- Joined
- Jul 2, 2000
- Messages
- 2,357
I got sooooo lucky. My team mate brought his lap top, and we found a telephone line in the dorms we are staying in. BAM! back online for a little bit. So here is an update of my trip thus far. Our stupid UDM (Unit Deployment Manager) didn't get our airflow quick enough so we didn't arrive in Nevada till midnight on the 23rd. It took about an hour to drive via bus to Indian Springs from Vegas to get our saftey briefing and sign in. They ended up making us sleep at the Nevada Test Site which is in the middle of god knows where. We are at some little out-post called Mercury about another 45 minutes away from Indian Springs (in the middle of the desert). I can't say much more than that about the location. It is about as friggin' secluded as it gets. It has been about 112 degrees every day. Not too bad though. So anyway, we got about 3 hours sleep before our first day of classes. I was dragging major a$$ the first day. We were inside for 3 days learning about the Arab culture and about the Muslim faith. We also had to watch all these videos about suicide bombers and IED's. We also had to watch all the murders that were video taped by terrorists and sent over the terror network. The Cadre say it is the best way to get us reved up and in line for "Taking Care of Buisness". Now this is not the first tour in OIF for me. I was gone for 6 months in 2003, but we were primarily guarding Spec-ops forces while they were on rest between missions, so we didn't venture out too far, but this time we are taking over the convoys, Villiage Raids, and Prisoner Ops from the Army, so we have to go through more specialized training. The school I am in now is called ExpeRT. OK so back on track now... The next 3 days we were at the range for about 10 hours a day. I think I have fired about 2000 rounds since I have been here. The first day we zeroed our M-4's and M-68 optical scopes. Then we fired the marksmanship portion of the course. The second day we spent time perfecting "Failure Drills" (Two to the chest one to the head), and assaulting positions. We operated in small 4 man groups and assaulted targets with live fire. It was pretty fun. The third day we spent all day assaulting targets from moving vehicles and on operation of the AK-47. We had to learn how to use them, just in case our weapons fail and we need one in a pinch. They can be bought down town in Iraq for about $30-40 dollars. (used of course) and of course from dead Iraqi insergents. We had to be tought how they are booby trapping them now too. They field strip them, place Semtex, or other type of plastic explosives in the area where the gas tube is, and then rig them, so when we find them and go to clear them they explode. These are not operational when they do this, but there are ones like that planted in large weapons caches. The next day we worked on our land navigation all day. Mostly all classroom. Day after that we went out in the desert in Mock Convoys, and got attacked all day and practiced battle drills. We did logistical convoys in the morning, and combat patrols in the afternoon. That night we went back to the range to fire in the dark. I think we got finished around midnight. The next day, we practiced MOUT (Military Operations on Urban terrain), and CQB, which is raiding buildings, fighting inside them, and dead body searches. That was all day, but lots of fun. Even in the heat. LOL At the end of the day, we were all formed up in our squads to get the end of day briefings from the Cadre. They were nice enough to pop 6 large CS Gas bombs at us. We weren't in trouble. They are just getting us used to the feeling, since we are using them in bulding raids. We have gas masks with us, but we were forced to feel the affects so we would know what it does, just in case our mask doensn't seal in the field, and so we don't panic. We got hit with some strong stuff. 20% CS, which is pretty harsh, but for some reason we were all laughing our a$$es off between gaging, and coughing. 
