Greeting from the college of rock 'n roll knowledge! Instruction is roaring ahead here at The Basic School. The last two months have been furiousy busy with Infantry tactics, call for fire (both close air and artillery), more range time, military skills (land nav, chem/bio training), platoon operations, defensive positons and a little Company HQ training. The training is certainly challenging, but I am really enjoying it - especially the field time. We've spent about 3 of the last 8 weeks out in the bush. As I said my time is pretty constrained so this message won't have any fancy writing, but see below for the details. Editing is mediocre, please excuse me.
Speaking of rock 'n roll, the instructors here are nuts 80's pop. Classes are a mix of military knowledge and VH1's I love the 80's. The power point slides for our platoon defense class featured numerous references to "Pumping Iron" and spandex. Our Night-attacks class began with a clip from David Hasselhoff's "Nightrider".
Two weeks ago we partook in the time honored tradition of Nuc/Chem/Bio training. This consisted of walking into a sealed room filled with tear gas and removing our gas masks. If you were disciplined you could hold your breathe until you were allowed to replace and clear your mask. Others weren't so smooth with the transition.
As I said, the last several weeks have been filled with field time. I have become pretty accustomed to the outdoors so I really enjoy it. If you can get over being cold,wet and muddy patrolling, building defenses or conducting attacks is fun. At midnight after a day of constructing a defense I settled in to get a little sleep (next shift 0400). I rolled out my foam mat, pulled my tarp over my body and the lights went out pretty quick.I awoke after an hour and a half because the tarp I was using as a blanket was weighing down on me (no tent/no bag). The rain had pooled on top of me. I shook the tarp off, put a beanie on and fell asleep again like a champ.
I awoke at 0345 for my shift and it was no kidding the darkest night of a thousand nights. I think the pharaohs in Egypt had more sunlight during the swarm of the locusts. The scarce amount of moonlight was obscured by the heavy storm that hung over our heads. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, and since night vision works by amplifying ambient light, they were useless too. So I did what any Marine would do, I sat in a fighting hole filled with water, put my shoulder behind the light machine gun, turned on my NVG's and strained to see anything a few feet in front me. The moral of the story is that my peers and I are becoming comfortable and familiar with operating in this sort of environment. Our instructors are serious when they say that they are committed to tough realistic training.
Tactics
The introduction to tactics has been phenomenal. Our education focuses on a few doctrinal publications, some history articles and sand table exercises (tactical decision games). The Sand Table Exercises are engaging and interesting. A Captain will give us a situation (i.e. Enemy column advancing from the East over given terrain depicted by sand piles) and we will have about 10 min to come up with a plan. We then brief the plan to our peers and discuss/critique. One of our better tactics discussions focused on a history article about Erwin Rommel. Rommel, a.k.a the Desert Fox, was one of the most daring and effective German commanders in both the First and Second World Wars. Despite the fact that he fought for the wrong side, he is held as an example of boldness and aggression (as well as humane treatment of POW's). In the Marines we seek to win battles through speed and maneuver instead of a force on force slugfest (i.e. opposite of WWI Western Front). As an expeditionary force our prime asset is not overwhelming force, but speed. Rommel, who devastated much larger Italian forces in 1915 at Caporetto, is held as the example. Through all my tactical instruction the answer has never ever been, rest, slow down and regroup. My platoon commander likes to pose the question WWRD, what would Rommel do? The answer is usually obvious.
Land NavLand Nav is one of the more time honored rights of passage at The Basic School. Even in this day of GPS, company grade officers find themselves utilizing the old tools more than you would think. Beside the practical fact that a compass never runs out of batteries, learning to navigate through the woods builds confidence and comfort with manuever. That can never be replaced by GPS.
So there I stood, in the middle of the woods, next to a post with a red ammo can with gold letter on the side. We had 4 hours during our Land Navigation excercise to find at least 4 of 6 red ammo cans in the rolling Quantico hills. We were given the grid coordinates, a map, protractor and compass. It was my 5th box, so I had already passed the test. The CP lay 150m to my south, along with a bus to take me back to Camp Barrett. It was 12:10, I had 35 minutes, and all I had to do was turn my card in. I guess it should have been an easy call. Turn in the card, pass Land Nav II and avoid the Saturday remediation.
I pulled my map out; looked at my watch. My last box was 1700m as the crow flies through dense vegetation. I was wearing a full combat load, to include a flak jacket, helmet and rifle. I had already done a good amount of running that day. Assuming I could locate the box quickly amid the trees and brambles, that left me 15 minutes for each leg of the trip. It was a tall feat to say the least. I was thinking of taking the easy route when the words or my Platoon Commander came to, WWRD? What would Rommel do?
I quickly familiarized myself with the terrain to be covered, tucked my map away and broke off at a dead sprint. I crashed violently through the woods. I broke branches under foot, slid down hills and forded streams. I didn't even use a compass. I didn't have time. I gambled on terrain association. The bold move was to try and find the last box and get that 100%. The downside, of course, was that being late would be a 0% and a failure. Failures had to remediate on Saturday. I eventually came upon the stream that was my collecting feature and let me know I needed to start looking for the box. I walked to where I thought it would be, slid in behind the scope of my rifle and started scanning the woods. I swore with joy when I spotted the box and I recorded the letter on my scorecard.
My watch, however, told me I only had 15 minutes left. I had the rest of the 1700m to traverse, uphill this time. I tore off at a desperate run, but I was beginning to tire. The ceramic plates of the flak jacket keep bullets out, so you can bet they keep heat in. I was burning up, but I didn't care. My sole concern was making it to that CP and the minute hand on my watch marched brutally towards the 12:45 cutoff time. I crawled in and out of the steep 10-12 ft. walls that formed the stream I was following. I dug into the Earth with my fingernails, lest I slid back down. I started to trip and fall because of exhaustion. I stumbled out of the woods with about 2 minutes to spare. I looked to my left and I could see the Fire House where the CP was about 700m away. I grabbed my rifle in one hand and ran at an all out sprint. My calfs started to cramp and I stumbled some more, but kept going. When I got to the CP, I knew I hadn't made the cutoff. My platoon commander asked me the time and I gave him what my watch read - 12:48. "Too bad, because you would have gotten 100," he said. I wrestled control of my breathing and confidently replied, "see you on Saturday Sir!" 3 minutes late meant I had to come in on the weekend and do it over again. I knew the Marines would not put up with me being 3 minutes late. As I was telling another old leatherneck, don't worry it's the same old Marine Corps.
The Road Ahead
The coming weeks are critical. On May 9 we will receive our Military Occupational Specialties (MOS). That will determine whether I'll be an infantryman, tanker, cook or commo. I am holding out hope for Infantry. It is pretty competitive, but I think I have a pretty good shot. There will be a few big tests between then and now including the obstacle course, the endurance course, night land nav and some written tests on heavy weapons. Essentially, right now it's the 4th quarter.
I included two photos. The first is during chow in the field (see big smile). The second is right after FEXII. See, not too roughed up.
Hope all is well,
Dominic
PS. I also loaded and shot a 155mm artillery piece. RAH!!!!
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