One 2LT's journey into the big green machine
Have you had your hooah today?
It's been a minute so get ready for a long post.
I guess I left off with some random nonsense about Missouri and how it's whatever. I think I also mentioned in an earlier post how schizophrenic the weather is here. That was well before I experienced an October in Missouri. Not only do they have seasons in Missouri, you can sometimes get all 4 of them in one day! It's fantastic. Anyway, we finished up our BOLC experience with an FTX. It was pretty similar to our last one, a lot of missions one right after the other but a very strong emphasis placed on planning and Troop Leading Procedures. It was a few more days with little to no sleep and uncooperative weather, and when that happens things get a little crazy. Here we are in our 6th hour of trying to plan a platoon raid on a city with five buildings in it.
After a full night of shooting down plans and coming up with new ones, as well as waiting out what can only be described as torrential downpour that lasted for three hours, we finally got to execute the mission to great success. Except a bunch of people got shot in the face with paintballs who were just watching which made them angry for some reason. But really, they shouldn't have been standing there so I have little to no sympathy for them.
Also, this is what happens to me when I got for three days with little to no sleep.
Yes, that is me knocked out against the side of a building. And yes, soon after this picture was taken people smashed paintballs all over me so when I woke up I looked like a bad piece of modern art.
Before we knew it, graduation was upon us. After four months of hard work, but not really, we earned our certification as engineering 2LT's to be loosed into the wild to do great engineering things. And although it always feel good to graduate and accomplish something, it also sucks to say goodbye to good friends that you've made. They tell me the Army is pretty small and I'll run into all these people again eventually, but who knows? So congratulations to EBOLC class 06-10 we all made it through alive, if not sober.
Also, proof that I graduated for all the doubters.
Overall BOLC was a great experience and I had a great time and made a lot of great friends and learned to really appreciate Southern California and the beautiful weather and civilization that it has.
Right after the end of BOLC, we moved into Sapper mode. For those who don't know what Sapper Leader Course (or Sapper School) is, it's a combat engineering school at Fort Leonard Wood where they teach and test you on a variety of different engineering tasks, culminating in a 10 day FTX. If you pass everything you get to wear the Sapper tab, which is pretty badass and makes lesser engineers fear you. Just kidding.
It took just about a full week to get ready for Sapper, putting together the packing list and trying to convince the lovely people at CIF (Central Issuing Facility, the place where they issue all your gear) to give me stuff. Apparently though they only let trolls work at CIF and they train them on making life difficult. So after that was complete all there was left to do was eat and pray.
Since Sapper School is only 28 days, you hit the ground running and stay at a full sprint all the way through. The first 14 days are General Studies, during which time you get to stay in sweet barracks built sometime around the Vietnam War I would imagine. GS is where you get to do all the high speed training they list in the brochure. These include, but are definitely not limited to, mountaineering ops, water ops, and airborne ops.
For mountaineering ops we got to do some high speed knots training and spent a day rappelling off a 45 foot tower. We did a variety of different types of rappel but I must say the most exciting one was the Aussie Rappel, which means you go down face first. If you google that, you'll get some pretty sweet pictures of people looking all cool. But if it's your first time you'll look like me and probably closely resemble a possum being lowered down a rope. So pretty sweet but not too sexy. The next day we got to go down to a 100 foot cliff face that Sapper owns to do rappelling there, meaning that yes the 45 foot tower was just a warmup. On the cliff face we did most of the same rappels but added a few just for fun. One was the buddy rappel which is where you tie your buddy to your back using nothing but a 15 foot rope and then he/she gets to go along for the ride and hope you don't fall (there's a safety line but it's still pretty scary). During the SKED rappel, you tie a buddy into a mobile stretcher and lower him down the cliff face, which is probably pretty scary for the guy in the stretcher.
