Friday, December 23, 2011

Trial and Tribulation- Ranger School

Ranger School in the Infantry is the Holy Grail and you will never be a good leader without your tab, or at least that is what is ingrained into our heads during IBOLC. For the 16 weeks we were in IBOLC, Ranger School was the focus of training and the topic of every conversation. The result of all the pressure and expectations made Ranger School weigh heavily on every ones mind.
Although there is a ora of apprehension towards Ranger School, it is something that you do for the men you about to lead not for yourself. Many graduates have told me that Ranger School prepared them for the hardships of combat and the high stress situations that will arise.

Well to get down to it. I failed. I did not even get out of Darby, after 48 days of being in Ranger School it abruptly ended. I was sent home for failing patrols. Well now that's out we can get to the real purpose of this post, letting people know what Ranger School is like and how not to fail out.

Preparation
  For IBOLC graduates we do not have to complete a Pre-Ranger Course, because IBOLC is set up as a PRC. That being said due to the poor results the previous LT's had at Ranger School during RAP week, HHC conducted their own RAP week. There is no reason to go into great detail about the HHC RAP week so I'll just list the events and a short excerpt.

Day 1 RPFT- To qualify for Ranger School: 49 PUSH UPS, 59 SIT UPS, 40MIN 5MILE RUN, 6 PULL UPS.

Day 2 LAND NAV- 5 out of 6 points to pass.

Day 3 RUCK- 65lbs in under 3 hours.

After the RAP week we were put on an OML and told we might not make it if we were low on it. I think the point was for us to sweat it out, but I was #2 and knew they were full of shit, long story short everyone that passed RAP week went to Ranger School.
My IBOLC class got about 10 days to relax before going to the 62 day course.

I will finish the Ranger School post on the next post so that its not too long.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Airborne

Airborne......So far the best Army course I have been to in certain respects. The Airborne Sergeants and company command of Bravo Company have the course running like a well oiled machine. This is also the first time that I have been treated like an  adult let alone an officer, the cadre and the students show respect for officers and NCO's.

Ground Week


You begin the course with a PT test, which you have to pass at the 18-21 year old category.

42 Push Ups
52 Sit Ups
15 min 54 sec or less on the 2 mile run.

During Ground Week you learn how to execute Parachute Landing Falls or PLF's for short. A PLF is exactly what it sounds like... the way you are taught to fall when you hit the ground, except that it is completely unatural. All week long you will practice these, in gravel rocks, all the while wearing a ACH. You will practice PLF's in slow motion, by the numbers, holding that damn helmet up with your head as you lay on the ground trying not to let your neck go into muscle failure. You will realize why paratroopers say that a ACH weighs 10,000 lbs. You also practice PLF's from off of a small wall about 2-3 feet high, and then you'll move on to the Lateral Drift Apparatus, a zip line type thing which you will perform PLF's off of (It's not very high), its funny to see some everyone drop for the first time unsure how bad it will hurt. You will bunny hop in line, sideways, keeping toe to toe and heel to heel contact until it's your turn to do PLF's to strengthen your leg muscles.


You'll do PT in the mornings just like anywhere else, but the PT is not challenging. You run to go run. Never in Airborne School will you walk anywhere. If you're PT for that day is to go for a run, you will form up and double time to the start point of the run.... and THEN your run will begin. All runs are formation runs that are never faster than 9 minute mile pace, it wears on your shins.

During this week you will also perform mock jumps out of a 34 ft. tower while being connected to a zip line that simulates lateral movement out of the aircraft and across a "DZ". You'll practice doing this "Hollywood" style (no ruck sack or weapon, and you'll also do it rigged up with combat equipment, which you have to lower before you get to the end of the zip line. Having jumped out of a plane I now know that this does not replicate exiting the plane at all. If you're to scared to jump from that, you'll be to scared to jump from an aircraft.

TOWER WEEK

The second week is Tower Week, where you will use the Swing Landing Trainer to perform PLF's from a little higher than the first zipline you used in Ground Week. (I think you're on a 12' ledge, not sure of the height though.) The Black Hat has control of your harness at all times, and he'll drop you on your ass when you are at the apex of the swing.

Our course was one of the shortest due to multiple 4 day weekends, so we only had 10 training days including jump week. Due to the shortened course we did not drop from the 250' towers, although we did get a demo of shoot malfunctions from the tower (I hope that no one falls from that height because I think the dummy bounced 5 feet in the air after hitting).


JUMP WEEK

Finally it is Jump Week, this is what you've been training for. You'll get a chance to make five successful jumps from an Aircraft while in flight. Your first jump will be the biggest rush you've ever gotten in your life. Every day that you jump, you will run in formation wearing your ACH, ACU's and boots to the harness shed. It sucks, and I think it's close to two miles but it's not that bad.

Jump week was only 3 days long for me, we did 2 jumps on Sunday, 2 on Monday and 1 on Tuesday (one of which was an un official night jump). I was selected as a chalk leaders so I had my first experience of keeping privates in line. One private who will remain anonymize made the biggest bone head move I have ever seen.

