Day's 16-26 (Weeks 1 & 2 of Camp Bullis)

For the last 11 days I've been at Camp Bullis for our field training. Here is transcription of the journal I kept in my little notebook:

August 18, 2008

Got up at 2:30, in formation at 3:00, left at 4:00.
It rained all morning and most of the afternoon.

We were issued our gas masks, compasses, and M-16s.

We practiced land navigation this morning. Mr. J__, our teacher let us find our first point the correct way (compass, map, and coordinates), then he "taught" us how to find them by associating the contour of the landscape on the map and other landmarks on the map with what you see around you. This would have worked well but he got disoriented several times and kept getting us lost. We got really wet.

We ate MREs for breakfast and lunch.

They showed us some different firing positions for our weapons (in the Army, they're not called "guns").

So far the worst part about camp is carrying the M-16 and gas mask all over the place. They are considered "sensitive items" and therefore cannot be out of your reach at anytime (even the bathroom).

We got done at 5:30. Dinner was good - spaghetti with hamburger and rice.

August 19, 2008

Woke up at 4:15 and we were all ready by 4:50. I volunteered for ammunition duty along with 20 others. We got to eat breakfast first! We then loaded up all the ammo for the half of the us that would be shooting on the range today. When we got there we unloaded it all and stapled up a ton of targets.

Everybody else showed up soon after. The morning was spent "zeroing" our weapons. That entails us shooting at a target in exactly the same place over and then a "safety", or person there to help us, would adjust our weapon's sights to compensate for any errors. Not full proof, but for the most part it worked on the old and well used M-16's issued to us. When we were done zeroing our weapons we split up and sat in the grass in small groups for some classes on disassembling the M-16 and 9mm and checking them to make sure they work after having taken them apart.

After our MRE lunch we went to the qualification ranges. There you have a lane and are given 40 bullets which you shoot in different positions at pop-up targets. I felt pretty good in some positions, but not others. The safety in my lane said that I was the best she'd seen so far that day, however I only got a score of 14, and needed 23(?) to qualify. They said we didn't need to qualify while at OBLC (I imagine we would if we were being deployed however).


That afternoon we did a couple of classes on radios and calling for a medivac (request for a medical evacuation) and another on using a GPS unit.

I didn't get my Rx inserts to put inside my safety glasses so I had to put my safety glasses over my normal glasses. It was really uncomfortable for my nose.

We ate at 6:30 and had another class at 7:30 on firing the 9mm. So, I ended up going to bed a little later than last night.

There have been some disobedience issues just before we came here and in the couple of days we've been here, the class leaders have threatened to take away our passes for our 4-day weekend. I pray that doesn't happen as I'm already very excited and anxious to see Ruth and the kids over Labor Day weekend.

August 20, 2008

There was no milk today for the cold cereal. There is of course French toast, eggs, and bacon, but I really like the cereal too. Well, I tried water with the cereal. Not a very good substitute.

Today we had our land navigation test. We were sent off in groups of two. I went with CPT Osmanski (a fellow optometrist). We found 4 points that we thought were ours, but it turns out that our last point was wrong, so we got 3/4 (that's what we needed to pass).

After lunch (always MREs for lunch) we all went to the LRC (can't remember what that stands for, and it's not Learning Resource Center). It's basically a group of stations full of obstacles that require critical thinking and team work to accomplish. We were split up in groups of 10-12 for that. It was pretty fun.

While I was there I know Heavenly Father was looking out for me. I was the top person on a human chain going up a 45 degree angle ramp. It was too steep for one person to climb up so one person would brace himself on the ground and the next person would climb up their back and put their feet on that person's shoulders. I was the third (and second to last) person and the boards that made up the ramp ran vertically (or the same direct as our bodies) so I had all my fingers in the small space between the boards to help hold me up (a fact I wasn't really thinking about). As the 4th and final person was climbing over me and getting situated I was thinking about a lot of different things and then all of a sudden I got the impression that I had to get my fingers out of that crack! I obeyed and found out that they were stuck! It took a good 4-5 seconds for me to get them out of there. Not long after I got them out the people on the bottom gave way. I'm sure that had that impression not come I would have broken my fingers.