Water ops consisted mainly of Lake Day, which in theory sounds pretty fun. But it's not. Not even a little bit. Lake Day is actually 2 days, which means you double your fun. You start off with a great little smoke session in the water to acclimate you to the lake, then there's the timed lake swim, where you tie your rucks up in a little poncho raft and swim something like 500 meters? I forget but it's long and there are a lot of teams that don't make the 35 minute time limit. You spend the rest of the first day doing capsize drills as a squad, then you spend a little while raiding the other squads' boats and playing pirate. The next morning is the infamous "Boat PT". Sounds pretty lame at first, because paddling a boat doesn't really sound like PT at all. Except there is no water involved in boat PT. You carry the boat. a 375 pound boat. You get to carry it as a squad but it sucks. You carry it for 4 miles racing the other squads. Sometimes the instructors get in the boat because it's funny. Not funny for us, just for them. And you get to stop every few minutes and get smoked with exercises including the military boat press, boat pushups, and boat flutter kicks, just to name a few. After five hours boat PT comes to an end though and everyone gets to huddle around a fire. Directly after boat PT, when everyone is barely half alive, we get to take our class picture, which I've included here for your enjoyment.
We got to do a full day of demo but I can't talk about that it's really hush hush just in case the terrorists are reading this. Screw you terrorists.
Interspersed with all these super high speed low drag activities was PT. A lot of PT. Ridiculous amounts of PT. Graded events include a 3 mile run, a 5 mile run, a 6 mile run, a 3.5 mile boot run, log PT, boat PT, and a 12 mile ruck march. But on those mornings where all we had was a run, we also got to get smoked after. So many smokings. I guess looking back now it's easy to say that it helped build me up, but at the time I had the hate in me.
The second part of Sapper School is Patrolling, which is 4 days of classes and a 10 day FTX. The classes weren't too bad, just hours of death by powerpoint and some practical exercises out in the fresh air. The fun starts on the FTX. We go into patrolling as a platoon, and the five leadership positions (Platoon Leader, Platoon Sargeant, and a squad leader for each of the three squads) get rotated out on a regular basis. If you're in a leadership position you get evaluated on a multitude of things but most importantly the five principles of patrolling, which are security, planning, recon, control, and common sense. After your mission you're graded as either a go or a no go, depending on how you did. They don't tell you what you got though so you don't sandbag if you get a no go and screw someone else over.
The first day of the FTX is cadre led, meaning the cadre fill all the leadership positions and show you what right looks like. The next day is cadre assisted, where the students run it but the cadre help out, and after that it's all students. The next 7 days are a mishmash of indistinguishable memories. We averaged just about 30 to 45 minutes of sleep a night, and one meal a day. During the time we are given we can eat or sleep, it's up to us. After a while you start to very seriously weigh the benefits of eating vs. sleeping, because some nights there isn't enough time for both. The rest of the time we're walking up and down every draw and spur in Missouri or raiding stuff or ambushing stuff or pulling security. SO MUCH PULLING SECURITY. I hate it with a passion. I don't even want to think about how much time I spent pulling security during the FTX. My stories from this period of Sapper School especially are limitless, so if you want to know more just ask me because this post is getting ridiculously long as it it.
At the end of Sapper School you earn your tab based on a few things. During General Studies and the first few days of patrolling you take a variety of tests and evaluations to earn points. There are 1000 points total and you need to earn 700 minimum. You have to pass a land nav course (you get two tries, and yes it took me two tries), you have to complete the 12 mile ruck march in less than 3 hours, and you need to get a go in at least 50% of your leadership positions in patrolling. We started the class with 40 sappers, lost 1 to lack of orders day 1, and 3 to medical reasons, which means 36 sappers completed the course. Of those, 22 earned a tab. Now taking 37 sappers into patrolling is extremely rare, I'd guess there's usually only 25 or so that make it through GS without quitting/getting injured. From there I think it's something like 40% of people who complete the course tab. Which means that our class kicked the average's ass.
Graduation was a sweet, sweet feeling. To finally get to wear the tab we had all been striving for is a great feeling. After 28 days of the most enjoyable suffering I can imagine and losing 17 pounds to lack of food and sleep, it's nice to rejoin normal people. Except normal people shower regularly. I didn't shower for 12 days. Too much information? Maybe. But there are no showers in the woods and there's no hot water at the barracks. So yes, I have showered since then, but how many of you can honestly say that you've gone 12 days without bathing?
