Last Basic Training letter

10/9/2011

Hey All,

So this past week was pretty much the last week of training!!!  From here on out we are in recovery phase (Blue Phase) so we are pretty much just cleaning our gear to turn in and preparing for graduation.  So, Monday –Thursday we had FTX3 (Field Training Exercise 3) this is normally a lot of fun but since I were part of duty squad it was very boring.  So this whole outdoor experience is designed to give you the idea of what it is like to live in a F.O.B. (forward operating base) and run patrols.  So for this we set up entry points with full guard detail, barriers, and razor wire, challenge and password entry verifications.  Then to trust our abilities on protecting our base they take a platoon like OP.4; they get taken out in the woods and have to try and over run the base.    All this fun stuff we (duty squad) were not able to take part in.  We were allowed to set up all of the entry points, fill all of the ammunition and run our battle drills which were the only actual military thing that we did all day.  So our battle drills consisted of running a patrol and encountering the enemy in random attacks so we can judge/assess the situation and decide how to attack or if breaking contact and going back to a rally point would be better.  We ran through 3 of these walking patrols and then we did one mounted patrol in a Hum-V which was pretty cool.  We even attached a M249 s.a.w. to the top turret.  On our mounted patrol we encountered two situations to react to. The first was a suspicious person with wire near the road and as we approached he tried to hide it so we pulled over to investigate and as we dismounted we took enemy fire.  Our 249 machine guns returned fire and we moved to cover.  As the enemy retreated we staged an attack into the wood line.  We were out manned so we had to break contact back to the vehicles.  As we returned we sent a sitrep (situational report) back to base on the attack and we were instructed to carry on.  The next situation we encountered was an IED attack.  This time the IED went off as our convoy went by.  We dismounted and searched the surrounding area to clear it.  We came under small arms fire and retaliated with an aggressive barrage of machine gun fire to suppress the situation.  We were then told to mount up and head back to F.O.B. all in all the battle drills were pretty cool again we were kind of rushed because there are over 200 soldiers that are in the company.

The nights sucked.  Not only are we just sleeping in little Hastie holes that we dig the weather dropped to a nice sub 50 so we were all pretty frozen.  Then on top of that we had to pull 50% security so one of the two people in your wonderful hole in the ground has to be awake.  We typically pull hour shifts, I however being a squad leader was on patrol to make sure none of the drill sergeants’ sneak in and steal equipment or kill my men (red sharpie marks). I was also in charge of our Fox Hole with machine gun security and to make sure that our ammunition point was properly guarded.      So needless to say from Monday – Thursday I received maybe 6 hours of sleep.  Thursday finally gets here and we all knew that today was our 16K march back to the barracks.  So the rest of the company finishes their battle drill though out the day and duty squad starts to pick up the F.O.B. and break the site down.  This took us quite a while so of course we got screwed. While we were busy getting everything loaded onto the truck and moved back to the barracks everyone else ate, changed socks and boots then relaxed for the march.  When we got back we had 3 minutes to eat dinner and get into formation with our 65 lb packs because our squad was going to lead the march.  So the march was pretty standard full A.C.U.’s M16a4 assault rifle and 65 lb rucksack.   The march was not too bad until we reached about mile 5 or 6 and got to “Stairway to Heaven” this is a damn near vertical hill for roughly ½ mile, it was an absolute killer.  But by this point I was so tired I really did not care I just wanted this last thing to be over.  Finally around 10 miles in we can see our company it is almost over… wrong! We head left for another 1.5 to 2 miles and we stop.  We take off our rucksacks and get into formation then out of nowhere a grenade simulation goes off, we all yell contact, contact, contact and immediately drop to the ground.  Then out of nowhere the company commander (Captain Mercado) pops out and yells “Follow Me” flash bangs, grenade simulations, machine gun fire is all going off around us as we are sprinting on dead legs.  The guy in front of me tripped and as he was falling I grabbed him by the back of his jacket and jerked him up to his feet.  Then though the clearing we see a huge bonfire with a podium and our First Sergeant Hanover there.  When we all got in and formed up we went through a pretty awesome ceremony where we were given our U.S. pins and told we had passed the test and we are from this point U.S. Army Soldiers.  My pains truly at this point faded away we had finished and I have completed my first of many Army goals.  We still have two weeks left but they are recovery and graduation so they should be all about cleaning and servicing our gear to turn in and maybe working on drill and ceremony for graduation.

After our initiation ceremony we put our stuff back on and marched backed to the barracks.  We then enjoyed our first showers since that previous Sunday and the warmth of a bed.  Friday was a nothing day we started to clean our gear and weapons for turn in.  While nothing all that important happened we did get an amazing breakfast.  The “Warriors Breakfast” Eggs, Biscuits & Gravy, an 8 oz Steak, Country Potatoes, Strawberries, Blueberries and cereal.  This was truly amazing and they gave us as much time as needed to eat it all.  So even though Friday was extremely dull breakfast was unforgettable. 

On Saturday we had a make-up day at the range.  We had to make up the day we missed for the concert.  This was a joke, you could tell that no one wanted to be there especially the drill sergeants’ it was shooting at pop up targets in full protective gear, flik & IBA (Bullet Proof Vest and Vest with IFAC (improved field aid kit), field canteen and 6 slots for 30 round magazines.  To be honest everyone shot poorly but it was expected, this was more for the experience of shooting around barriers.  When we got back we went straight to cleaning.  This is going to be a long slow week but we are almost done.

Lastly, I have loved all of your letters BT & Brook, Maggie, Brandon, Uncle Bob, Mom and Dad.  But now that we are almost done it means moving time and my address will be changing it might be best to hold off on the letters for a while and I will post my new address as soon as possible.  I miss you all and hope you are doing well.

Patrick