SOI Graduation and Our First Day at Recon

Monday night we packed our packs for our 20k hike that we would set out on Tuesday morning. We literally packed every single piece of gear that we owned into our packs. It was by far the heaviest pack I had ever hiked with. Everyone went to bed very anxious because this was the furthest distance we hiked with the heaviest pack and at a very fast pace. We woke up the next day still very anxious to get over with the hike and move forward with graduating. We were told too that we would have a little bit of reward waiting on us when we got done. Following the hike we would shower, find out where everyone would be stationed, and get to go to a hotdog cookout hosted by the local YMCA.

The hike was very fast paced at the beginning but slowed down a little the further we went on. It was a similar route that we took for the 15k. The first few miles were relatively flat before they turned into a trail that went up two of the tallest hills in the SOI area. I felt really good after we climbed the two tallest hills because I wasn’t near as sore or out of breath as I was the last time I hiked it and I was carrying more weight. Afterwards we hiked on the ridge of one of the biggest mountains with the ground gradually rising and filling. At the end of the ridge you have to go down this very sharp descent that has been named the ankle breaker because the loose rocks and steep angle can create a lot of ankle injuries. At the bottom you travel along a dry creek bed that is nicknamed the microwave because the sand and rocks soak up the sun and it’s a good 5-10 degrees hotter in the creek bed than everywhere else. It’s really painful on your joints and feet because of all the weight that you put on the loose rocks. After a few miles on the creek bed we got back to the area where all the barracks are and made our way back to our squad bay area.

We turned in our weapons had a quick shower and made our way down to the parade deck where the cookout was going on. Right before everyone had been told where they were going to be stationed so everyone was hanging out and talking about that. All of the friends I made during the training are going to North Carolina with the exception of one that will be going to Recon Training with me. It kind of sucks making friends all over again but I guess that’s just the nature of the beast.

The rest of the week was spent turning our gear in, doing an intensive cleaning of our squad bay, practicing for our graduation, and taking care of a few administrative matters. We all also got the pleasure of cleaning weapons from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday because the armory kept saying they weren’t clean enough and wouldn’t take them back. Needless to say we were all pretty ill on Thursday night.

Friday we had our graduation ceremony. For those that had family in attendance they may have gotten to spend 30 minutes tops with them before having to get on shuttles to take them to their units or to the airport. For those of us that didn’t we went to lunch together at the chow hall and went back to the squad bay and changed out of our uniforms we wore for graduation. All of us that were going to the Recon Training Company were outside sitting on our sea bags when a Staff Sergeant from RTC came and picked us up. He immediately told us that we had two minutes to get our packs on and get in a formation ready to move. We quickly followed him to a flat bed truck. He then told us that we had four minutes to get all of our gear on the truck and get into a formation behind the truck again. Afterwards we were led on a quick run to the Recon huts by a more senior student in RTC. Once we got there we were given a few minutes to throw our gear in a room and get our medical and dental records out for processing.

The Marines have a way of making the first day at any school the most disorienting and nervous experience ever. This was no different. We had to quickly adapt to a new way of doing things and move with a sense of urgency while learning new names and ranks. Some of my peers that came with me messed up as well as some of the more senior students that were outside in a formation. As a punishment we had to do something the Recon Instructors call 25 and 5. It’s basically 25 pushups followed by 5 pushups where you yell “Wanna Be” for the first four pushups and “Wanna Be Recon” for the last one. We later learned that this punishment was dished out because some of the students didn’t know the Recon Creed verbatim.

After turning in our records we went to a classroom and waited for probably 25 minutes before an instructor came in. We filled out some forms, went over the rules we had to follow while a student in RTC, and were given a sheet with the creed on it. Also we were given our initial gear issue which consisted of a rope and a camelback. We have to wear the rope around us at all times and we are responsible for learning several knots. At any time an instructor can ask us to tie one of the knots and if we are unable to complete it in time I’m sure that our bodies will be getting punished. The instructor then told us the basic idea of Recon Indoctrination Program (RIP), which is what we will be in until we are deemed; fit enough to enter the Basic Reconnaissance Course (BRC). We were told that we would spend 5 days in the pool a week and 5 days on land either running or lifting weights. The instructor then stated “And gentlemen there aren’t 10 days in a week. We PT a lot here.” We knew then that our bodies were going to be in for a shock as soon as the training started.

After the classroom instruction we got in a formation outside the instructors huts and took care of a few more administrative matters. The instructors then came out and told us that we had to go to dinner, but had to be back in 30 minutes. Unfortunately it’s a 15 minute walk to the chow hall from the Recon huts so we ended up running there, drinking two PowerAde’s, and running back. We were released on liberty a few minutes later. We all took the next hour or so getting settled into our new homes and started to mark our new gear. I and a few other guys spent the night in and caught up on some sleep since we didn’t get much the last few days of SOI.

Saturday we took a shuttle into Oceanside and went to Wal-Mart to pick up some protein powder and vitamins. We weren’t allowed to take any sort of supplement during SOI but we are allowed to take them now to assist in recovery and muscle building. We also got dinner at a restaurant and watched a UFC fight.