This is a picture of me and my wonderful mother. My family came out to see my graduation which was really awesome. The only one missing was Christi because she had midterms so my mom wouldn't let her come. But I got you chingoo you get credit.
If you've made it this far into the post, you must really give a damn about my life and my experiences, which I really appreciate. Thanks for taking the time to hear my rantings. If anybody has any questions about anything or just wants to tell me to stop being a pansy and suck it up feel free to call or text me, I'll be in Cerritos until November 16th. Also, if you want more information on Sapper School they have a website.
We've reached it. We're more or less in cruise control mode, the middle of the class. We spend most days doing PT before the sun comes up and then classes until late afternoon. We covered bridging, including all kinds of improvised army bridges. After a couple days of slide shows and pictures, we were actually given the opportunity to head out to a few sites and build some of these things. We started with a Bailey Bridge that we put together piece by piece. Each giant metal beam or frame takes six lieutenants to lift and place, so after two hours we had a pretty decent start. We only built the bridge halfway out and then disassembled it, but it was pretty cool.
After that we built another sliding bridge that I have no pictures of, but then we got to go out to the raft bridge. It's basically a floating section of bridge that gets pushed around by two boats who have drivers that specialize in making lieutenants seasick apparently. By the time we got out there it was pretty hot.
Yeah, that says 134 degrees Fahrenheit. So when the raft started moving and water started washing up onto the raft itself, we all jumped in.
All in all bridging PE day was pretty fun and very educational, if not disgustingly hot.
Since then we've also done some horizontal and vertical engineering but there's really not too much exciting about that. Go stare at a construction site for 30 minutes and imagine all those giant machines painted green and that's pretty much what it is.
As the class goes on you can definitely tell how much we are bonding as a class. We have mandatory social functions which are basically barbecues, and a few weeks ago we had one down at the river. Pretty much everyone showed up, and we had a great time. I realize I haven't really posted a picture of the whole class on here but I think this one represents us pretttttty well haha. I'm not in it because I'm trying to climb onto the Hummer on the right and I fell off.
P.S. I have found a new addiction besides the chinese candy that you can't buy anywhere in Missouri. Emerald Dark Chocolate Almonds. Go buy yourself some and join me in my addiction.
Growing up in Southern California seasons are an abstract concept. Summer is 90 degrees and breezy, fall is 85 degrees and breezy with allergies, and winter is the two weeks of rain before spring, which is 75 degrees and breezy. But here in Missouri we see winter, summer, spring, and fall every single day. It was 105 degrees today as I trudged through the woods, after which it thunderstormed. Now it looks like Thor is trying to destroy Missouri with lightning bolts. And the humidity is at 90%. Missouri cannot make up its mind. Now I need to sleep. I have PT at 0500 at which time it will probably be 85 degrees outside already. Fantastic.
On a related note, I have been told that the United States Army gets all the land that nobody else wants, and that's why bases in the south are so huge. I firmly agree with that assessment.
It was great to finally be home this weekend. Thank you to everyone I got to see for making it special, it seems like we all just fell back in step and it felt like I never left.
In the words of my good friend Matt, who spent some time with us this weekend, "The 4th of July is like Army Christmas". And I guess that's kinda true, it's always cool to drive down the street and see all the American flags waving, and everyone trying to do something to appreciate soldiers. I got to be a walking coupon for my parents at Home Depot and Lowe's, which was fun, and when everyone inevitably asks me how long I've been in the Army, I get to sheepishly tell them that I've been in for just about a month now. A little embarrassing but people still seem appreciative for all that I've accomplished during my lustrous career thus far.
We have definitely started to hit a rhythm with our classes, lots of power point and lots of funny videos. This week we get to do some defensive simulations which should be pretty cool, and then we get into demo where we can blow stuff up. I am very much looking forward to that.
So thanks again to everyone who contributed to my great weekend home, it was more than I could have expected and I'll see you all Labor Day weekend! (I hope.)
