, I'd tell you you were crazy (using much more colorful language, of course).  

One more week left!

Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh MY!

Week three of DCC:  Land Navigation.  Its been over since Friday, but I'm still having nightmares about being tangled up in thorny vines, unable to run from giant spiders and snakes.  Seriously.

Monday started with classroom instruction on using the UTM grid map system (i.e., military maps), plotting points, and identifying terrain features on a map.  Thanks to Doug's patient instruction over the past 10 months, this was all review for me.  Tuesday, we headed out to the Land Nav training area at Fort Benning.  First, the cadre broke us into teams of 3, provided each team 3 different 8-digit grid coordinates, a map & a compass and let us loose for 3 hours.  Using those grid-coordinates, we had to plot our points on the map, calculate the azimuth (direction) and distance from point-to-point, and go find them.  Each point was marked with a little metal orange & white box either nailed to a tree or on a post in the ground with a number on it.  After finding what you thought was your point, you had to record the number of the box and move on to your next point.  On the first round out, my team found all 3 points pretty quickly, and I was feeling good.  On our second round out, my team struggled a bit with our 2nd point, as there were two orange/white boxes within 30 meters of each other.  We argued a bit about which one was the right one. (Its critical to find the right one, not just to get credit for it, but also because if you measure your next azimuth off an incorrect point, you'll never find any of your subsequent points!).  Even after some arguing and backtracking, we were able to locate all 3 correct points and return to base camp with plenty of time to spare.

Wednesday got a little tougher.  We were on buses back out to the training area at 0300 and no longer working in teams.  Each individual was given 3 points to find, one little chem light, and sent off into the woods.  Earlier in the week, we had been briefed extensively on the Georgia wildlife, including poisonous snakes, poisonous spiders, and angry wild boars.  Now I was out, all by myself, in the pitch dark, wandering through the woods looking for a little orange & white box -- that I wasn't going to be able to see in the dark anyway -- praying that I wasn't going to step on any poisonous snakes.  A few times, I heard the snort of a boar, but didn't see any.  Spiders, now that's a different story.  Breaking through the brush, spider webs were everywhere and I was constantly spitting out thick webs.  A few times I turned my headlamp on for a second (technically against the rules, but hell, it was 0500 and I was in the middle of the freaking woods) and was staring straight at a spider the size of my palm.  The only way to get through night land-nav is to just plow forward and focus on getting where you need to go.  If I let my mind wander to the snakes underfoot or spiders overhead, I never would have gotten through it.  Anyway, my first nighttime point was 1900 meters from my start point, and the cadre imposed a "no roads" rule, which means that all 1900 meters had to be trekked straight through the woods (no trails) at night.  Its nearly impossible to stay on an azimuth (direction), or monitor pace count (distance) while breaking through brush, in the dark, for 1900 meters.  I spent about 2 hours looking for my point, and then finally continued on to the boundary road and headed back to base camp.  I felt like a failure until one-by-one my classmates started popping out of the woods along the same road, cursing and dejected.   Later I found out I was less than 10 meters from the point right before I popped out on the road - I just didn't see it in the dark!  At least I was close.  After a short break to eat and rest, we all set out again to find more individual points.  This time, I set a time-standard for myself - I wanted to see how quickly I could move through the course, because I knew that would be important for the test the next day.  I booked through the course and found all my points in just over an hour, which made me feel pretty good about the test. I only had one close encounter with wildlife - a GIANT black & grey snake stretched out in my path.  I jumped and let out a little scream, but was so focused on finding my point quickly that I just stepped around it and plowed forward (hard to believe, huh?).   Anyway, after two successful days on the Land Nav course, I was feeling good about the test on Thursday.