Sunday I spent some time learning the creed and squaring some gear away. I’m sure I’ll be practicing the creed later on as well. We are all really anxious and nervous for our first day of training tomorrow. Now that I’m in RIP I’ll be able to get liberty for a few hours every night. It will be nice to be able to talk to family and friends every night and it will also be much easier to stay on top of my blog. I won’t have access to the internet till the weekends but at least I’ll be able to write my thoughts down. During the next few weeks I’ll try to go back and fill in the missing weeks from my SOI training and post some more pictures now that I’ll have some more time and fewer distractions.

Until next time...

Last Week of Training 4/13/09

Here is a picture of me all geared up carrying the SAW.

This past week was our last week of training. Next week we have a 20k hike which is our last graduation requirement and then we just have graduation practice and a few administrative matters to take care of before everyone checks into their units or next school.

Monday we hiked back to MOUT town and performed room clearings during the day and night with live rounds. I made sure to team up with one of my friends that knew what he was doing because I definitely don’t want to get shot in the back by one of the slower kids. It was good training but went by way too quick. I’m really anxious to get out to the fleet where I can be able to do drills like this multiple times instead of just one quick run through. We hiked back that night to the squad bay after we did a quick cleanup of the area. We got about 3 hours of sleep that night and when we woke up the next morning the instructors told us that we would probably be running our final PFT that day. We were pretty pissed because we only got 3 hours of sleep and had hiked/run about 4 miles with gear on the previous day, while the weapons guys got a full 8 hours of sleep and only had classes the day before.

Luckily some scheduling conflicts popped up on Tuesday that wouldn’t allow for us to run the PFT. We were all pretty excited because it probably would have been the worst PFT I’ve ever run. Instead of running the PFT on Tuesday they moved it to Wednesday morning and used Tuesday to pack for our final training event called the three day war and take our final written exam.

Wednesday started off with the PFT. I was pretty excited about how well I did considering we’ve been eating MREs for the past two months and don’t get to PT that much. I was still able to get 17 pull-ups which is still down from what I was doing in boot camp but is still a really good compared to the majority of Marines. I was still able to crank out a 100 crunches which is a perfect score in that event and I ran a 22 minute three mile which isn’t great but is still pretty good when your legs aren’t really fresh. After the PFT we got on buses that took us back to MOUT town where our three day war would take place.

The three day war is a competition per say between the two riflemen platoons. One platoon sets up a defensive position in the houses and city while the other one sets up a position in a hill about a mile away that overlooks the city. Both platoons would run patrols, raids, and reconnaissance missions against the other platoon. We were all given tons of blanks and were resupplied throughout the event. We also were issued this gear called Miles Gear. Basically there is a device put on the end of the barrel of the rifles that registers when a blank is shot and in turn shoots an invisible laser out. All of us also wore vests and a device on our helmet that would recognize when it had been shot by the laser. If you were shot it would make a really loud and annoying beeping sound to let everyone know you were dead and if a shot came close it would make little chirping noises. The gear is pretty old; it was made in the 80s so it doesn’t work the best but at least it’s something.

My platoon started on the hill which we stayed in one night before we rotated to the city for a night. Before the rotation took place we did a massive attack against the city. The gun I was issued for the event was garbage. When I tried to clear one of the first houses of the enemy it jammed at the most inopportune time and I was gunned down by the enemy insurgents. I had to lie down for about 10 minutes while the attack carried on. After the attack was finished the different squads took up residence in the different buildings. There were four stations that we rotated around. Patrolling, vehicle checkpoint, defense, and quick reaction force who are the first people to respond to an attack or any other issue. During the defense the instructors decided to have a little fun and start attacking everyone in the city. They wiped out my entire squad except for me and one other guy. We climbed to the roof and were taking well aimed shots at the instructors. We were hitting pretty close because they had to keep their heads down and weren’t able to maneuver around freely anymore. While we had them pinned down another squad from another building moved in and flanked them finally ending the attack. The battle with the instructors was probably the most fun I had at SOI because everyone was working together and we felt like we were really in a battle because fake grenades and artillery were going off with the addition of all the gunfire.

On Friday it was our turn to defend the city against the massive attack of the other platoon. The squads that took place in the attack weren’t allowed to take place in the defense so we got to sit in some bleachers and observe the attack which was still pretty fun. After the battle we had to do one of the biggest cleanup jobs ever. Every time you get done with a range everyone has to police call or cleanup the entire area and sort all the brass casings and links from the automatic weapons. Because the attack took place over the whole city we had a lot of cleaning up to do. After cleaning up we got bused back down to the squad bay area where we cleaned our weapons for about 4 hours before we were finally allowed to shower and turn to liberty.