I just wanted to send out a big huge thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday this last Sunday, it was almost like being home with all the calls, texts, and cards. It really means a lot to me to know that you guys haven't forgotten me haha and it definitely made it an extremely memorable birthday for me.
This week we started up our classes on what it takes to be an Army Engineer. The Engineers are involved in every aspect of military operations and have some pretty cool jobs and roles to play in every operating environment. It's really exciting to think that someday I'll be able to fill one of those roles. Some of the topics can be a little dry, like terrain analysis (reading maps) but we also get to do a lot of fun stuff, just not yet haha. Gotta get through the basics so we slug through powerpoint presentations, today we had just about 8 hours of death by powerpoint. It wasn't all bad though, our instructors all have great personalities and stories and do their best to help us get involved in the presentations, with pretty good success. They even show us stupid or funny youtube videos during breaks to help wake us up.
Tomorrow we get to have lunch with all of the Captains at the Captain's Career Course. The CCC is kinda like what I'm doing, but for Captains. Just further training on what it takes to be a good officer in today's Army and how to effectively command Engineering units. All of the Captains there will have at least 3 or 4 years of experience under their belts so this is a great opportunity for us to pick the brains of people who were in our shoes not too long ago and operated in the same situations we will soon be facing.
We've also started up with PT every morning so no more sleeping in for us. We're split into two groups for PT, one for just regular workouts and another group that wants to train up for Sapper School or Ranger School, which involves a much more intense physical regimen. We got smoked pretty hard in RSPT today and we have PT every training day at least until I come home, so hopefully I can keep up haha.
I would like to leave you all with a wonderful piece of artwork that I was given for my birthday, drawn by a very talented young man named Lairdo. Thanks Lairdo for the picture it's hanging up in my room and it'll stay there the whole time I'm here!
Hooah!
Just got back from our first FTX (Field Training Exercise) and oh does it feel good to be back. On Wednesday we started this FTX with a ruck march a little over 4 miles. We had our entire ruck packing list, plus the IBA (Body Armor) and weapon (M-4). I think someone mentioned it was about 90 pounds of gear, which is probably close to double the most I've ever rucked. It took us about two hours to get there, and surprisingly almost everyone made it. It was probably the most physically demanding thing I've ever done, sustained marching under those conditions for two hours. My uniform was dripping with sweat by the time we got there. We even had to delay the start of our march because it was too hot.
When we finally got to the FOB (Forward Operating Base, in this context a fancy term for campground) we had chow and immediately racked out, taking time only to nurse aching, blistered feet and change into clean uniforms.
The next three days consisted mainly of BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship) where we basically practiced shooting. There are a LOT of fundamentals to remember when shooting, and all of them are important. Turns out that it's pretty hard to hit what you're aiming at, and we have to shoot targets up to 300 meters away to qualify! But before qualifying we had to zero, which means adjust the sights on the weapon to fit to the individual firer. That took the entire first two days, and was fairly frustrating for a lot of us who are new to the Army and haven't done these things before. Yesterday it even rained on us on the firing line but we didn't let that stop us, although some peoples' ACU's turned completely brown by the end of the day. Today we qualified, which is basically the BRM "test", where you get to shoot at 40 pop up targets. 23/40 means that you qualify as a marksman, 30 is sharpshooter, and 35 or above is expert. I shot a 30 on my first iteration, which was a very pleasant surprise. As a class I think we did very well today, we were all qualified by something like 1100, so we got to spend the rest of the day doing some really good hip pocket training, like knots and land nav and patrolling.
