3/31/2007 Saturday

Dear All,

Fun day today. After a burst of sprint/rests in PT we had breakfast, as usual. IT was gigantic and delicious. For the rest of my life I’m probably going to have huge breakfasts and small lunches and dinners. It’s better for you, and hell, breakfast food tastes better. Good deal all around. We spent the day training for Reflexive Fire, which is the foundation for urban and a mobile shooting. Now we’re getting into the real stuff.

After lunch we transed out to the firing range and got to play with CCOs again. Sure enough, after ten minutes, I figured that thing out. And I went totally crazy on the head of my target. That’s one stationary green insurgent who won’t be terrorizing freedom any more. Hooah. I felt very, very manly.

Seriously, though. I figured that damn thing out. The CCO won’t give you pinpoint accuracy, but at close range (hence the name Close Combat Optics) it can give you a solid and quick bead in your target. Very helpful little toy. And we got to use the M16A4s today, too, so it was generally just a blast. We started plugging the target at 25 M and moved in closer in a line, in combat technique, ultimately to the 5M line. I’m still surprised they let us move forward together with live rounds in our weapons, poised for reflexive fire. It’s a far cry from the excessive safety precautions of the last two weeks. Apparently after you qualify they start letting you use your weapon in a half-realistic way.

I’m just thrilled that we’re finally learning practical combat skills. Next week we’ll be going further in depth on how to move, communicate, and fire in teams. We’ll be clearing rooms, setting up more fighting positions, and doing a convoy-fire session. The DSs aren’t particularly convinced that the convoy training is necessary. As DS “M” pointed out, our platoon is particularly unsuited for this: at no time, he explained, will the Army fill a truck with 20 lieutenants and a .50 cal. There’s no tactical value in such a maneuver, and it’s also downright bizarre. So maybe that won’t be so practical. But it will be fun.

Today wasn’t crazy busy, but at least I’m convinced we’re back on the right track and y time here isn’t for nothing. These are skills we will use on deployment. We’re finally learning the basics of how to hit and not get hit back.

Now for a platoon update:

1. Quidachay is either healing well or jest a stoic guy. He’s doing well and keeping up.
2. Booher’s two broken ribs bother him, but he looks to be a definite go for graduation.
3. Chong, however, is pretty injured. His leg may have a stress fracture. He’s trying to hide it, but it’s becoming more obvious. He refuses to go to the hospital because they may confirm his worst fears and remove him form training. It’s already happened once when he got pneumonia last cycle. He has no desire to stay here any longer.
4. Nelson and Chanler both caught some nasty flu going around. Had to go to the hospital to get it checked out. The rest of us hope that this isn’t a new strain; we don’t want any more torture.
5. Lewis and I are a little upset that we didn’t get our ability-group run this morning. We had even taken some Ibuprofen an hour before in preparation. We were psyched to go. But the springs were still good. 30 second sprints 60 seconds walk. Sprint at your own pace, repeat a lot. If you weren’t exhausted, you weren’t sprinting fast enough. So nobody could complain that it wasn’t enough. Fun times.

So, in short, life is good today. And tomorrow is Sunday, so we’ll be getting extra sleep. I say this with only a little bitterness at the CQ desk for my 0100-0200 shift. But it isn’t so bad. I get one complete 3-hour sleep cycle in each direction, so I might even feel better than if I slept right through the night. Anyway, time for some CQ duties. I’ll write during my ample time tomorrow. Sleep tight.

-Jeremy