I was extremely lazy during the 3 day weekend. I took the opportunity to catch up on sleep and watch some TV. We got an ok amount of sleep during the three day war but it was broken up into 1 hour on 1 hour off or two hours on two hours off and most of the time it was with our gear on and either laying on a concrete floor or in a dirt hole so it wasn’t exactly the best rest I ever had. So I definitely took the opportunity to catch up on sleep. We got a hotel for two nights in downtown San Diego and split the cost between me and 5 of my friends. For some of them it may be there last weekend in California because they still don’t know where they are getting stationed at after we graduate. I know that I will still be at Camp Pendleton at least for a few more months so I didn’t party as hard or really have a checklist of things that I wanted to see or do. The guys and I spent our Easter Sunday eating brunch at a restaurant in downtown. We all talked about how we don’t really care about holidays anymore but the fact that we don’t get to spend time with our families anymore. Since I’ve joined the Marines I’ve missed Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, my girlfriends birthday, and now Easter. I’m sure that I’ll be missing many more in the next three and a half years as well.

This next week I’ll have to man up and carry the SAW on the 20k and I’ll get a few days of rest before I report to the Recon Training Company which is maybe ¾ to one mile down the road from where I’m at now.

Recap of 3/9 through 3/13

The week started with a 10k hike to MOUT Town. MOUT stands for military operations in urban terrain and MOUT Town is a little town that has been set up on top of a mountain. It consists of several one and two story concrete houses with different floor layouts. I was really nervous about the hike Sunday night and Monday morning because I had come down with a pretty bad case of bronchitis and had some really bad chest congestion and was having trouble breathing. It turns out the hike itself wasn’t that bad for me or the majority of my platoon but the two other platoons seemed to struggle with it. My platoon brought up the rear on this hike so we go to see all the weak bodies fall back into our formation. At the beginning of every hike the formation stops to do a 5 minute gear check. This means that everyone inspects their buddies gear and makes sure that everything is zipped up and nothing is going to fall out. We did this at a small hill about 15 minutes from our starting point at the squad bay. It was funny because some kids were already falling out and didn’t make it to the gear check spot with the main body.

The first mile was straight up hill but afterwards leveled out for the next 3-4 miles before we had to climb up a mountain for the final two miles. The last stretch kids from the other two platoons began to drop like flies. We even had to stiff arm some kids out of the way because they were getting in our way and we didn’t want them to be the reason we got separated from the main body. Once we made it to MOUT Town we dropped our gear and received classes on clearing rooms and how to move through streets in a hostile environment. It was probably the most enjoyable part of training for me so far because it required everyone to work together as a team and it was more applicable to the conflicts that the US is currently engaged in. The drill involved us entering the room in pairs after prepping the room with a grenade and shooting insurgent targets hidden in the room with blanks.

My partner and I performed the drills without any problems although some of the other kids weren’t as lucky. The instructors at any time can deem someone a casualty for doing something stupid. Usually it’s done when some kid wanders off alone to the bathroom or is walking around without all his gear or rifle. When a kid becomes a casualty they have to lay on the ground and can’t move until one of their platoon mates comes and drags or carries them to a site that the instructors designate a safe zone and then by magic they are revived. Well this time several people died for screwing up on the drills. These included: rushing into the room without a magazine inserted in their rifle, rushing in with their safety turned on, throwing a grenade into the room but missing and having it roll back out and landing next to their own feet, and the funniest but most serious offense involved a pair throwing a grenade into the room and rushing in right away even though the fuse had not exploded. By the end of the drills there were around 20 people dead around the entrance to the house. It’s somewhat humorous in the training but if the same thing happened in combat it would result in the serious injury or death so the instructors give a nice butt chewing to the guys that screwed up.

The rest of the week the training was fairly light as we spent a lot of time in classes and took our second test. The instructors were preparing for the splitting of the platoons that would happen at the end of the week so there was a lot of what we like to call in the Marine Corps as “standby time.” Here at SOI that usually means we sit in the squad bays in front of our wall lockers cutting up and secretly napping.

Within infantry there are several job specialties such as rifleman, machine gunners, and mortar men, assault men which use demolitions, and TOW gunners which use anti tank and anti armor weapons. I’m going to explain the basic breakdown of an infantry company and what all it entails. Within an infantry company there are usually three rifle platoons and one weapons platoon. Every infantry job other than riflemen would fall under a weapons platoon. A platoon is usually made up of three squads of 13 men. A 13 man rifle squad is pretty much the nucleus of the Marine Corps. There is actually a mission statement for the 13 man rifle squad. “The mission of the Marine Corps rifle squad is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver or to repel the enemy’s assault by fighting in close combat.” Every other job including the other infantry specialties is in support of the 13 man rifle squad. In short they do the majority of the fighting, dirty work, and if need be dying in the Marine Corps. Some people are shocked when they find out that only about 10% of the Marines are infantry.

When deployed the 13 man squads will do a majority of the patrolling and execution of missions. If command knows that the squad will need assistance from any weapons then they will attach to the rifle squad for the patrol or mission. The riflemen squad is further broken down into three four man teams called a fire team. The three fire teams are led by the squad leader. Each fire team is led by a fire team leader. The rest of the fire team consists of a point man, a man that carries the SAW which is a light machine gun, and an assistant gunner that carries extra ammo for the SAW gunner. It’s really cool how the Marine Corps focuses on small unit leadership. Therefore, if anyone in a leadership command becomes a casualty in combat the squad or fire team can be quickly taken over by another individual.