Tonight in the tent we practiced taking apart our weapon, putting it back together again, and checking function when that's all done. Thanks to my background I only needed to see it once the day before and I was able to remember all the steps. In fact, if I can brag about something, I'm already one of the fastest (we're supposed to be able to do it all in 4 minutes).

August 21, 2008

This morning we were tested on the disassembly/reassembly and function testing of the M-16 and 9mm. The M-16 was timed and I did it in 1:30, fastest in my group of 10 being tested.

After lunch we went through an obstacle course. We were split up in groups of 10-15 or so to confront each task. Most were fairly easy (balancing on logs, hopping over things, etc.) but some had multiple tasks in one, including climbing ropes and climbing up reverse inclines. I was able to complete all of them just fine (most were not). Several people were injured on the course today, too bad.

Today I was asked to be the next platoon sergeant. Our class has ~500 people in it and is called a batallion. There are two companies in the battalion and 4 platoons in each company. There are 60 people in my platoon. The platoon is further divided into squads (we have 5). Each squad has a leader as well. All the leadership in our battalion is done by students in the class. We are playing pretend roles here as none of us are sergeants and many of us, being in the medical field, will never directly lead a platoon, company, or battalion.

Half the platoon had chow duty tonight (they unloaded it from the truck, served the food, and carried all the garbage to the dumpster). I volunteered but they already had enough help.

I met and ate lunch with a Major Taylor today. He's a dentist (reservist) and LDS. He is probably in his late 30's. His oldest son is on a mission in Brazil.

August 22, 2008

It turns out that new leadership is not supposed to take over until tomorrow, so 2LT Quinn (our current platoon sergeant) will keep going. I went to the leadership meeting tonight in his place so that I could get the info I would need for tomorrow.

Today we did mounted land navigation (in a truck with GPS). After that we went and fired the 9mm's. After that we went to the gas chamber. We turned our collars up to protect our necks a little and in groups of 10 we went in the chamber. Inside we had to do some jumping-jacks, run around a little, take our mask off (while closing our eyes and holding our breath) and put it back on again. The first thing after doing this we had to blow all the bad air out and then we could open our eyes and breath again. The first thing I noticed when I got in the chamber was the skin on my neck and head started to burn which quickly escalated to almost intolerable levels before we were aloud to leave. To leave we had to completely remove our mask, keep our eyes open, and state our full name and SSN. Most people barely made it past their name.

After dinner and my leadership meeting we did our night land navigation course. Our platoon was in charge of guard duty that night which I just found out 1 hour before everybody would be leaving for the night land nav course! I needed 2 people per hour all night. I did have a list of all the people in our platoon that hadn't volunteered for anything yet so I started with them. Then I asked people that hadn't done any food duties (the most time consuming). Luckily I was able to find everybody except for one. The one was on the list but didn't know it so at 3:00 in the morning somebody came looking for her to tell her that she was late for her guard duty. I felt bad and apologized to her. Thankfully she didn't seem too annoyed.

The night land nav course was fine. We went in pairs and we found all of our points. Mainly it's just a lot of walking. We got home at 1:30am. My partner was CPT Roarty, an ER doctor.

August 23, 2008

My first day as platoon sergeant (PSG) went pretty well. My platoon is coaching me and helping me out a lot. I need it as I obviously have no experience being a PSG.

We mainly just had classes today on convoys and the different scenarios that can happen during one.

August 24, 2008

Today we did a class on decontamination. We wore what's called J-LIST. It's a full-body chemical/biological protective suit. Our teacher showed us all the parts and talked about different scenarios in which it's used. After that we practiced putting it on as fast as we could. The mask has to go from carrying pouch to face in 8 seconds and the whole suit has to be done in 2 minutes. Luckily our teacher only made us wear the suit for 10 minutes (while we walked up and down the field in the sun). I don't know how anybody could wear that thing all day but there's people that have had to do it!