Thursday morning, we were on buses again at 0300, but this time headed to a different Land Nav course for our test.  Cadre told us this course is brand new, which means it hasn't had thousands of soldiers trekking through it every week, helping to break down some of the brush.  Its also called "Little Vietnam" because of how thick the vegetation is.  It crosses two swamps, and is littered with barbed wire and dummy ammo from its former life as a Ranger training area.   We were given 8 coordinates at 0500 and had 5 hours to find 5 of our 8 points.  This time, there was no prohibition on using roads, so I attacked my first point by walking the roads about 2.5 miles to get closer to the point.  This also gave the sun a little time to rise!!  I had no trouble finding my road intersections in the dark, and shot my first azimuth into the dark woods, plowed through, and found my first point exactly where it should have been.  I was pumped!   What I didn't know was that between me and my 2nd point was vegetation so thick that I literally would not be able to move forward.  In the past when I'd come across thick obstacles like that, I'd just go around them and adjust my pace count & azimuth accordingly.  But there was no "going around" this stuff.  It was just thick thick vines and deadfall and thornbushes.  I'm not talking about raspberry-bush sized thorns - I'm talking like thick thorns about an inch long.  There was absolutely no other option but to just plow through with some hope of finding my next point so I could go the hell home.  Unfortunately, I spent the next 3 hours tangled up in vines, walking around in circles, looking for that damned point I never did find.  I used all the tactics Doug taught me, like going out to the road and shooting a new azimuth from a different point, but the vines/thorns/deadfall/brush was so damned thick, it was just impossible to move.  I lost my eye protection, my ACU pants were shredded, I was wet and cold, and my hands and neck were covered in blood by the time I finally ran out of time and had to head back to base camp.  Out of 111 people in the class, only 20 found the requisite 5 points.  The rest of us looked like we had been to hell and back, and are probably still having nightmares about those damned vines.
Several people were injured pretty badly - some were really cut up by the barbed wire and a few had sprained ankles and knees from falling into ravines or holes.  We were told that we would all have to re-test the next morning, but that they would let us start an hour later to give us an hour less of darkness.  Unfortunately, the vines and swamps and the ravines and the holes are still there in the daylight!

Thankfully, I had my Secret Weapon -- Doug.  As soon as I was released for the day, I headed over to the campground for some intense Land Nav instruction.  After throwing a brief pity party for myself (which he very quickly put an end to, of course) we pulled out the map and got to work.  It turns out the strategy for a course like that is never ever ever to plow through the swamp/woods/brush.  I should have been running the roads, and then just traveling short distances through the brush to my points, like I did for the first point.  A few hours of strategy later, I headed back to the barracks for a few hours of sleep before the retest.

Friday morning, I was ready to go.  I got my points, figured out my strategy, and started running.  And it worked.  I found my first 5 points without getting wet, shredded, bloody, or frustrated.  I still had 90 minutes left, so I went for my 6th point, just to prove I could.  This time, 80 more people passed, so now there are less than 20 who need to retest again next week.  I am still amazed at the difference in my experience between Thursday morning, plowing through the vines/thorns/brush and Friday morning, running the roads and attacking short distances in the woods.  Obviously, that makes sense, I'm just not sure why they didn't teach us that in the first place.  Thank goodness for my Secret Weapon ..... he really earned his Best Husband in the World title this week!  :)

Next week:  Range week.  111 lawyers with loaded M16A4s.   Now that's some scary stuff.

Bruised and Broken (but still having fun!)

Happy to report I survived Week #2 of DCC.  I am bruised and still licking my wounds, but I'm still walking and going back for more tonight (as if I had a choice......).  

We started the week at 0400 on Tuesday for a run in formation.  That means all 115 of us run side by side, so there is no room for different paces or abilities.  The cadre leading the run started us off at a 6.2 minute/mile pace.  Crazy.  (My normal pace is about 9 - 9:30/mile and I usually fall right about in the middle of the class!)  People were dropping like flies.  I dropped like a fly.  The group that was able to keep up with the crazy pace took off and left all the wounded flies to fend for themselves.  We, of course, got lost and had no idea how to get back home.  Another LT and I rounded up the "wounded fly" group and did our best to keep them in formation and lead them home.  Four miles later, we were back at the barracks getting yelled at for being so slow.  Just another day with the Infantry.   After a sprint through the showers and quick chow, we had a few hours of individual time to take care of the "ash & trash" we each needed to do on post (e.g., forms at the transportation office, ID issues, finance issues, etc.)  The afternoon was spent learning combatives.  It was a blast.  I was paired with a 6'3" guy and thought I would be toast, but the methods they teach really work.  We were flipping each other over and around in the grass.  (OK, maybe he let me win a few, but I'm sticking with my story that I was able to flip him over my head and pin him on the ground!).  By the way, Georgia Red Ants are angry and have huge fangs .... more than a few crawled up my pant legs and attacked while I was pinned to the ground.