Well anyways that’s a quick synopsis of the breakdown of infantry. So anyways the platoons were split out into one weapons platoon and two rifleman platoons by the end of the week. It’s kind of funny because there is a little jealousy and light tension among the rifleman platoons and the weapons platoon. The riflemen spend our entire time out in the field not getting to shower and eating MREs while all the weapons kids get to spend their time back at the squad bays and classrooms. They get to shower and sleep in their racks every night and get to eat at the chow hall every night.

The weekend was really good because we were starting to get a little cabin fever from spending so much time standing by in the squad bays.

Amazing Weekend in San Diego

So it’s been forever since I’ve been able to update my blog. Not that I have to give an excuse but the YMCA rec center the only place that has internet that I can get to on base has been shut down for the past several Sundays because they have been doing taxes for Marines and most of my Saturdays are spent in downtown San Diego with friends away from a computer. The weekend in San Diego with Amy was awesome. Friday night we went to a nice restaurant in downtown San Diego. It’s amazing how good real food is after a long week in the field. I can’t even imagine how good a hamburger would taste after a deployment. We made our way back to the hotel after dinner. The hotel was in a really good location in downtown San Diego and had a really good view of the area from the balcony. We went to bed pretty early after dinner because I was exhausted from the week of training and Amy was experiencing some jet lag from the flight.

The next morning we awoke and headed straight to the San Diego Zoo. It’s nice because military members get in free so the price wasn’t that bad. The zoo is huge; it has multiple levels and there are tons of different trails that split off from each other. It would be impossible to see everything in one day, but we tried our best. The highlights were the meerkats, the gorillas, and monkeys. If I ever get stationed here and live close to San Diego I’ll definitely be spending a lot of weekends there. It’s pretty relaxing and the crowds weren’t outrageous either. After a long day at the zoo we went back to the hotel and changed for dinner. We then drove to Coronado Island. The plan was to get there in enough time to find a spot on the beach to watch the sunset. We managed to make it there for the tail end of the sunset but it was still amazing. The beach wasn’t crowded and it was really peaceful. Also, the view from the bridge as you’re driving to the island is amazing. You can see all of San Diego, mountains in the background, the ocean, and tons of sailboats. I snapped as many pictures as I could. I told myself that I’d never want to settle down outside of the South, but I’m beginning to warm up to the idea of California. After watching the tail end of the sunset we walked to the downtown area of Coronado.

It reminded me a lot of downtown Athens of North Shore Chattanooga because there were lots of little local shops and restaurants. After eating an amazing dinner we took a little time to walk around the area and take in the scenery. We kept walking around until we found a place that we wanted to each desert at. We found a little diner that served ice cream and milkshakes that we settled on even though it was pretty chilly outside. We made our way back to the hotel after dinner with the intention of changing and going out to some of the bars in downtown. We had a little fiasco with the rental car of which I’m not allowed to speak about and so we ended up staying it and taking it easy.

The next morning we got up and I was really excited because Sunday contains the best invention ever…Sunday Brunch. We drove to Ocean Beach which is a cool little community right on the beach. There are ton of little shops and hippie stores in the little community that we walked around in. The highlight was definitely eating brunch at the restaurant on the pier. It is supposedly the longest walking pier in the US and has a restaurant right in the middle which serves some amazing breakfast items. We spent some time going to a few other parks and beaches and just soaking up the California culture and sun. We headed back to Camp Pendleton and had a pizza picnic on the courtyard of my squadbay before we said our goodbyes and I headed back to training.

My girlfriend was awesome enough to make a photo album of some of the sites we visited during the weekend. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Check out the rest at this link.
So it’s been forever since I’ve been able to update my blog. Not that I have to give an excuse but the YMCA rec center the only place that has internet that I can get to on base has been shut down for the past several Sundays because they have been doing taxes for Marines and most of my Saturdays are spent in downtown San Diego with friends away from a computer. The weekend in San Diego with Amy was awesome. Friday night we went to a nice restaurant in downtown San Diego. It’s amazing how good real food is after a long week in the field. I can’t even imagine how good a hamburger would taste after a deployment. We made our way back to the hotel after dinner. The hotel was in a really good location in downtown San Diego and had a really good view of the area from the balcony. We went to bed pretty early after dinner because I was exhausted from the week of training and Amy was experiencing some jet lag from the flight. The next morning we awoke and headed straight to the San Diego Zoo. It’s nice because military members get in free so the price wasn’t that bad. The zoo is huge; it has multiple levels and there are tons of different trails that split off from each other. It would be impossible to see everything in one day, but we tried our best. The highlights were the meerkats, the gorillas, and monkeys. If I ever get stationed here and live close to San Diego I’ll definitely be spending a lot of weekends there. It’s pretty relaxing and the crowds weren’t outrageous either.