The place we practiced the raids in was awesome. It was a small built up city, complete with 1-2-3 story buildings and all sorts of mouse holes and blown up vehicles. Today, we went back out there for our MOUT, CQB, and Land Nav evals. We started out 1 mile from the city. As we walked in we were attacked from a few differnet buildings. My team is 13 people comprised of 3, 4 man firteams and a squad leader. So we fell on the buildings and raided them all. There we innocent civilians and bad guys all over the place which made it challenging, but the hardest part was the damn booby traps layed all over the place. There were trip wires on the doors and windows, and they were rigged with "Screamers" that would let the Cadre know we tripped one. A "Screamer" makes a noise like a bottle rocket when set off. If you died during the exersize you were out for the duration of the exercise. So anyway, our squad didn't hit any of the trip wires and we killed all of the terrorists without loosing a single guy. We were the only team out of 10 teams to finish the whole city withought a loss. So then at the end of the city we had to use map and compass to navigate a 4000 meter course in the desert. It wasn't flat at all. There are Waddie (dried river) systems all over the place, making this terrain unforgiving. We had to navigate to small ammo cans that were hidden in the desert. The whole time we were attacked with sniper fire, indirect, and direct fire. This was to throw us off the track, but the map and compass guy on my fireteam was so good, that we were able to walk right up to the cans. He was able to take his map, compass, and protractor and put us right on top of our objectives. All this in 112 degree temps on hilly terrain. He is definatley an asset. We lost one of my team members two days ago because his wife gave birth to a baby girl, so we had to pick up his slack and duties, but that is fine. He will be able to go to our next school with us and deploy to Iraq with us. The 4th guy on our team is a new guy, but we found his specialtly the other day, during vehicle convoys. He can drive the piss out of anything in an stressed situation. I am really happy about all of this so far, because this means my team (Alpha team), of which I am the leader, is really coming into its own. During raid's we operate so fluildy you would think we have been operating together for years. OK, so I have been boring you guys enough, so here is some knife content. I brought my RAT-3 for testing, and my small micarta Sebenza. I gave the RAT-3 to SSgt Woznick on Squad-2 (Alpha Team) to test since I have another one waiting for me at home. The RAT-3 has been used for cutting into MRE boxes, ammo crates, and for some light scraping chores. It has also cut tons of tape and rope. It is an amazing performer! It doesn't need to be sharpened yet, but when it does I brought my Spyderco Sharpmaker with me. SSgt Woznick (or Woz, as we call him) loves the knife. (Thanks for the support Jeff and all at RAT knives). I can't wait to get home and open mine. OK, on to the small micarta Sebenza. I will answer a question for some of you. IMHO, it is the best folder I have ever used anywhere period!!!!! I have done all the same field chores, along with some other cutting tasks, and it is still in shaving sharp condition. I had to strip it 3 times to clean the sand and dust out of it, but I just washed it out, applied a light film of MD Labs XF-7 over the blade and re-assembled it. It is perfect in every way. The micarta feels so good in the hands. Here in the desert any metal gets very hot to hold, and so the micarta keeps holding this knife very comfortable. I do wear gloves when I am out operating, but this didn't inhibit using this knife. It is easy to open with gloved and ungloved hands. This new Sebenza is "All buisness" and is the perfect military folder. Unless of course you want the large one, but you get the picture. Scratches actually look like they are at home on this knife LOL I have learned that the RAT-3 and the Micarta Sebenza are great companions on military ops. For some reason most commanders won't allow a blade over 3" now. Because of this both knives are perfect. That is one reason I didn't get the large micarta Sebbie. The RAT-3's blade is right at 3". A 3" blade will do just fine. The days of a large combat knife may be short lived. These small wonders are compact, and strong as hell. Anyway, I have 6 more days of school here to go. We are going to have a 3 day, full scale opertion to finish the school, and we graduate on the 8th. I don't know if I will get to use the computer again till I get home, but I miss all of you guys, and look forward to getting back to the BFC on a daily basis. Of course until I go to FT Lewis at the end of September for hand to hand combat and Combat Lifesaver courses. I am looking forward to that too though. Sorry if I bored you guys, but I havn't posted here in a while and had a lot to say. 
Sorry that I didn't put this in paragraphes, but I had to type in a hurry to give my friend his computer back. I am also sure you guys caught all my type-o's Talk to you guys soon.
