Ending Week 6...from the Field

Here we are ending week 6. I haven't been able to write in a while because we've been out in the field or i've been too busy or tired to make it over to the wifi area to get online. Things have been very fast paced lately and free time is scarce!

We just came back from the field, we were there Monday-Thursday. We learned a whole lot while we were there! First we marched with full packs probably 3 miles to our camp site all tired, sweaty and panting. After we got there we set up our two-man tents and then proceeded to our first training which was throwing hand grenades. That was pretty fun, but our training grenades didn't pack a punch you were expecting, i guess thats a good thing and a safe one. After that we did some Land Navigation. Thats a nice way to say that we all got lost with compasses out in the woods. We all had maps and points to get to but my group never found our marks, but it was cool being out there wandering in the woods. The next couple of days we worked on patroling, setting up ambushes, and attacks. What made it better is that we were given blanks to fire off at each other during our training simulations! What didn't make sense was that we were in the woods in our desert cammies, instead of our woodland cammies, but it was all fun and games either way.

I never took baths with baby wipes before until I got to the field. The whole time we were there we never had running water to shower in, sometimes in the field you won't be able to shower or change for days. It wasn't fun but it was tolerable knowing everyone else was in the same boat. What was kinda hard was shaving at 0500 in the morning with no daylight! We did our best either way and tried to make the best of it.

Yesterday we took our HMMWV course which was driving 4 different lanes with some obstacles and then driving 5 miles around the base. It was really fun driving the HMMWV (High mobility Multi Wheeled Vehicle...incase you were wondering), we then learned we were getting just permits. To complete our license we have to log 250 more miles!

I finally got some pictures on my hands, here's a few...

Here i am on patrol...

Here's us messing around waiting for the next period of instruction.

Here's my platoon in the mud pit after the obstacle course! we were covered head to toe in that mud! we had to crawl on our bellies through it first though at the end of the course without getting our rifles muddy!