After a long day at the zoo we went back to the hotel and changed for dinner. We then drove to Coronado Island. The plan was to get there in enough time to find a spot on the beach to watch the sunset. We managed to make it there for the tail end of the sunset but it was still amazing. The beach wasn’t crowded and it was really peaceful. Also, the view from the bridge as you’re driving to the island is amazing. You can see all of San Diego, mountains in the background, the ocean, and tons of sailboats. I snapped as many pictures as I could. I told myself that I’d never want to settle down outside of the South, but I’m beginning to warm up to the idea of California. After watching the tail end of the sunset we walked to the downtown area of Coronado. It reminded me a lot of downtown Athens of North Shore Chattanooga because there were lots of little local shops and restaurants.

After eating an amazing dinner we took a little time to walk around the area and take in the scenery. We kept walking around until we found a place that we wanted to each desert at. We found a little diner that served ice cream and milkshakes that we settled on even though it was pretty chilly outside. We made our way back to the hotel after dinner with the intention of changing and going out to some of the bars in downtown. We had a little fiasco with the rental car of which I’m not allowed to speak about and so we ended up staying it and taking it easy.

The next morning we got up and I was really excited because Sunday contains the best invention ever…Sunday Brunch. We drove to Ocean Beach which is a cool little community right on the beach. There are ton of little shops and hippie stores in the little community that we walked around in. The highlight was definitely eating brunch at the restaurant on the pier. It is supposedly the longest walking pier in the US and has a restaurant right in the middle which serves some amazing breakfast items. We spent some time going to a few other parks and beaches and just soaking up the California culture and sun. We headed back to Camp Pendleton and had a pizza picnic on the courtyard of my squadbay before we said our goodbyes and I headed back to training. My girlfriend was awesome enough to make a photo album of some of the sites we visited during the weekend. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Check out the rest at this link. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081135&id=56701995&l=4e1f6f2355


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081135&id=56701995&l=4e1f6f2355

The Longest Week Of My Life

So it’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated this. Mainly because I spent the last weekend with my girlfriend and I didn’t want to take any time away from her. It was a crazy week of training that led up to an amazing weekend in San Diego.

The week started with classes on Monday and our 1st written examination on infantry skills. Tuesday began with our first combat conditioning hike. The test wasn’t bad at all if you paid attention in class and spent an hour or two reviewing the handbooks that we were given. The hike wasn’t as relaxed as the test was. I did manage to secure a spot in the beginning of the formation of the hike so I wouldn’t have to fight through kids and spent most of time running to stay with the main body. It was only supposed to be a 5k but I’m pretty damn sure it was a little longer than that. The entire hike we spent alternating going up and downhill. None of them were too severe, but they did do a good job of breaking you off. By the end of the hike both of my calves were numb from the pain.

Once we got done with the hike we got training on field radios, detainee handling, and how to perform buddy rushes. A buddy rush is when you come into contact with the enemy and one buddy rushes forward to close the distance with the enemy while his teammate covers him by firing on the enemy’s position. We ran a few dry fire drills before we began doing them with live fire. It was a little nuts having someone firing a few yards to your left or right and behind you. They said the distance they are firing gets a lot narrower in combat because you may be contained in an alley way in Iraq or a narrow trail on a mountain in Afghanistan. There are definitely a lot of idiots in my platoon but the event was completed without anyone shooting anybody in the back.

After all the training on we were pretty excited to find out that we would be taking a bus back to the squad bays and wouldn’t have to hike back. That evening we were given a little speech on fire watch. Well the past weekend a lot of kids sold their fire watch to other kids in their platoon. You can do this but you have to do two things: not air out the fact that you bought/sold fire watch and come up with some bullshit story to tell the duty NCO so he approves the change and its official, i.e. my family is coming into town so PFC Smukatelli has agreed to take over my fire watch. Problem was that several of the kids failed on one of the two steps and the instructors found out. Punishment is generally pretty creative in the Marine Corps and this time wasn’t any different. Normally there are only two people on fire watch at a time and it’s only a one hour shift during the week. Well as punishment they increased the number of people on fire watch from two to eight for each platoon. Not only that but we would have to wear all of our protective gear and helmet instead of just our cammies. It was actually pretty humorous because it was such overkill as there were people guarding individual stalls in the bathroom and people guarding every single door into the building. After a few days of putting up with this and no more incidents the instructors let us go back to the normal fire watch procedures.

Wednesday was a day full of classes and sitting around in the squad bay while a few people had administrative matters to take care of. Thursday was a blast though. We got some classes on land navigation and then were broken up into teams. Each team was given a map, compass, and 3 grid coordinates for the day and 3 for the night. We then spent an hour plotting the points on our maps before all the groups were split up and went to the field. We had to use our map, terrain association, and compass to move to each of the three grid coordinates. They were spread out over probably a 4-5 mile square area which contained some ridiculous hills and mountains. You actually had to get down on hands and knees and crawl up some because the incline was so steep. I took some pictures with a disposable camera which I’m hoping to get developed soon. Once you got to the locations you had to look for a box which contained a stencil with a code on it that you would use to mark on our maps/answer sheet to prove that we did indeed make it to the points. We did pretty good during the day portion. Not so much during the night portion. But it was fun and doing this kind of stuff was the reason I joined the Marine Corps and specifically the infantry.