The worst part about jump week is the weather and sitting in the harness shed for hours on end, waiting for the skies to part so that you can jump. While waiting you cannot touch your equipment or any part of your body after being JMPIed by a Jump Master, did I mention you cannot sleep or talk either. So after sitting in the shed for 6 hours without talking or moving everyone gets a little antsy, especially joe. The particular joe I spoke of before had to you the latrine but did not want to disturb the Jump Masters to recheck him. Instead of taking the tongue lashing he ripped a whole in his pants and filled two cups. He tried to hide the cup with the drinking cups and the 1SG caught him, needless to say he was removed from the course. 

All in all I enjoyed the course, it can be mundane and tedious at times but it is a very well ran course with great NCO's. The jumps were a lot of fun and I got a taste of being the leader of a 30 man group (which I loved even if I had little to do or authority). Don't worry no one died and everyone had fun jumping. 

Airborne!

http://youtuOsWUc

This is all I have to say about Airborne.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Week- 15-16 Graduation

The day after we returned from Leaders Forge we spent the entire day, from 0600-2000 cleaning weapons and then repeated the process the next day. I have not been in the Army very long but I do not think that making your company clean weapons for 28 hours is taking care of soldiers that have been in the field for 10 days, but again I am new. After the overkill cleaning we were finally given a break. The next week was a series of briefs and classes.
Graduation was low key, short and sweet just the way I like it. It was nice to get the coveted blue cord, I finally felt like I had accomplished something in the Army. I was also able to get myself onto the Commandants list even though I managed to do poorly on some quiz's.
IBOLC was a great course, I learned so much from the cadre and my peers. After spending a little time at Darby (Ranger School), I believe that it is IBOLC that is the premiere leadership school in the Army.

Week 14 & 15- Leaders Forge

The culmination of all our training and hard work went into the 10 day FTX they branded Leader Forge. This is the "light at the end of the tunnel" and up to this point about half of the platoon still needs graded patrols. Like most of the course the weather was not cooperating, the heat index was in the 100's each day and after loosing 13 guys to heat casualty again, we moved to reverse ops (missions at night and sleeping during the day).

The kickoff event to the exercise was the platoon live fire exercise. This was a realistic platoon sized assault on a bunker, with an elevated support by fire and an enemy counter attack. This was one of the best training days of the cycle because it was real and a real life scenario that we could relate to. The cadre dedicate hours of training for the event before we event step onto the range for the dry run. After a few re-cocks and the blank fire validation, oh yeah and an incident with an unexploded 60mm mortar round, we were ready. My squad was tasked to clear the trench and I got to be the first one in the trench so I was extremely excited, finally real trigger time. Like anything else the exercise didn't go according to plan. Although we were the first squad and fire team in the trench, we were only supposed to clear until we were stretched too thin to continue. Upon reaching the berm before the trench, one of our squad members was pulled off the course for a safety violation, so our already undermanned squad was down one more. The PL at the time then instructed us to clear the entire trench system by ourselves, so myself and 2 others cleared a large trench without support. I was lead on every turn so I got to make almost every shot, it was the coolest thing I did in IBOLC. After clearing the trench we exited the back and were hit by an enemy counter attack, our security squad made short work of the targets and our platoon successfully complete the live fire with just a few hick ups.

Due to the extreme heat and losing 1 or 2 guys per mission we began operating at night. This was the first time that the leadership was given the full reigns and the freedom to develop their own course of action. The missions were now more elaborate and the intelligence collected built the next mission, it made things more interesting. Almost everyone who stepped into a leadership role ended up getting the mission completed, some need a little help from their supporting leadership, but thats what it is all about. The platoon was operating with 2 rifle squads with a weapons squads and the HQ's element. The PL had the option to select their RTO and sometimes their PSG for the mission. During our 5 days of patrols and about 20 leadership positions, I was PSG for 8, RTO for 6 and Weapons Squad Leader for 1 mission, I was exhausted by the last mission. The opportunity to be in leadership that much taught me so much about platoon level operations and also how to motivate people when they are tired. We did not only learn doctrine, instead our cadre and prior service students taught us their unit SOP's that made more sense and worked better than the cut and dry standard.

Leaders Forge was very demanding on your body, conduction missions 24hours a day and getting only 2 hours of sleep at the most. The basic load was about 65lbs, that is if you were not carrying squad equipment which only leadership did not, if you were on the weapons squad your load could be 115lbs. During the 10 days in the field I lost 10lbs and some lost more. It was a good assessment and preparation for ranger school.  As hard as the week was it brought the platoon closer together and by the end we were well meshed and working great together.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Week 13- COIN Operation

All tactics can be implemented in some form or fashion in today's battlefield, but the Counter Insurgency approach is the policy to this war. I had only read about the system and had not really herd an in depth discussion about it. The best tool was our Platoon Tac, who was assigned to a major city right out of Ranger school, and his duties were to be a mayor, economist, contractor for projects and their protector. It was great getting first hand account of what programs and approaches worked for him.

Mon- Stability and Coin Operations with a really good intelligence brief.

Tue-Tactics on employing COIN in stability, offensive and defensive postures.