After that we ate lunch and cleaned our masks since we won't be using them again.

After that we got to take showers! They took us in groups to a different part of Camp Bullis where they had some communal showers. I heard there was a family of scorpions in the shower next to mine. Fun! I was done cleaning myself in <10 style="font-weight: bold;">

August 25, 2008

For some reason the alarm in our tent didn't go off and we didn't get up until 15 minutes before we needed to be in formation. I didn't wake up until 5 minutes after most people, that left we with 10 to get ready! Barely made it!

I really like our current student leadership. They are on the ball and most of them are prior service. They just want us to do what's right and take care of our soldiers.

This morning those who didn't need to attend remedial PT did combatives.

All morning we organized and practiced our convoy operations, then ate lunch. That afternoon we actually did the convoy. We were all given a magazine full of blanks for our M16's. We had 7 trucks in the convoy: a gunner truck at the lead and rear, and five big trucks in the middle with varying purposes. I was in the 3rd truck. We were the secondary aid and litter truck. One truck held the supplies we were taking to our destination, one was a primary aid and litter truck (if something happens they're the ones that go and get the casualties off the truck) and a recovery truck (they're the ones that go and get any truck that can't continue due to damage). Of course along the way we found an IED, saw several people to shoot at (and people that looked bad at whom we were not to shoot), and one of our trucks was blown up. We then rallied to the next checkpoint and requested a medivac for our casualties.

At our leadership meeting we found out we had to load 185 20 round magazines for our team's activities tomorrow. As platoon sergeants we decided to just do it ourselves and let our soldiers rest. Not long after we were called into another leadership meeting with some of the "higher-ups". We each ran and asked a few people from each of our platoons to come and help. When we got out of the meeting there was over 20 people there loading rounds and 80% of them were from my platoon! I was very proud of them and glad that they stepped up and helped out like that. They were done with the whole job by the time we finished our meeting (which wasn't very long).

August 26, 2008

We did combatives again this morning. After chow our team got on the trucks for "mount". "Mount" took us to a group of houses and office buildings that we had to clear. We got in groups of 4 and learned out to clear a building. We loaded our M-16's with a new type of bullet that's plastic. It's designed to be shot at each other but I guess they'd had some injuries the last class and decided to just have us shoot dummies in the buildings. It was pretty fun!

When we got home we cleaned our weapons. This took most of the evening as there weren't enough cleaning kits for everybody to use at the same time.

August 27, 2008

Got up an hour earlier this morning for our combatives and chow. We had a tournament in our combatives ring. Now matter the strength or size of the person, the ones with the best technique were the ones that won. Tomorrow the winners from each ring (there's 8 or so) will fight each other.

After chow we went to a theater to be briefed on the next week's mission. When we got home we ate lunch and took a picture of the entire battalion. The people that failed the first land nav course did a retake.

That afternoon we double checked our weapons and turned them in. What a wonderful thing!! It's such a relief to not be carrying that thing all over the place!

We were able to relax the rest of the afternoon and evening. Tomorrow we'll clean up and get out of here!

August 28, 2008

We did combatives and had a tournament before breakfast. I felt like I was watching a playground brawl - pretty exciting.

After breakfast we split up in our teams and rotated through some classes that pertain to what we'll be doing next week after the break.

After lunch each platoon had some details to do before we would be able to leave. Our platoon was in charge of putting up sand bands around the front and back of all the extra tents that were put up since our class size is so large. Most the tents are on raised, leveled asphalt slabs, but 5 or 6 of them (mine included) were just set up on the dirt with a tarp/plastic floor.

By 1:00 we were all done and just waiting for the buses. We left at 2:45 or so and got home around 3:15-3:30ish.

The first thing I did was take a nice long shower! After that checked my email and called Ruth. She wasn't by her phone so she called me back a little later.

I'm really excited to see her and the kids tomorrow!!!!

Tonight I had some food from the freezer and did my laundry. I called a taxi and it should be waiting for me around 4:00am tomorrow morning.