Friday was quite possibly the longest day of my life. I knew Amy was on her way to California and that was all I could think about and getting cut loose on liberty. Sometimes it seems like we just screw around during the morning and don’t make good use of time and then all of a sudden they try to cram everything in during the afternoon and evening. So the instructors finally got everything together and we did a short little hike up one of the mountains maybe a half a mile from base. We then split up into groups of 13 that the instructors would rotate among to teach us immediate action drills. Immediate action drills are used to practice and enforce what you’re squad is supposed to do immediately if you come under attack from the front, flanks, air, or spot the enemy and want to set an ambush. We were all taught the different drills and went through them in slow motion. Once we learned all of the drills we then lined up in our squads to go on mock patrols and do the drills on cues from our instructors at full pace. Our platoon was the last one lined up to do this. It was taking forever for each squad to get through the events and it was getting darker by the minute and all I could think about was getting off and seeing my girlfriend. We could see the parking lot from the mountain when we used our scopes and I kept thinking that Amy was waiting down there for me. I used the opportunity to get to know some of the other guys in my platoon.

It’s interesting getting to know the guys around you and looking at the breakdown of the platoon. The Marine Corps draws a lot of interesting personalities and the infantry draws that much more interesting characters. Within infantry you have the smartest guys in the Marines that want to do infantry because it’s prestigious and challenging and is a good base for a career in the Marines. Then you’ve always got kids that chose it because they didn’t qualify for any other jobs in the Marines based on their aptitude tests. You’ve got kids that were former thugs and gangbangers that want to clean up and do something honorable with their life. Then there’s the nerds that somehow slipped through the cracks and boot camp and definitely never played any sports or have ever set foot in a weight room. My guess is that they are trying to compensate or redeem themselves from their high school lives. Then there’s a small group that graduated college and worked an office job and decided they still had some adventuring to do before they settled down. Including myself there are two other guys that have degrees that worked in a corporate environment for about a year before deciding to enlist. One of the guys actually worked at Met Life Insurance so I and he have a lot of similar stories. After standing up for four hours with our flaks and packs on the instructors finally decided to call it quits for the night since the sun was about to go down. We then fired off the blanks we had and hiked back to the squad bays and turned in our weapons before being cut loose to go hygiene and go on liberty. I had to do some smooth talking and a little business propositioning to get rid of the fire watch that I was assigned for the weekend before running to the parking lot to meet Amy. After a long week of training the weekend had finally begun.

The Squadbay and My Wall Locker

This is basically where I've been living for the past 3 weeks and where I'll continue to live for the next month and a half when I'm not in the field. *Note the inside where I've taped pictures of my hot girlfriend to show off to the other guys so they think I'm cool.

If My Meal Doesn't Come in a Brown Shrinkwrapped Bag, I Don't Want It.

The week started out with a hike to the machine gun range. The movements have gotten progressively harder. We've been putting more weight in our packs and have the instructors have been setting a much faster pace. You can no longer power walk; instead you have to jog/run the entire way there. The range was approximately 2.5 miles away. The instructors needed 40 people to carry extra weapons in addition to our m16. Some people had to carry the SAW, a light machine gun, while others carried the M203 grenade launcher. I got voluntold to carry the grenade launcher. The worst part about it was not the extra weight but that you couldn’t sling the damn thing and had to carry it the whole way which burns your arms out and saps your energy on top of the running. Also it makes it impossible to use your arms to help you with your stride. One of my new friends and I made sure to get a spot in the front of the formation because we knew we would be at a huge disadvantage starting in the rear. Well some punks decided to elbow us out of the way when the Sgt. was counting personnel so he asked us "kindly" to get to the back of the formation.

You're not allowed to pass people in the formation until a big gap appears. Problem is you don't always see all the gaps in the front since the roads are hilly and windy. You'll think you're with the main body of the formation until you crest a hill or come around a turn and realize your 500 yards back from the main body. You're only allowed to be 25 yards away from the main body or you're considered a range movement drop. If that happens to many times you can get dropped from training and be forced to start all over again. The pace the instructor set was insane especially considering the fact that they don't have to carry weapons or half the gear we do. My new friend and I tried sprinting up to the front when we realized there was a gap, but I think we went to fast because we gassed ourselves out. Only 15 people from our platoon of 100 were able to make it without being considered hike drops. Of those 15 several weren't carrying any extra weapons and most got to start out in the front.

As a result, several of the strongest guys and I had to a remedial PT session this past Saturday morning. People that didn’t score high enough on the initial PFT have been on this program and are required to PT every Saturday morning. The workout wasn't hard at all it was really just a warm-up for me and some of the other guys that were there simply because we carried extra weapons and couldn’t keep up.