After combatives, we were finally issued our weapons - M16A4. Holy crap!  If this Army thing didn't feel real before, it sure as hell felt real with that thing in my hands!!  The rest of the week focused on getting familiar with the weapon, learning how load, aim & handle, as well as take apart & put back together.  No ammunition yet - just getting acquainted with our new "best friend" and practicing with dry fire.  Throughout the week, we carried our weapons and completed the first 4 stages of our Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) training.  We learned how to disassemble & assemble; how to zero (i.e., adjust our rife to our optic so the bullet hits where the optic says its going to hit); and how to get comfortable in the three main firing positions:  prone (laying on your belly), kneeling, and standing.  By Friday I was pretty comfortable and am almost ready to hit the range with some real ammunition.   I'll get my chance to do that next week. 

Tuesday morning we tackled the Army Obstacle Course.  We were divided into squad teams and were racing for time against the other teams.  Each team had to complete the same 14 obstacles.  Some were easy (i.e., doing a low-crawl in sand underneath criss-crossing wires) and others were much more challenging.  My squad was fantastic - everyone cheered each other on and provided that little push of moral support to get through some of the scary ones.   I had a hard time physically on a few of them that required a lot of upper body strength, and froze for a few seconds on one really high one when I made the mistake of looking down, but in the end was able to complete all of the obstacles.  There were two obstacles that required running full force into a log to hoist yourself up and over it to the next part of the obstacle.  For those of us who are shorter, the log hit square-on in our sternum.  Today,  5 days later, it still hurts to breathe, twist, strain, reach, or otherwise move.  Its getting better as time goes by, but we were all beaten up pretty bad by that obstacle course.  

Also this week, I was Squad Leader, which means I was the leader of 17 other students, and 2nd in command for our Platoon.  While it was a lot of extra work, I loved every minute of it.  It brought me back to the old days of being an RD or RA in student affairs.  At the end of the week, the NCO (Non Commissioned Officer - a Staff Sergeant) assigned to my squad said "Ma'am, I'd work for you any day" That is one of the best compliments I think I've EVER received.  

By Friday evening, after a week of 0300 and 0400 wake-ups and late nights, I was ready to come over to the campground that Doug & the pups call home and just crash.  The only way I can describe the level of exhaustion is to compare it to the feeling I had the night after the 24-Hour of Great Glen mountain bike race each year.  Its that level of total exhaustion, but day after day after day.  I honestly do not know how these high-speed guys survive this level of training day in and day out, some for 20+ years.  I am humbled by how difficult -- both physically and mentally -- it really is.  

Next week:  Land Navigation.  I'm pysched.  Thanks to Doug and many hours of his patient instruction the past six months, this is one area in which I may actually be above the curve.  If there's no blog post from me next weekend, you'll know I was wrong and I'm still trying to find my way out of the pine forests of Ft. Benning.  :)

Let's Get This Party Started

Ahhhhh.....Fort Benning.  The final phase of my initial Army training!  Let's get this party started!

I signed into the Direct Commissioned Officer Course (DCC) last Sunday, 3 Oct.   The fantasy world in which I've been living the past 10 weeks is long gone.  No more maid service or wireless internet.   Hell, I do a happy dance when I can get enough of a cell signal to sneak in a static-filled call to Doug before bed.  (No, Mr. AT&T man, I cannot hear you now....).  I am, however, blessed to have four wonderful roommates -- nobody snores, nobody cries, and they were nice enough to give the old lady one of the bottom bunks.  At this stage of the game, you celebrate the little things!

The first two days were filled with painfully boring in-processing (i.e., filling in the same exact forms I filled in 12 weeks ago at Ft. Lee ..... although I'm pretty sure neither my husband's name or SSN has changed since then, I still had to write it on at least 35 DA forms anyway).   The saving grace of all this in-processing is that we had a few excellent early-morning PT sessions.   And when I say "early morning" I mean in formation at 0415.  These Infantry guys who run this course are freaking nocturnal.