Wed- Intel driven operations. This was very interesting and insightful. As a PL you do not have significant impact on the large picture, unless you gather good intel from your area that can later be used to support an operation.

Thursday- OPORD's ...... Enough said

Friday- 12 Mile Ruck March. This was a little more difficult than anticipated, at 0400 it was 104 degree heat index and the humidity was so bad it felt like a sauna.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Week 12- Urban Operations


Hollywood

Urban Operations was the funnest week during IBOLC, we got to bust in doors and look like Hollywood commandos clearing rooms, killing bad guys and high fiving after words. I had never cleared a room let alone done any urban operations, so I was ready to learn. Due to the 4th of July holiday it was a short week and they crammed it all into 5 days. The first two days were instruction and they built up from what each individual in the stack does all the way up to how to clear a complicated multi level building with a platoon. Most of my instructors had served in Iraq multiple times, so they have cleared a few buildings, and you could tell that this was their bread and butter. Everyone was very enthusiastic and training and rehearsals went great. The third and fourth days were 24hr operations and I got my first taste of 48+ hours without sleep. I was again asked to be RTO for a few missions and again I learned more than I would have if I would just been on the line. The missions had a real life feel to them and everyone took them serious, the whole week was a great success until the last mission, when everyone was tired. To briefly set it up, we had two of our platoon members that were taken by the enemy and our mission was to retrieve them. We had to leave one squad to guard a gigantic 3-story building and then take the remaining squads to conduct the mission. Well after securing our MIA's we preceded back to the building were our security squad had been sleeping. The OPFOR took over the building and we were in for a rude surprise, we had to retake the building, with only 20 guys. It was kind of a disaster, but we got our first taste of the repercussions for falling asleep on duty. 

The week went great and I learned so much about the urban environment and the added risk of operating inside it. In an urban environment it is 3 dimensional and you have to be looking everywhere and planning for the capabilities the enemy can gain from it. 

Week 11- Defensive Operations


Classroom!!!

After being in the field for a solid week it was nice to get a little break and I enjoyed it until about 1200 Monday after our first round of PowerPoint’s. The week was pretty low key but we still had to complete a dreaded OPORD by Thursday. Enemy Analysis, what you think the enemies possible and probable courses of actions, was stressed this week and rightfully so. For our operation we were assaulting a village to secure a set of buildings, and knowing the defenses that the enemy might emplace had a huge impact on our planning. The classes will not get you all of the information that you will need for your OPORD so this week I had to do a little studying defensive operations. Wednesday night into Thursday was a little crazy, all OPORD's had to be completed on Thursday and we had the 10 mile ruck march that began at 0200 on Thursday as well, to top it all off we had to take a major exam Thursday morning after the ruck. There were a few (most) guys that were up for about 48 hours. I guess the only lesson is time management, but who is really great at that.

Week 10- Platoon STX


HEAT CAT!!!!

Rough week we had 5 consecutive days of 100+ degree-days, conduction 24-hour missions...pretty good glimpse into Ranger School.  After the 4th guy went down it was a rude awakening for everyone that we were just going to have to put our heads down and push through.

Platoon STX was a great learning experience and a good gauge of where you need to improve. The missions were never very tough, short distances only a few thousand meters total from patrol base to objective to patrol base. Moving through the woods in Georgia for me was very easy because I grew up in the Ozark Mountains, which are much thicker and have greater elevation changes. The amount of equipment that we carried took a little getting used to; the basic load was more than 60 lbs. After the first round of guys from our weapons squad went down as heat casualties, I took their gear (bad idea) my new load weighed over 100 pounds with the tripod, extra barrel and 400 rounds of 7.62. It gave me a newfound respect for our weapons squad and what they have to do, I remembered that when it was my turn as PL and moving them from place to place. During platoon STX it seemed like if I was not carrying the AG equipment I was carrying the radio as the RTO for the acting PL, this was great because I got to help guys out on their missions and I also learned a lot about what the cadre were looking for. Typically how our platoon and most platoons run missions is as follows; you are in a patrol base that was established by the previous PL, then the new PL is called forward to begin the planning phase. The OPORD that is given to you is not in the strict format that you are used to as a cadet, you will have to do some thinking and ask some questions to get all of the information that you will need, don’t worry your PSG and RTO are present and can help you out with anything you might miss. Depending on the type of mission and the time allocated you will either have more than enough time to plan or no time at all. For my mission I took over command after someone was fired before the planning phase was complete and my mission was to act as a QRF, so I had to hash out a detailed plan on the fly, it ended up working to my advantage. After your planning is done and you give your OPORD you will step off and begin movement, the next portion is flexible. Some times leadership would change right after you stepped off other times they would wait a little while to see if your plan was working to switch it up. I got to run my mission up until after receiving contact and reconsolidation, so I kind of got to do actions on. Depending on the situation you take command before actions of the OBJ, at that time you do a leaders huddle and receive any information from the previous leadership that you might need. You have the ability to change or tweak the plan to fit what you want to do, and don’t be afraid to do that if you are not comfortable with the way it was briefed, but make sure that everyone knows your plan. The new PL then leads the platoon through actions on and consolidates to move on to the follow on mission or to the next patrol base. Most of the time we fit in an AAR for the entire mission including the two leadership positions. Next the new PL takes over and leads the platoon to set up a patrol base and then transfers over command to the next planning PL. Most things that you do in patrolling were learned in the classroom during ROTC, OCS or West Point; you just improve and hone those skills with the information you learn in the IBOLC classroom. There are prior service guys as well as a few high speeds that you will pick up very helpful ways of doing things you can put in your proverbial tool bag. 