Later in the week on the hike back I at least got a spot in the middle of the formation. I had to jog the whole time and pass around 30 people but was in the 15-20 that made it at the instructors pace. That was a big morale booster for me. I can do pull-ups, pushups, and crunches all day long and am great at sprinting but have never been a long distance runner or an endurance athlete. I’m definitely improving in that arena though. If I'm able to do it again this Tuesday on our 5k hike then I won't have to go to anymore Saturday PT sessions. It all seems a little pointless in the fact that in modern combat we just roll up in humvees or drop down from helipcopters and don't hike hundreds of miles anymore.

The rest of the week was pretty upbeat though. We got to throw grenades, shoot two different machine guns, shoot an anti tank gun (think bazooka), and shoot a grenade launcher. Four lucky people got to shoot live rockets at an old tank while the rest of us watched from a hilltop. It was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life. Much louder and much more of a shockwave then they portray in movies or video games.

The craziest/weirdest part of the whole week though was how we are all adapting to the environment and sounds out here. The first few grenades that people threw we were all a little shocked at how loud they were and how much of a percussion effect there was. It’s kind of the same feeling you get in your chest when you're at a concert with a lot of bass. I got to be one of the first 20 people for this event and afterwards went and sat in bleachers a few hundred yards away from where the grenades were being thrown. I and several other people actually ended up falling asleep and napping even with grenades exploding a few hundred yards away. And the night before we ended up falling asleep while another training company was firing machine guns literally 200 yards away. I'm sure it’s a pretty valuable skill to be able to block out gun shots and explosions and make decisions and stay calm in combat.

We also got to play some more memory and observation games which I really enjoy. The new one they've started doing is called the KIM game and was and still is apparently used to train spies. They start with a picture of items or a scene of 4 or 5 pictures. We then look at them for a few minutes before they are covered and we're asked a multitude of questions about what we saw. I'm on my way to being a regular Jason Bourne.

There is a lot of downtime between events and when you're done shooting and waiting on the other 300 people to finish. This time is spent telling jokes, stories about home, singing songs together, trading food from our MREs, and planning on what we'll be doing the coming weekend. The instructors get a little aggravated because we get a little carried away talking and they can't hear the kids on the firing line or can’t concentrate as well as they need to be able to. One funny sequence ensued when a Sgt. told us to shut up for probably the 5th time. Right after saying it again a couple of kids chuckled in the back. He put them on the spot and said "Something must be funny, huh? You must be funny guys, huh? Well tell us a joke." The kids responded that they didn’t know any jokes but were eventually forced to put on a comedy act along with a few others for the next 20 minutes.

This weekend was pretty relaxed. I spent the entire weekend on base and caught up on laundry, got my gear organized, called a few friends, watched a few movies, and caught up on some reading. I was also able to exploit one kid and took over his 4 hour duty in exchange for 105 dollars. Another kid in the platoon took several people's duty and pocketed over 300 dollars. I'm beginning to realize there are some definite ways to make some extra cash in the Marine Corps. It was nice to stay on base and save some money though and get some good sleep. Next weekend Amy's spring break starts so she bought a ticket and is coming out to see me. So I can use some of this extra money to go out to nice dinners. I'm really excited because she has spent a lot of time researching cool things to do in San Diego and I’m pretty excited about going to the San Diego Zoo. I just got to pray that a bunch of kids didn’t screw up this week or do dumb stuff in the field this week so that we don't get put on restricted liberty.

Next week we have our first real hike, first written test (should be a joke), and will start to learn how to use radios and learn some more advanced land navigation. Should be a pretty chill week after the hike is out of the way.

Lasers, Nightvision, and Bullets Oh My.

So the week started out with a 2 mile day hike to the grenade range on Tuesday morning. It was a little more difficult hike then expected since I'm not used to the California hills yet, but by the end of the week I could already tell my body was starting to adapt to them. We were all really excited about being able to throw live grenades that day, but were later let down when the range was closed down due to a rainstorm. Apparently sometimes the grenades will get stuck in a mud puddle and won't detonate properly and some unfortunate soul has to go retrieve them. We went back to the squad bay that night and sat in classes and learned about how to throw grenades, how to use night vision, our scopes on our rifles, and how to scout areas and perform reconnaissance with our binoculars. The classes are pretty boring sometimes because they are theological discussions rather than hands on learning, but I guess its necessary to outline the ideas before you run out to the field and go crazy with all the gear.



Tuesday night we packed our large packs with all the MREs and gear we would need for a three day stay in the field. Wednesday morning we took off on around a 2 mile hike with around 120 pounds on our backs. The hikes are definitely a lot more difficult than the ones we did in boot camp due to the extra weight, increased speed, and hills. Basically you end up jogging or running half the time unless you're in the very front due to a slinky like effect. If you fall back too far from the main body you are considered a hike drop and you get counseled on it and can actually get dropped or put on a remedial physical conditioning program.

