Quantico Letter III

Week 8 is down, two more to go. OO-rah!

This last week was what my high school football coach called a "hum-dinger". 

Monday we had the Combat Fitness Test which is a series of long distance sprints with ammo can carries, fireman carries and a grenade toss. Most of us got pretty close to a perfect score. We stepped that afternoon with our packs (not too bad, about 70 lbs) out into the tree line. We bivouacked at our normal spot and turned in early for the evening, about 1730. Revellie sounded at 0300 for our 9mi hike. It was tough, it was uncomfortable, but it wasn't a death march. Unfortunately we had a candidate drop out in the 9th mile. He will have to face a review board next week. I think he'll get through, but I can't imagine it's very fun for him. 

Our hike wrapped up around 0700. Despite my usually bullet-proof feet I had some pretty tender spots, but there wasn't any time for boohooing. We rolled right into squad exercises. A combat seasoned corporal took us out into the woods.He gave us an Op-Order and we had an hour to plan the mission, create a terrain model, brief the order and prepare gear. I was the squad leader and had a pretty good time with it. In the middle of the order, right as I was tasking my 3rd fire-team I stopped to think. "Holy cr*p, I'm giving an Op Order like the movies." We had a whole map set up with roads, hills, green army men and I was standing over it with a stick pointing out our plan. I didn't expect to get so much training in presentation skills like this, but it seems that Op Orders are about all we do here (after PT of course). By 0815 we departed for our objective which was a 1-2 man team of Abu-Nadal Iraqi insurgents that were operating harassing attacks on coalition supply lines....in the middle of rural Virginia. After a few hundred meters the insurgent, who was dressed conspicuously as a US Marine Lance Corporal, let out on us with a burst of blanks. We answered with a confused flurry of fire, ran past the objective and declared victory. We got good reviews, but our tactics need work. 

The rest of the day was dedicated to preparing for the Small Leadership Evaluation II (SULEII). SULE II is 9mile course in the vicinity of OCS. Along the route are stations with an instructor. At each station a new candidate acts as squad leader.  The instructor gives you a mission, the squad leader briefs the order and leads the squad. They usually consist of 500 yard patrols with a frontal assualt at the end. You might need to evacuate a casualty or carry resupply ammo, but they are usually pretty straight forward. At the end you recieve a grade and run to the next station. After prep time we turned to religious services. The Chappy came out into the field and made an altar out of ammo cans. He was tactical down to his camouflage cassock. Just before we started somebody suggest that we stack our rifles before praying....sounded like a pretty reasonable idea. 

Wednesday morning we woke at 0330. We put our packs on the road, ate an MRE and passed out ammo (blanks). It was freezing. My squad formed up and jogged out to our first objective on the East side of OCS. We had a slight delay in starting so we took up defensive positions in the woods. When we started the first whispers of pink were on the horizon. Our first mission went well, then we had about a 4mi run along Iwo Jima trail to the other side of OCS. I was the navigator/ point man of the group (meaning I had the map compass etc and guided the way as the squad leader issued orders). It was a pretty cool experience.

We arrived at our next station which was at the bottom of DaNang hill. All of the trails and hills here are named after famous battles like Belleau Wood, Tarawa, Chosin etc. It is a motivating reminder of what we are here to do. Da Nang, named after the Marines first landing in Vietnam, is the most fearsome hill at OCS. It is where the weak fall out of runs and hikes. It starts in the woods and winds up for about a .5 of mile to tall grass covered plateau. We patrolled along the road and took contact towards the top of the hill. We assaulted, neutralized the enemy (shocker!) and consolidated our position, still under the "military crest".

When we got the order, the squad formed up in a column and moved for the top of the hill. I gained the summit just after sunrise so that the Sun was directly in front of me. The rays were intense and warmed my body, still cold and wet from the morning frost I laid in for defensive positions. The top of DaNang glowed as the sun reflected off the amber and brown shades of fall. There was nothing cooler than wading through the tall grass on a crisp day, at the head of the squad, weapon at the alert, straight into the rising run. 

The rest of the day was filled with missions, orders and plenty of beautiful terrain, but nothing like the DaNang assualt. We finished about 8 hours later.

The coming week should be pretty fun. Training is about to turn full fledged towards mentoring, team building and developing esprit de corps. We'll have more classes like the NCO panel of this last week. 3 Sergeants and a Corporal hosted an open question session where they gave us frank advice as soon-to-be Lieutenants. I will be Company Executive Officer from Thursday through Sunday so I'll oversee things like the log race, platoon photos, ID cards etc. 

Overall OCS is going very well. At this point I am going to go drink a bunch of protein shakes!

Quantico Letter II

Hello all!

7 weeks down and 3 to go! D minus 20! I am doing great. Vital signs: 91.9 GPA (4^th in platoon), weight 200lbs (was able to stop dramatic weight loss from first few weeks), no probation or review boards, and no serious injuries. 5^th Platoon is down to 34 of an original 55 Candidates.