The title of this post is "Motivation". This FTX was not my first, but for some reason it stands out. During this FTX I think I learned a lot about motivation, what it means to be motivated, and how to create motivation in the most miserable conditions. First and foremost motivation comes from your buddies. The guys and girls you eat, sleep, train, and suffer with. The people in this class are pretty all around awesome, and it's good to see how well we all get along. But motivation also comes from your leadership. We have an awesome cadre here of experienced engineers who are very in tune with the attitude and morale of the class. The ruck march out to the FOB was a killer. I could barely stand after I unceremoniously dropped my ruck into the dirt, and have woken up every morning since then hurting everywhere. The whole time we were out there that march back to the Company Area was always in the back of my mind nagging away. But then our Platoon Trainer told us that if we stayed motivated, we might get transportation back to the Company Area and not have to walk. We were scheduled to ruck back on Sunday evening, clean weapons, and then go home. Just the prospect of getting a ride home set the entire class into motivation overdrive. No more dragging ass, no more complaining, just getting stuff done because now we had a goal to strive for. But that seems like the oldest trick in the book, dangling a carrot. Not saying it's ineffective, because it is extremely effective. But true motivation is created when you surprise the class after a long day of shooting with a ride home a day early. We got back today 24 hours ahead of schedule; tired, in pain, and in desperate, DESPERATE need of a shower.
See, motivation in my opinion is 100% relative. Sitting on that bus, being crushed under our packs and filthy, I felt more motivated than I ever had before. Not even when I have a warm bed and hot food am I this motivated. But that transition, from dread of a 5 mile ruck to a ride home a day early, it makes you feel like a million bucks. It makes you want to come back tomorrow and really tackle the day. And that's what motivation is.
I guess I'll leave you guys with some random pictures I took over the FTX. Stay motivated people.
Preparing to move out from the Company Area
A cool picture from our 2 mile walk to/from the zeroing range the first 2 days.
Qualifying on the M-4 (not me)
Things have really been picking up since we finished inprocessing, the tempo has increased and so far we've done some really good training. Among other things we've been getting classes on first aid, convoy operations and marksmanship. Today we're doing a ruck march into the field to practice a bunch of the stuff we've learned and it promises to be pretty fun. That is, unless the thunderstorms come back. Which they probably will. But this is the Army, right? No complaining.
A couple days ago we did our Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which is supposed to measure your physical fitness level. 2 minute pushup event, 2 minute situp event, and a timed 2 mile run. For our run we were set to run down a road and turn around when we reached one of our NCO's. But for maybe the first ten people to get out there, we turned around at the private with the milk crate, probably a good quarter mile short. I ran my "2 miles" in 10:52 and was feeling great/confused/proud until they came and told all of us that we had 5 minutes to rest and then we had to run it again because we didn't complete the whole 2 miles. So I got to run it again. I thought I would be upset, but it was kinda cool. Running early in the morning is relaxing. And we had to have our APFT at 4 in the morning because it's the coolest time of day. It's only 70 degrees, even though the humidity is still bad. The cadre here are pretty awesome; they look out for us pretty well, especially in the little things like that.
So I'll be out in the field for the next few days, I'll try to take a lot of good pictures. I think we get to sleep in tents on cots so that should be cool. I bought some 98% deet military industrial grade radioactive bug spray so hopefully it works better with Fort Leonard Wood insects than the Fort Lewis ones. See you guys on Sunday!
When I started this school I thought my life was going to change radically and immediately. All of a sudden I was going to be like those people in the commercials who go from jeans and a tshirt and magically transform into their blues, the super soldier of the future. But it's really not like that at all. I walk around in ACU's and get saluted by people everywhere I go, but other than that the Army so far hasn't really been like what the commercials show. This organization is fraught with inefficiencies and bureaucracy just like any other. I've spent more time waiting in line to get in line than I care to remember. Thus far I'm not in anyone's computer anywhere, which means that I'm not getting paid. I mean it really is fun here, the weather is hot and humid which really isn't that bad if you don't mind being sweaty all the time, and there's random thunder and lightning storms which are pretty cool. I even have all this stuff up on the refrigerator about what to do in case of a tornado. I guess I don't really want to experience a tornado first hand but still sounds pretty cool.
Speaking of salutes, it's weird that NCO's who have been in the Army for 30 years have to salute me. I've been in the Army for 7 days. It makes me uncomfortable and I know more than a few 2LT's who will take a longer path to wherever they're going to avoid being saluted every ten feet.
On the bright side though the real training should be starting soon, inprocessing ends this week and then we begin tactics. Very much looking forward to it.
One 2LT's journey into the big green machine
One 2LT's journey into the big green machine
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