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.
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