Training is changing. This is where OCS really begins to distinguish itself from the recruit training that occurs in San Diego and Paris Island. In this phase of training the Drill-Instructors have begun to back off and let Candidates run training. This is to evaluate their leadership potential and see how self-motivated we are. If you can’t handle your leadership billets or start slacking off too much, you go home. That being said, it isn’t getting easier. With greater freedom come much higher expectations. The physical challenges are increasing in duration and intensity.

The real physical challenge of the first few weeks was the sheer amount of running, marching, and PT combined with sleep deprivation. Any one workout wasn’t unbearable, it’s just that the constant onslaught of physical activity never ended. They don’t technically use “incentive training” (punitive push-ups/ running) here at OCS like they do at the recruit depots. However, if drill looked sloppy  discipline and motivation were often to be “found” at the far end of the parade deck.Funny. Now we get a little more sleep (5-7 hours a night), we don’t have to go searching too much for motivation, but PT and hikes are much tougher. The expectations are growing. Most of our PT now is done in boots and utes (i.e. boots, cammie pants and a t-shirt), and we generally run with rifle and an ammunition vest.  Last Saturday we did a 2.5 mi obstacle course in this get-up.

On Monday we had the “Muscular Endurance Course” (this was done slick, i.e. running shoes and short shorts). I haven’t had sweat sting my eyes this bad that I can remember. It was a series of callisthenic exercises separated by about ¼ runs. I ended up getting in a sprint battle with our Platoon Commander, Capt. Lasley on the parade deck. He is a pretty good role model, especially because he does PT with us. Anyway, I managed to beat him on almost all of the 50 yard dashes.

That evening we went into the field for something called the “Night Infiltration Course”.  It was squad level exercise where we practiced moving a squad through the woods under darkness to assault an “enemy” position. It wasn’t physically demanding, but required a helluva lot of concentration to keep the team together. Every now and then they would detonate and ear splitting “artie” simulation round, or a massive flare. We have a pretty strong squad (12 of us) and a really solid fire team (my group of 4). Everybody pretty much knows what’s going on so we were successful.

On Tuesday we had pugil-stick battles. We got suited up in a football helmet, flak jacket and had simulated bayonet fights with a padded stick. My platoon won the competition. In my first fight I beat the living day lights out of my opponent with the butt-stock of my weapon. No strategy, I just proceeded to thump him in the most expeditious manner possible. My "kill shot" was an unobstructed strong-side haymaker to the side of the head. The drill-instructors and officers got a big kick out of it. On my second fight I was beating so bad on my opponent that his own drill instructors were harassing him: “hey Duval, why you getting your *#@% beat!”.  It wasn’t really much of a fight. I just walked up to him and started thrashing him Senator Sumner style with the butt-stock.  The instructors don’t like to call the fight early though so they let it run on. My opponent managed to graze my face mask in between blows. They called it in his favor (in part to keep the platoon competition even) but rest-assured he didn’t walk away with his pride intact. My platoon-mates were laughing when I stepped out of the ring.

The rest of the week was pretty routine. We had lots of class. On Friday We had a squad run. We didn’t call cadence for some reason which ruined my day.

As we head into the home stretch I am really looking forward to the personal development aspect – to actually becoming a Marine. To be honest some of the time here I am just putting one foot in front of the next. I’m certainly in a good way, but it’s hard to keep super motivated for 18 hours a day for 10 weeks straight. The long slow grind is not always conducive to that feeling. At some point you go a little numb. That’s why I look forward to those squad runs etc. to replenish that moto.

In any case I want to finish strong. The next few weeks could just be the tail end of going through the motions, or could really be a special experience. I want to make ‘em count. I want to feel like I’m becoming a Marine. The good news is that the final few weeks are really designed to facilitate this transition. It is filled with wooded exercises, drill competitions, battalion runs, field meets etc. It will still be physically demanding, but it’s the sort of stuff that is pretty exciting.

The weather has gotten much warmer. The end of October and beginning of November were pretty fierce. Before they authorized cold weather gear it was miserable at times. I can tell you with absolutely certainty that an M16 will turn the same temperature as the outside air in about 15 minutes. Temperature and conduction – science can be a real pain sometimes. That means when it’s 30 degrees outside and you have bare hands, it’s like picking up a block of ice. However, as I said, the weather has pleasantly moderated. We haven’t even needed our windbreakers – not to mention gloves and beanies – most of the time. To be honest, we couldn’t ask for better weather. Food continues to be mediocre, but I am not wasting away anymore (ranch dressing is a helluva weight gainer supplement).  

Thank you for all of your letters. It is pretty cool to get something nearly every night at mail call. 

Not too much else to report. Please excuse any grammar errors, I had to punch this thing out pretty quick.