The week consisted of shooting certain drills during the day and then repeating those same drills at night with nightvision and infrared lasers. During bootcamp we shot in stationary positions but now we have begun shooting while moving forward, shooting to your side while moving, and turning around and shooting. It was unbelievable how much ammo we went through this week. Each person shot around 700 rounds. From what I can find on the Internet right now is that the price of 5.56 ammo is around 90 cents. So I spent over 600 dollars of taxpayer money myself this week on just training. There's 300 other kids in my company and they all shot the same amount. I find stuff like that interesting/humorous sometimes.
Another cool exercise we did was we were given binoculars and had to find 10 hidden objects in a field w/in 30 minutes using our scouting and scanning techniques we learned. It was really difficult but fun at the same time. They said we would be repeating it from time to time and the exercises would get harder and they would hide the objects better.

Also while we were at the field we were introduced to impromptu PT sessions. We had alot of down time in the day so our instructors would come and grab us and basically run us all over the mountains in our cammies and boots and mix in a few push ups and other exercises. It was a valuable lesson though; even though you are in the field you shouldn't use it as an excuse not to exercise.

At night we slept out under the stars in our sleeping bags and waterproof sacks. Its gets really cold at night when the sun goes down. Probably in the high 30's or 40's. We finished the week with a 2 mile hike back to the base around 11:00 p.m. and were cut loose the following morning with off base liberty. Two friends and I took a shuttle to San Diego and got a hotel room and ate a good dinner that night. I also took the opportunity to purchase a laptop so I could stay in touch with friends and family and have some entertainment on the weekends. I'm sitting in a USO in downtown San Diego typing this while I wait on a shuttle to take me back to base. Next week we should get cut loose on Friday evening so we'll have a little bit more of a break.

In the week to come we will be shooting machine guns, rocket launches, and making up the grenade range. Stay tuned for details...

First Week at SOI

So I've been at SOI for officially a week now. California is not so sunny and not so warm like I imagined it was all year round. I had quite a scare the first few days here. My orders told me to check in on Monday by noon, but everyone else in my company didn't check in until Tuesday at noon. Since I got there in the middle of the night on Sunday I think that someone didn't cross a T or dot an I. Anyways I spent two days in this receiving area which is just a holding tank for people waiting to start training. It was basically filled with the scum of the Marines. People who had gotten into legal trouble during training or during their leave were here as were people who had been dropped from training due to integrity violations and also people who were malingerers.

When the instructors came late Tuesday to pick up everyone for training and put them in their respective groups my name as well as a couple of others that checked in early were not on the roster. At first I thought that I might have to wait another two weeks in this purgatory type platoon to start training because some idiot didn't fill out all the paper work correctly, but one of the instructors realized it wasn't our fault and we did everything we were supposed to and had the problem corrected.

The first week was a little boring and a little lonely since there was so much downtime. We got issued all of our gear we would need for the field and training but in between that there was alot of waiting around and sitting in the squadbay. I made the opportunity to meet some new friends. I can usually tell who the problem makers are going to be within the first few days so I tried to avoid them. I met two guys from Alaska that are pretty cool and squared away. Who would have thought you'd meet an Alaskan in California?

It was pretty cool getting all of our high speed gear though. We got issued night vision goggles, infrared scopes for our rifles, and flak jackets. Tomorrow we will start training in the field. The instructors told us we will get a little increase in our pay for the next week for "hazardous duty" since we will be using grenades. You've got to have a good sense of humor to make in the Marines I'm beginning to learn.

Anyways, a typical week here will consist of spending Monday-Friday in the field and then returning late afternoon on Friday. We will then clean and turn in our weapons and gear to the armoury before we get released for weekend liberty. I'm going to try to take some time each weekend to update this to talk about the training and any other funny stories that pop up. I plan on purchasing a laptop the first opportunity that we get off base liberty so it should make it a little easier and I'll also be able to post pictures of my friends, the base, and California. The training is going to be pretty tough especially since there are so many mountains out here and there weren't any at Parris Island. So all of the kids out here that went to boot camp on the West Coast are a little more conditioned for the mountains. I'm ready for the challenge though and all the good stories and memories the training and time out in the field will produce.

Until next weekend...

First Post

So I was making the drive from Chattanooga to Macon today and was thinking that its always so hard to stay connected to friends and family when you're not living with them or near them. So I started brainstorming ways to stay in better touch with the people I care about with the little free time that comes with a full time job. That's when I came to the conclusion that I should create a blog. That way it will give my friends and family a way to stay connected to my life without requiring me to make 30 phone calls each week.

I'll be shipping to the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, California next week. I'm excited about the challenge and starting the next step in my military career, but its also bittersweet since I'll be thousands of miles away from my family, girlfriend, and the few friends I have that still live in the area. Hopefully this blog and a few phone calls with make the distance seem smaller. I'll try to update this with pictures and stories as often as time allows. I know that I will have some weekends off here and there and will try to make my way to the library on base to use their computers.

I didn't major in English nor do I have a great deal of experience in writing so bear with my punctuation, grammar, and stream of consciousness that this blog and my future blogs will surely contain. Until the next time...