Things I Learned or Should Have Learned:

Machine gun emplacement and capabilities. Your weapons squad is your platoons main firepower, they possess the highest casualty producing weapons, so use them and use them well. Know how they are emplaced, what they have to do to set up a SBF (support by fire line) and the capabilities they have. 

How to rely on others. There are guys in your platoon that can help you out and can make or break your grade, so even if you get a weaker leader in a SL or even PSG position, there are others that will help him out to complete the mission.

Lead don’t micromanage. Not everyone is a stupid cadet anymore we were all taught the basic infantryman tactics and tasks, let them act on them. 

Always put forth your best effort. The guys will notice when you are always helping, lending advice (not to be confused with telling him how he should conduct his own mission), carry your own weight and then some when you can so that your buddy can rest for a while. 

Have fun. Even though we were sleep deprived and wore down I was still having fun, because yet again I realized I am getting paid to shoot guns and play in the woods with friends. 


Saturday, July 16, 2011

Week 9- CAID

Mon- Tuesday- The remainder of the Platoon briefed their OPORD's While the rest of us got to relax at home, so there are some good things about volunteering first. Tuesday morning we were bussed out to the Ranger Training Brigade where the Darby Queen is at to conduct the Ranger School 5 mile run. The road course is not flat by any means but it is not a horrible course I finished in 33:05, so I lost about 40 seconds off of my previous time. You have 40 min to complete the run so a few seconds will not matter. The company CO ran the 5 miler with us this time. A little background on him, he is a Crossfit junky and looks the part, and he finished 4th in the world Crossfit games so he's in shape. Anyways the point is that we ran together most of the route and of course I could not let him beat me at the end so it was a mad dash to the finish. There were only 4 of us that beat him so he gave all of us positive spot reports (my third to date in the course). 

Wed- Friday- CAID classes followed by the exam. I don't think anyone in IBOLC knew what CAID stands for, not even the cadre. CAID deals with combined arms and how we can use them on the battle field. Some of the instructions were very interesting, like the CAS and CCA and knowing how to call and facilitate air strikes. I could have done without some of the other blocks of instruction, but I might need to know one day how to provide my soldier legal advise when he's in a Tijuana jail. 

Something I did not mention before, the exams in IBOLC are solely memorization of terms and acronyms, not short answer or multiple choice. So if you want to do well pay attention and STUDY STUDY STUDY.

Week 8- TLP's

I have really been slacking on these post and to get them all done before Leaders Forge I will skip minor details.
Forget everything you were taught about OPORD's in ROTC, forget all the impractical missions a movements that your instructors taught you. As you know the Army is an adaptive unit and we need to constantly be changing anything that we are getting good at. So we were informed of the new format through a series on power points, that were leaps and bounds above our head. The questions were flying and there were a few very long days in the classroom cramming information to prepare for our first PLT level OPORD.

The PLT level OPORD is very time consuming and the course is set up to force you to produce an order with in a short period of time. Some people spent sleepless nights on it and racked up 16 hours working on it. I am telling you the horror stories to shock you a little bit because it is difficult, but  if you prepare yourself it will not be as taxing on your sleep. The PLT OPORD has graphics and layovers as well as enemy and friendly analysis, so the length of it is considerable, it took me 1:15 to brief my OPORD. Like any other presentation confidence kills, so I practiced briefing my OPORD to my wife, who I am sure loved hearing about the enemies Fields of Fire.

The first OPORD is confusing and difficult to complete but now that I have done and received my AAR comments I know what to do to improve it next time. If any of you would like to see the OPORD format used in IBOLC let me know and I can send it to you.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Week 7- SQUAD LIVE FIRE

Week 7 is really the first week that we introduced tactical movement. The week encompassed SQD STX and ended with a Squad Live Fire Exercise, that was student ran. 

Monday-Thursday- Our platoon departed to the field on Monday for the week. I didn't mention before how pain staking it can be to go to the field. Before you can go you have to do a full pack out (because as Lt's in the Army, we still cannot remember to bring everything on the packing list), followed by weapons draw, all within a one or two hour period, to hurry up and wait. A little bit of advice, be squared away and you wont be known as "that guy" who screws up the platoons departure time. Ok back on track, the first part of the week was dedicated to the training of squad level tactics. It included things like LDA crossings, Clearing a trench, near ambush, and battle drill #1. Most of this should be a refresher for you but if you have forgotten its a good way to relearn. If you have good platoon trainers they will do everything they can to get you up to par on all the drills. Another thing that your platoon trainers bring to the table is real life experience in employing these tactics, and better ways to do them than what doctrine dictates. I learned new things and added to my knowledge of basic battle drills. 

Friday- Live Fire
     The live fire range was set up so that you move along a route, receive contact, then you react to that contact appropriately. This means you will have to execute battle drill #1 or a flanking movement, and this can be a little nerve recking if you allow yourself to think about the consequences if your buddy is not paying attention. To midegate risk, each squad has to be validated on a blank firing run. During the blank run you do everything the sam as if you were shooting live ammunition. 

     A brief look into the conditions for the day, 102 degree temperature, wearing IBA, ACH, FLC (like the LBV) and carrying a combat load of ammunition, oh and I forgot to mention I was given a 249 machine gun right before to use. Our blank run was a little rough but still good enough to be validated, and although we were good to go, our squad continued to conduct rehersals ( it made a huge difference in the end). We were the first up for the live fire portion, and we acctually were the first IBOLC class/ squad to run through the new live fire course. With us being the guinea pigs yet again, it brought some attention, like the post commander, a two star general. The general wanted to come out and see our training, so he came out in full kit and walked the lane with us (I thought this was a good example a leadership, that he was coming down to our level just to see what we were doing, it really wasn't intrusive as you might think).So withe the whole C Co. staff, the General and his aid and a few other observers, we began our live fire exercise. All in all it went really well, we had great intensity and we were all impressed with our squad leader. 

    Notes: I learned a few things about being a leader in a combat/ or just in a live fire lane situation. You do not need to be the best shot or the fastest guy, because as a leader you do not shoot, you are there to lead and direct your subordinates. 

I also realized that in the real army there are many ways to complete one task and none of them are wrong. Different units have different ways of doing things, like clearing out a trench, even though they might be different doesn't mean they are wrong. If you have a basic grasp on the tactics then you will be able to adapt to the units SOP.

Its a fast paced week and you will learn and refine your understanding on battle drills. Come to the course with a basic understanding of all the drills and be ready to learn new and better ways to conduct them. And have fun because they are paying you to run around in the woods with live ammo and shoot at stuff with your buddies, so your going to like it.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Week 6- Heavy Weapons

This was a short week for us due to the holiday. 

Monday- Classroom instruction on Call for Fire and Machine Gun Theory, it was something I absolutely wanted to learn, going to a light infantry unit I will be using mortars and setting machine guns a lot. Be ready to take thorough notes because there is a huge amount of information thrown at you. Again bring some knowledge of the systems with you otherwise you could be lost the entire time. There is a machine gun theory test at the end of the week as well. 

Tuesday-Wednesday- We fired the 249 and 240B machine guns for day and night familiarization, I was a little awestruck during the night fire. We had a line of 10 249's and 10 240B's and to have them all firing at once and seeing the tracers skip off the barriers into the sky, it made me glad I was in the infantry and that I would not be on the recieving end of that. 

Thursday- Recovery and the written exam. The exam was not very hard and if you studied a little bit you will do fine. As for weapons cleaning, again a fun filled day packed with CLP and carbon build up. I had to keep telling myself its good practice and the right thing to do. This is also a great time to get to know your platoon

Week 5-First Responder & LANDNAV

If any of you have been to LDAC this week is a complete refresher. Nothing new and land navigation is no more challenging.

Mon-Tues- CLS training, if you are CPR or First Aid qualified....forget everything that you have ever learned. The army has a bit of a leg up on the medical field in trauma. The instructors were all in combat, two were doctors and one was a Special Forces medic for 10 years, they knew their stuff. Just pay attention most of it is common sense and or a refresher from LDAC. There is a written and hands on exam at the end of the instruction.

Wed-Fri- Land Navigation, there is no way to break it down, if you have done it once then you know exactly what to expect. You will get 4 practice runs on the course before you actually test, one is with your PL trainer (a CPT) and two with a buddy. There is only one test it is a day-night course beginning at 0500, so if you are worried about night land nav then you can just wait until the sun comes up and find your points. The course is really spread out and your points hit every corner of it, get ready to run if you want all 8 points. Most of the students got 6 (the minimum as of this cycle) but if you are settling for the standard thats on you. Make sure your boots are broke in because you are going to put some miles in.

Week 2- Role Platoon Leader

Sorry this is a little out of order. Week 2 was a slow paced week with classroom instruction. This is a new week in the IBOLC schedule, they are focusing on how to train, counsel, award, and manage your platoon. Its a great to know the administrative side of being a PL so you don't have to rely on others for a crutch.

Monday- Role of a PL, we learned what a PL is responsible for and what he should do upon arrival to his unit. No secret there, everyone always says to listen to your PSG and don't try to re-invent the wheel, but if everyone says it and beats it into your head its got to be true. Later in the day we went to CIF and got our issue, it was a very efficient process the people there are actually good at their job. Side note, inspect every item you get even if you hold up the line, we had a few guys with missing or damaged equipment that they will have to pay for during turn in.

Tuesday- Army writing process, it is a direct to the point form of writing that the army uses. It takes a little bit to get used to it because buzz words or adjectives are omitted to make it shorter and to the point. Our first assignment was given to us after a block of instruction on counseling statements.

Training management and resilience training finished out the week. The training management briefs had good insight on how to conduct training, but it lacked the specifics of what type of training for your unit would be beneficial for certain tasks. Resilience training was brutal, it was a two day slide show of the feel goods. With so many soldiers coming back with PTSD or having other psychological problems, the army created resilience training to prepare soldiers for the rigger of combat and stress. Although it was hard to swallow at times it really is needed in the army and it could save lives.

Overall the week was easy but the instruction is very fast paced, so any knowledge on the subjects will help to reinforce or further your knowledge on it. Study how to write a good initial counseling statement for your PSG because it will set your expectations for the platoon as well as for the PSG, its very important. NCOER's shape soldiers careers and the difference between a good NCOER and a great one could mean promotion for him.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Resources For Infantry Officers

https://milspace.army.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=184595&lang=en-US

This is a powerpoint presentation that will help you immensely, I really wish it was put out before I left. It goes over the in processing, IBOLC schedule, Ranger School, and career opportunities, it would be a great idea to look at it. You have to have an AKO to sign in and look at it.

As for the blog posts, I have a long weekend and I promise to get you up to speed, 4 weeks in the field is a little rough on personal time.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Week 4- Scan Your Lanes and Prepare to Fire

BRM I love it, the Army is paying me to shoot weapons. Many of the students in the class have shot and qualified before, so the cadre does not insult your intellegence by being overly repetative. Its a fun week and I enjoyed it, its also the first time the platoon got to talk and build a little comaratory.

Monday- Classroom instruction on the M4 rifle. Assembely dis-assembely, how to lean the weapon, how to shoot the weapon. There were a few new things, being in ROTC we never possessed the resources to shoot with an M4 let alone a M68 CCO (red dot optical sight). We were also givent the PEQ15, a laser sight with the ability to use IR, and my first set of NOD's (night vision). It was informative and a short day. Pay attention because if you do not, when you get out on the range you will look stupid playing 20 questions.

Tuesday- Group and zero for day and night. grouping with the new equipment was a little harder task than I thought it would be. Make sure you maintain the same sight picture every time. I felt like a little kid when we got to use our NOD's, it was my first time and I realized quickly that most of the other students were in the same boat, since everyone was making faces and "gestures" in the dark so that thier buddy could see. Shooting with the NOD's took some getting used to but, you use a laser to line up your target.

Wednesday- LOMAH (Location Of Hits And Misses) This was a very productive shooting exercise, because the system gives you instant feedback not only if you hit but where the rounds are landing. We had multiple iterations with a fellow student helping coach you. We attemped to do this for night but there was overcast skies and no one could see, our NCO's adapted to the situation by placing chem lights on the targetsx to shoot with our NOD's on (it worked really well).

Thursday- Record Qualification began in the morning after trans to the range. It was a very bumpy start to my day, I shot a 3 out of 40, and as some of you might know that didnt sit well with me. When I got up from the firing line I saw me M68 do a complete turn in its mounting rings. So every time I had shot the sight had made a quarter turn, lets just say my sight picture was not the same. Plan B kicked in quick and I used one of my buddies weapons and shot a 37 out of 40. A bit of a difference. Dont worry about qualification, the cadre do everything they can to set you up for success and you also get three itterations to hone your skills.

Friday- Recovery/ Weapons cleaning. I did not know you could clean a weapon for 8 hours and still not have as clean as it needs to be. We got a saftey breif and left for the weekend.

Week 3- Death By Power Point

Although we have 160 well maybe 120... lets just round it out to 100, highly motivated, physically fit, second lieutenants ready to learn about the Infantry, there's a few steps first. The dreaded classroom instruction has to come first so that we know what the heck is going on when we do get to go out into the field to shine. The important things to remember are; to take good notes, pay attention and stay awake (if you don't you will have to write a 1000 word essay on why you should, learn from my mistake). We did get to learn an array of useful information that other classes hadn't in the past, such as initial counseling, army writing style and how to train your platoon. IBOLC is taking a new focus on the administrative side of being an officer and our class is the guinea pig. We also got a classified brief and it was very informative. After hours spent filling out my security clearence I finally got to use it. My platoon did the 5 mile run as a diognastics for each individual to see where they were on the test. It was an easy week.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Week 1-Chaos of Hurry Up an Wait


Like any other military school there is in processing and the formation game is on at full force. Be ready for 0500 formations and not being dismissed until 2000.

Monday- First thing was height and weight. To my surprise there were a handful of people that showed up overweight, and after being taped there were 5 that were sent home, they don’t play around here. The rest of the morning was filled with filling out forms and getting short briefs from civilians in the administrative fields.
We did not get much of a break for lunch so make sure that you bring food to eat and always a water source. In the late afternoon we were split into our platoons and were introduced to our cadre. Our cadre briefed us on the course and their standards and then volunteers were selected for staff positions. When the BC and SGM arrived we stopped and received a detailed brief on the course from them. Our class is the first class to begin a new training model; I will have more to follow on that later. We were finally released at 2000.

Tuesday- Combatives intro for PT, nothing to sweat over its just the very basics and you really don’t get to roll. After that we were released to go and change for the days medical exams. You need to have a lot of paper work and I will list all the forms at the end so that you can be prepared. If you are already on tricare it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a full physical, eye exam, and dental exam, because if you have those you don’t have to wait in the office for hours on end with the rest of your class. Although it is good bonding time with your classmates, I could have taken care of other paperwork during that time.

Wednesday- APFT. The APFT is held at the track next to Smith gym, it’s a 1 mile loop on gravel, but don’t worry there are no hills. Much like LDAC the standard is very hard on pushups, so make sure you work on your form. Preparation for the APFT will show and it is a good way to show your peers and cadre that you are one of the best. If you train in the upcoming months the pushups, sit-ups and run will take care of them selves, with some help from adrenaline. I missed the opportunity to train the last couple weeks but I had the drive to push out a 332, and as of right now I am 99% sure it was the top APFT in the class (our cadre have not let us know yet, but that’s the word on the street). The rest of the day was spent taking care of medical examinations again.

Thursday- Our Company Commander is a Crossfitter to the core and because our platoon TAC is injured, he had us do a modified Murph. Our modification was 50 dead hang pull-ups, 150 pushups, 200 body weight squats. The other platoon TAC’s have different work out philosophies, but training Crossfit before you get here is a great idea. The afternoon was devoted to a few people getting dental work done and the rest of waiting until we could be release for the weekend. The First Sergeant gave a stellar safety brief and we were off for the weekend.

0 Week- Cross Country Road Trip


In the movies a cross-country road trip always seems like a cool thing to do. Bullshit, it’s a movie get your head out of the clouds and wake up. Driving over 1400 miles in 3 days is a horrible experience that I hope that you will not have to partake in any time soon. One little bit of advice that no one gave me was, to split it up and take your time. Oh yea and they will only pay for 350 miles a day, so if you are traveling 500 to make good time and get there early to do the right this, check your moral compass because its wrong. Take your time in the end you wont be burnt out and you will make more money.
Upon arrival you will need to check into the S1 office at building 76. From there they will give you guidance on where and when you need to report in the specific uniform. I arrived on Friday and was told to report at 0900 at HHC for a brief. The first week is filled with accountability formations and small details here and there; it is time to take care of your housing, travel, pay and anything else that you might require. I did not get the time to take care of essential paperwork because I received a Red Cross message early Monday morning and I had to fly home for a week to take care of family. The leave process is confusing and time consuming if it is foreign to you, but I had a very good NCO SFC K that took care of me and he got me on a plane in time to make it back home.
The 0 week is a time to work on your PT, get your paperwork done and hopefully draw CIF so that you do not have to later. Use your time wisely and go see some of stuff on post to get well acquainted with the area. 

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Preparations to Travel

Well this is the last day I will be in Pittsburg, I am not going to sugar coat it I have mixed emotions. I am so ready to get out of Cadet Command and start my career but at the same time I would like to see the type of leaders some of the cadets turn out to be. That is someone else's job now and I know that cadet leadership as well as cadre will help to produce excellent officers.

There is a lot of preparation you have to do before moving. 1) When you get your official orders get a digital copy of them so that they can be sent, everything you do you need official orders. 2) Get onto the Electronic Transportation Aquisition (ETA), you can find it on a google search. Create an account and set up a move, its easy if you follow the steps. First you have to know if you are doing a House Hold Goods (HHG) move or a Do-it-Yourself (DITY) its called something different now but its the same thing. The difference is that the DITY is exactly what it sounds like, you do everything yourself and the government will pay you to move. In my opinion if you have a small amount of stuff and a vehicle to transport it, it's absolutely the way to go. 3) Confirm, re-confirm, and re-confirm again with your assigned transportation officer that everything is finalized for the move. 4) Finally, drive the 1,000 miles to get to Ft. Benning. Don't try and do it in one day, they will pay for the hotels. I will have more to follow on procedures of getting checked into the class, vehicle registration on post, and anything else that comes up.

Jumping around a bit I figured that I should share some of the resources that were helpful to me preparing for IOBC. Of course each BOLC has a reading list most are helpful but some books were written 30 years ago and although they give insight into leadership, it just doesn't resonate like a current account of combat. Beyond books, there are hundreds of sites that could help you out with information, but I found forums to be one of the best assets, and it kept me from driving all the IOBC grads that I know crazy with questions. Here is a list and small description of books I read and sites I found helpful.

1. War. Sebastian Jungar- Great account of a platoons fight in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The best book I have ever read. The documentary "Restrepo" was made at the same time by Jungar and another journalist and as good as it is it still fall short of this book.

2. Strongest Tribe. Bing West- An account of the surge in Iraq over a series of 15 visits by West a former Marine from Vietnam, that specialized in counterinsurgency. Great read and good overall description of the war from the Secretary of State to the Joe on the ground.

3. House to House. David Ballavia- Another book on the Iraq War, the Battle of Fallujah, told from the point of view of a squad leader. Easy and exciting read.

4. Joker One. Donovan Campbell- Best account of PL leadership from training to deployment and back. The only snag is hes a Marine, but I would still suggest it to anyone.

5. Lone Survivor. Marcus Luttrell- Navy Seal who survived an ambush on his Seal team. A good book on perseverance, good story too.

6. Never Surrender. LTG Jerry Boykin- One of the founders of Delta, and was in every famous Delta operation from Grenada to Somalia. Nice glimpse into the Special Forces Community.

7. Not a Good Day to Die. Sean Naylor- First large scale operation in Afghanistan (Operation Anaconda). Look into the pros and cons of the Special Operations community. Really good book, full of useful information.

8. Descent into Chaos. Amhed Rashid- Great background of Afghan War and were things went wrong.

9. FM 3-21.8 The Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad- Everything that you need to know and much more as a cadet. It is the Bible for IOBC as I hear.

10. Ranger Handbook

Internet Sites and Blogs

milspace- You have to have access to AKO to get this. Search milspace on AKO and it should take you to it, if you have any trouble let me know and I can send a link. milspace is a forum for LT's and it is segregate into branch specific as well as other categories. Great tool to learn about schools or get first hand accounts of leading people.

An LT's Journal - Experiences from Army Schooling- This is the blog that kind of inspired me to write this blog. Its in blogger.com and just use the search, it is very detailed and is well worth reading.

Anything else that you can find, but be weary of blog or forum complainers that make easy tasks seem unattainable.


Well that's it for me, I will post again before class starts to let you know how to check in and what you need to have or bring for the course. Next time will be from Ft. Benning Ga.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Preperation for IOBC

My preparation for IOBC started when I was a cadet by having MS4's to look up to and instructors that were like minded. Outside of the normal classroom instruction and PT, I always strived to be the best in everything that I did, and again I learned this from MS4's who lead by example. So when you become an upper classman remember there MS I's and II's that are looking up to you for guidance and leadership (take it seriously). Once I received my orders I wanted to set up housing and travel and try to line up schools and plan everything to a T, but just relax. For most of the administrative work you have to wait until you are commissioned, so just get your PT up to par and study your FM's. I had a great HR secretary at my ROTC department and she helped every step of the way, if you have people like that use them, but don’t abuse them. During the course of my time as a GBR I was able to take care of all of my affairs, the only snag for me was housing. Armor Officer Basic Course has recently moved to Fort Benning, so the on post housing is overwhelmed, and the possibilities for Lt’s with dependants to receive on post housing is slim at best. Have a plan B for housing and all other arrangements for that matter. After the administrative duties were checked I started looking for packing list and suggestions for equipment to purchase for the course. The list can be extensive and expensive if you wait until you get to Benning to purchase all at once. I will get together a packing list for the course and a suggested list for things to buy prior to. The most important thing to do is be prepared mentally and physically for the course, it’s not a rigorous course, you get the weekends off so don’t stress out. I leave in less than a month and weather in Georgia will be a good change from Kansas weather in April. Until then keep driving on.

Introduction

Well I have been thinking of how to start this and I decided that an introduction would suffice. So I attended a small high school in Missouri by Ft. Lost in the Woods, living by a military base had a huge impact on my life. I knew from a very young age that the military was the place for me and being from a small school, it gave me the opportunities to be a leader in athletics as well as other areas. Prior to my graduation I received offers from schools for a four year ROTC scholarship, and after much deliberation I decided to go to a smaller school in Kansas with a very prestigious program. My 4 1/2 years....Yes 4 1/2 at Pittsburg State University was the marked by failures and accomplishments, like many incoming freshman I did not understand the impact of an education and the work it takes to succeed in my academics. After a rough start, the cadre at my university coached and mentored me (a little tough love sometimes, the best way I learn) back to the cadet that I should have been. The other significant events that changed my outlook on life was marrying my wife and the birth of my daughter, let’s just say I was a little more focused. After crunching 2 years into two semesters I was back on a level playing field with my APFT was back to 300, LDAC was looming in the near future. I completed LDAC without any trouble, and returned to campus in the fall to command the Ranger Challenge team. If any of you reading this are from the Midwest, you should know the history of Pitt State's Ranger Challenge team. We are the smallest school to compete at our competition and we finish in the top 3 every time. This year was no different, we trained hard and competed harder, but again fell short of the number one spot, although we finished second and third with our two teams. The opportunity to lead peers in a situation like Ranger Challenge was a great honor, and I learned a lot about other people and even more about myself. The rest of the semester was a wait game for me because I was waiting on my branch, and after agonizing months of anticipation my prayers were answered and I was given what I had been seeking for years. INFANTRY. I could now breath and focus on graduation, and preparing for IOBC. When my orders finally came in it was met with mixed emotion, I received the coveted Gold Bar Recruiting slot and would start 3 days after graduation, but my follow on assignment was to Ft. Bliss. My career goals have been to be a PL of a light infantry airborne unit, and the First Armor Division was far from that. Although I knew my fate was not sealed I am ready to be the best mechanized infantry Lt as I can. Well that’s about it, I really wanted to keep this short but once I got started I realized I was writing a small book. I welcome any questions about ROTC, LDAC, or anything else in between. I will try my best to keep this blog updated and as detailed as I can, I know that it is hard to go into schools without an idea of what to expect, that is really the point of this blog.