Wednesday and Thursday we were bussed out to one of the training areas for our Combat Lifesaver Course.  It was a great course taught by retired Army medics, with one full day in a classroom (i.e., Death By Powerpoint) and one full day of hands-on instruction.  Combat Lifesaving techniques require you to disregard everything you've ever learned in any first aid or first responder course.  The only focus in saving someone's life in combat is to first control the bleeding, and second to fix a collapsed lung.  That's it.  No CPR, no checking for spinal injuries, no pain management.  Just slap a tourniquet on so they don't bleed to death and then get them the hell out of the line of fire.  The medics (hopefully) take care of the rest.  That was another one of those "holy crap .... I'm not in New Hampshire anymore" moments.  :)

After we were all given our shiny new "Combat Lifesaver" certification cards, we returned to post and rushed through all of our various cleaning details (yes, I'm cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors on a regular basis these days) and safety briefings before the long weekend.   Because Monday is a federal holiday, the Army gave almost everyone Friday off as well so we could have a four-day weekend.  The second I was released, I was in my car headed north of Atlanta, to the campground I left Doug & the pups in the week before.  I'm now on day 3 of the 4 day weekend and I think I might actually be caught up on sleep!  Next week, we start with radio communications, then learn modern combatives techniques (woohoooo!), then head to the range for the beginning of our Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) training.  I am definitely looking forward to less paperwork and more time getting dirty next week!

So yeah, I realize there's like a 5 week gap between the last blog and getting here to DCC.   The final four weeks of class were split between the final topics of Legal Assistance (e.g., drafting wills, family law issues, consumer protection laws) and International/Operational Law (e.g., rules of engagement, Geneva Convention application).   Then the final PT Test and graduation.  Mom & Dad drove down to Charlottesville for graduation, so it was nice spending some time with them before I head clear across the country.

The obligatory Doug and Jen picture! 

Mom and Dad after JAOBC graduation

Graduation was short & sweet, and Mom and Dad were glad they came.  I was one of four Honor Graduates (top 5% of the class academically) and won the TJAGLCS Award for Excellence (highest grade in a particular subject) in both International/Operational Law and Administrative Law.  The final PT test was also a success, and I met my own personal goal.  (Scores range from 1 to 300.  My personal goal was to exceed 290.  I got a 291.   Goal met .... until the next one anyway!)

The day after graduation, we loaded up the RV, corralled the pups, and headed south toward Benning.  The Army gave us three days to get there, so Doug planned an excellent adventure for the trip (he earned his Best Husband in the World title for this one!).   Our first stop was in southern Virginia at Fairy Stone State Park, where we set up camp, took the pups swimming and did some hilly mountain biking.  Then the next morning, it was off to Croft State Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina where we set up camp, took the pups swimming and checked out some fun mountain bike trails.   The next day, we headed further south, to Fort Yargo State Park just northeast of Atlanta, where we set up camp, took the pups swimming, and rode some awesome mountain bike trails.  (Notice a pattern??).   I must admit I am amazed at how awesome the parks are down here, and how much we are loving the riding down here.  New Hampshire will always be home, but we are psyched to be able to explore all these new trails, all with such different terrain than we are used to.   We finally moved the RV and the whole pack down to the Uchee Creek Campground on Fort Benning today (we took the pups swimming today, and hope to check out the trails tomorrow!).  It's run by the Army's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Directorate (MWR) and is just 7 miles from my barracks room.  Doug will live here in the RV with the pups and I'll visit whenever I can (or whenever I want to use his high-speed internet connection or cable TV).  :)

That's it for now.  Hopefully the next 5 weeks here at DCC will be exciting enough to post more often, and I'll have time to do that on weekends.   A few of you have asked for my address here.  I supposedly can receive mail (although it is yet untested) until 10 November at:

1LT Jennifer Norvell
Direct Commission Course, 2-11 IN
BLDG 76, McVeigh Drive
Ft. Benning, GA 31905