The place we practiced the raids in was awesome. It was a small built up city, complete with 1-2-3 story buildings and all sorts of mouse holes and blown up vehicles. Today, we went back out there for our MOUT, CQB, and Land Nav evals. We started out 1 mile from the city. As we walked in we were attacked from a few differnet buildings. My team is 13 people comprised of 3, 4 man firteams and a squad leader. So we fell on the buildings and raided them all. There we innocent civilians and bad guys all over the place which made it challenging, but the hardest part was the damn booby traps layed all over the place. There were trip wires on the doors and windows, and they were rigged with "Screamers" that would let the Cadre know we tripped one. A "Screamer" makes a noise like a bottle rocket when set off. If you died during the exersize you were out for the duration of the exercise. So anyway, our squad didn't hit any of the trip wires and we killed all of the terrorists without loosing a single guy. We were the only team out of 10 teams to finish the whole city withought a loss. So then at the end of the city we had to use map and compass to navigate a 4000 meter course in the desert. It wasn't flat at all. There are Waddie (dried river) systems all over the place, making this terrain unforgiving. We had to navigate to small ammo cans that were hidden in the desert. The whole time we were attacked with sniper fire, indirect, and direct fire. This was to throw us off the track, but the map and compass guy on my fireteam was so good, that we were able to walk right up to the cans. He was able to take his map, compass, and protractor and put us right on top of our objectives. All this in 112 degree temps on hilly terrain. He is definatley an asset. We lost one of my team members two days ago because his wife gave birth to a baby girl, so we had to pick up his slack and duties, but that is fine. He will be able to go to our next school with us and deploy to Iraq with us. The 4th guy on our team is a new guy, but we found his specialtly the other day, during vehicle convoys. He can drive the piss out of anything in an stressed situation. I am really happy about all of this so far, because this means my team (Alpha team), of which I am the leader, is really coming into its own. During raid's we operate so fluildy you would think we have been operating together for years. OK, so I have been boring you guys enough, so here is some knife content. I brought my RAT-3 for testing, and my small micarta Sebenza. I gave the RAT-3 to SSgt Woznick on Squad-2 (Alpha Team) to test since I have another one waiting for me at home. The RAT-3 has been used for cutting into MRE boxes, ammo crates, and for some light scraping chores. It has also cut tons of tape and rope. It is an amazing performer! It doesn't need to be sharpened yet, but when it does I brought my Spyderco Sharpmaker with me. SSgt Woznick (or Woz, as we call him) loves the knife. (Thanks for the support Jeff and all at RAT knives). I can't wait to get home and open mine. OK, on to the small micarta Sebenza. I will answer a question for some of you. IMHO, it is the best folder I have ever used anywhere period!!!!! I have done all the same field chores, along with some other cutting tasks, and it is still in shaving sharp condition. I had to strip it 3 times to clean the sand and dust out of it, but I just washed it out, applied a light film of MD Labs XF-7 over the blade and re-assembled it. It is perfect in every way. The micarta feels so good in the hands. Here in the desert any metal gets very hot to hold, and so the micarta keeps holding this knife very comfortable. I do wear gloves when I am out operating, but this didn't inhibit using this knife. It is easy to open with gloved and ungloved hands. This new Sebenza is "All buisness" and is the perfect military folder. Unless of course you want the large one, but you get the picture. Scratches actually look like they are at home on this knife LOL I have learned that the RAT-3 and the Micarta Sebenza are great companions on military ops. For some reason most commanders won't allow a blade over 3" now. Because of this both knives are perfect. That is one reason I didn't get the large micarta Sebbie. The RAT-3's blade is right at 3". A 3" blade will do just fine. The days of a large combat knife may be short lived. These small wonders are compact, and strong as hell. Anyway, I have 6 more days of school here to go. We are going to have a 3 day, full scale opertion to finish the school, and we graduate on the 8th. I don't know if I will get to use the computer again till I get home, but I miss all of you guys, and look forward to getting back to the BFC on a daily basis. Of course until I go to FT Lewis at the end of September for hand to hand combat and Combat Lifesaver courses. I am looking forward to that too though. Sorry if I bored you guys, but I havn't posted here in a while and had a lot to say. Sorry that I didn't put this in paragraphes, but I had to type in a hurry to give my friend his computer back. I am also sure you guys caught all my type-o's Talk to you guys soon.
:thumbup:
