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.